INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF ELITE WOMEN’S HANDBALL PLAYERS ON THE CHOICE OF STRESS COPING STRATEGIES

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of finding optimal strategies for overcoming stress by elite athletes remains relevant. Many authors study the problem of stress resistance in sports from the standpoint of forming a set of athlete’s personal qualities. The emotional intelligence is such athlete’s personal characteristics that affect the ability to withstand competitive stress. The aim of the study: to establish a relation between coping strategies and emotional intelligence of elite women’s handball players. Materials and methods: Athletes of the Ukrainian national women’s handball team (21 players aged 17 to 28, experience in this sport from 5 to 19 years) took part in the research. The following methods: questionnaire «Ways of coping behaviour» by R. Lazarus, the Nelson-Hall methodology devised to diagnose EI, was used. Data was processed by non-parametric descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk normality test, and correlation analysis. Results: Strategies using by athletes to increase the ability of the psyche to adapt to anxiety, the level of emotional intelligence and its components, the characteristics of motivation to succeed and motivation to avoid failure have been identified. 61.9 % of elite women’s handball players showed a low level of general emotional intelligence; 38.1 % of people showed a middle level. Correlation analysis between athletes’ choice of coping strategies and manifestations of emotional intelligence revealed certain patterns. «Confrontational coping» correlated with empathy (r = 0.45). Coping «Distancing» correlated with self-control (r = 0.59) and self-motivation (r = 0.53). Coping «Positive reappraisal» correlated with emotional awareness (r = 0.47), self-emotion management (r = 0.52) and overall emotional intelligence (r = 0.59). Coping «Self-control» had a positive correlation with self-motivation (r = 0.53). Conclusions: The obtained results give grounds to assert the expediency of applying the correction of emotional intelligence by increasing one in the practice of psychological training of athletes, which will increase their stress resistance.