Examining coping among adolescent athletes in an intensive training centre: A profile analysis

Intensive training exposes adolescent athletes to numerous stressors, presenting both challenges to be overcome and opportunities. The athletes' ability to cope with stress and maintain effective social interactions is essential to preserving well-being and performance. Using a person-centred approach, this study had three objectives: (a) identify the coping profiles of adolescent athletes in intensive training centres, (b) examine the influence of perceived social support on profile membership, and (c) characterise the adaptive nature of these profiles in relation to stress perception, subjective performance, well-being and emotions. A sample of 461 adolescent athletes (female = 59 %; M_age = 17 ± 1.3) competing at national (82 %) or international (18 %) levels, completed a questionnaire on perceived availability and satisfaction with parental and coach support, individual coping, stress perceptions, subjective performance, well-being and emotions. The results yielded four distinct coping profiles, whose membership varied according to perceived social support: low-, engaged-, moderate- and disengaged coping profiles. The MANOVA revealed differences in stress perception, subjective performance, well-being and emotions across coping profiles, with the disengaged profile standing out for its particularly low levels of well-being, pleasant emotion direction and subjective performance, and high levels of unpleasant emotion intensity and direction. These results enhance understanding of adolescent athletes' coping profiles in intensive training centres and highlight the role of their entourage in helping them manage stress effectively. They confirm the multidimensional nature of coping and provide valuable guidance to athletes' support networks on how to offer appropriate support in their pursuit of excellence.