Dispositional mindfulness and stress among university student-athletes

Abstract

Participating in university sport can introduce sources of stress, where the demands faced by student-athletes exceeds their perceived ability to cope. The purpose of this research was to examine individual differences in mindfulness – the nonjudgmental, purposeful direction of attention to experience – as a predictor of stress and stress-recovery in student-athletes. Student-athletes (N = 52) from Manitoba universities completed measures of mindfulness, stress, and personality during their competition season. Principal component analysis revealed two dimensions of stress within this sample: socio-emotional stress and feelings of fitness/exhaustion surrounding practice or competition. Mindfulness, when treated as a unitary construct, was related to both types of stress, but controlling for neuroticism eliminated this relationship. Using the five-facet model of mindfulness, acting with awareness and non-judging of experience were related to feelings of fitness/exhaustion, even when controlling for neuroticism. The results of this study may inform the assessment of stress and intervention strategies for student-athletes.