Emotion, Psychological Well-Being and Their Influence on Resilience. A Study with Semi-Professional Athletes

The objective of the present study is to analyze the influence of coaches on emotional intelligence and on levels of anxiety, motivation, self-esteem, and resilience among athletes. Five-hundred forty-seven semi-professional athletes between the ages of 16 and 19 participated in this study. Various statistical analyses were conducted which explain the causal relationships between the variables. The results, obtained using a structural equations model, find that while autonomy support positively predicts emotional intelligence, perceived control predicts it negatively. Moreover, emotional intelligence positively predicts self-esteem and self-determined motivation, but negatively predicts anxiety. Other results show that self-esteem positively predicts self-determined motivation, whereas anxiety predicts it negatively. Finally, self-determined motivation positively predicts resilience. Indeed, the study demonstrates the influence and the importance of coaches in relation to the emotional intelligence, psychological well-being, and motivational processes of adolescent athletes when the latter engage in their respective sports. These results help to better understand how different behavioral, emotional, and social aspects belonging to the athlete interrelate with one another during competition.