These unassuming schemes are often employed by athletes who feel as if their egos are threatened. According to Jones and Berglas (1974), self-handicapping represents and individual’s concscious and proactive use of excuse-making behavior that allows one to protect self-esteem and his or her sense of athletic competence (Higgins & Snyder, 1989 Tice, 1991 Tice & Baumesiter, 1990). Jones and Berglas (1975) contend that athletes may actually control their athletic environment and their sself-presentation in order to construct positive comments and attention about their athletic performance. Specifically, it was hypothesized that among high trait-handicapping athletes, those who report a greater degree of performance-debilitating obstacles prior to competition would report higher levels of media use as well as lower control over circumstances, confidence and concentration than non handicapping athletes. The present study sought to describe the type of self-handicapping behaviors demonstrated by student athletes as well as to assess the stress-buffering role of athlete self-handicapping on indices of media use. Initial evidence suggests that the employment of self-handicapping strategies has a beneficial effect on negative affective states associated with the perceived threat of evaluative contexts (Harris & Snyder, 1986 Leary, 1983). Media hype or frenzy is often used in reference to a critique of news and entertainment media. Media hype refers to a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, and the amount of news media published or broadcast. Conversely, losing brings forth negative news stories, criticisms and backlash. Winning brings about excessive stories glorifying the athlete and perhaps may encourage fans (and the athlete him/herself) to hold high expectations for future competitive performances. Win or lose, an athlete’s performance and life is oftentimes publicly discussed and critiqued by the media. The results may demonstrate opportunities for ways of relieving stress stemming from media use.Ī total of 147 student/athletes from a large Midwestern university were surveyed on a broad range of issues, including self-perceptions and media use. Certainly, the media could also serve as a negative distraction for athletes.īecause there have been no empirical examinations on the influence of the media on athletic performance, the present study hopes to identify variables that may be influenced by media use. According to Haverstraw (2002), distractions may arise from various sources including: The presence of loved ones you want to impress, family or relationship problems, teammates and other competitors, coaches, underperformance or unexpected high performance, frustration at mistakes, poor refereeing decisions, changes in familiar patterns and unjust criticism. Research shows that athletic performance efficiency is reduced by certain distractions that can interfere with an athlete’s ability to focus. Media coverage may provide a distraction or entertainment that could help athletes relieve pressure. On the other hand, media use could have a positive impact on student athletes. Athletes may feel pressured into performing at a level similar to star athletes covered in the media. Media coverage could provide unrealistic expectations about athletic performances by highlighting the stars in sports. On the one hand, media use could have a negative impact on student athletes. Through a survey of student athletes at a large Midwestern university, athletes’ media use is compared with respondents’ self-perceptions of their emotions, motivations and attitudes. The present study attempts to examine whether media use contributes or eases the level of stress among student athletes. Some athletes often feel that even their personal lives are “under media scrutiny” while others may feel the pressure of analysis when media make predictions based on their performance and statistics. In this case, media scrutiny involves instances when athletes are carefully studied and/or observed by journalists. Athletes may be scrutinized by local sports reporters who are expected to be unbiased in their coverage of the athletes. Added to this stress is the potential impact of news media coverage. They are required to attend endless hours of practices each day, travel to far-away events at various times and maintain an adequately high grade point average. Collegiate athletes experience stress from several sources.
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