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Published on: June 19, 2019
Relationship between personal psychological capitals, stress level, and performance in marathon runners
Emily L L Sin1, Chi-Ngan Chow2, Roy T H Cheung1
1Department of Rehabilitation Science, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Background:
Marathon runners experience different levels of stress from their performance, which may vary across different people.
Objectives:
This study sought to examine if stress levels could be predicted by running performance and personal psychological capitals, including optimism and self-efficacy levels in marathon finishers. It also determined the contribution of each component in a stress prediction model.
Methods:
An online questionnaire and comprised validated scales were used to measure runners' performance, perceived stress levels, and personal psychological capitals.
Results:
A positive correlation between runner performance and perceived stress level (rs = 0.256, p = 0.019) was found, while the personal psychological capitals were negatively correlated to stress levels (rs = -0.580, p < 0.001) and (rs = -0.618, p < 0.001) respectively. Perceived stress levels were best predicted by personal psychological capitals (² = -0.322--0.393, p = 0.001), but not running performance.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggested that psychological factors affect stress levels the most, and marathon runners with a lower performance were more prone to stress than those who perform better.
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