Defense Mechanisms in Psychological Health and Sport Success of Athletes

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Defense Mechanisms in Psychological Health and Sport Success of Athletes"

Garey Allison
5 years ago
Views:

JKMU Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 2017; 24 (5): 379-388 Defense Mechanisms in Psychological Health and

3 1- PhD of Sport Psychology, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran (Corresponding author; afrooz2d1386@yahoo.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran Received: 8 March, 2017 Accepted: 26 November, 2017 ARTICLE

capacity to maintain emotional homeostasis.

by defense mechanisms used by elite athletes. A sample of 385 (285 male and 100 female) elite athletes were chosen in 2014.

Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including Pearson correlation and multivariate

The results revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between mature defense mechanisms with psychological

Also, there was a significant negative relationship between neurotic defense mechanisms and immature defense mechanisms with

1 JKMU Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 2017; 24 (5): Defense Mechanisms in Psychological Health and Sport Success of Athletes Afrooz Mousavi, Ph.D. 1, Mohammad Vaez Mousavi, Ph.D. 2, Hamid Yaghubi, Ph.D PhD of Sport Psychology, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran (Corresponding author; afrooz2d1386@yahoo.com) 2- Professor of Sport Psychology, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran 3- Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran Received: 8 March, 2017 Accepted: 26 November, 2017 ARTICLE INFO Original article Defense Mechanisms Mental Health Success Athletes Defense mechanisms represent a crucial component of our capacity to maintain emotional homeostasis. The present study is carried out with the purpose of determining the predictability of psychological health and sport success by defense mechanisms used by elite athletes. A sample of 385 (285 male and 100 female) elite athletes were chosen in Participants completed Mental Health Inventory (MHI), Sport Success Scale (SSS) and Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ). Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including Pearson correlation and multivariate regression analyses. The results revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between mature defense mechanisms with psychological wellbeing and sport success. Also, there was a significant negative relationship between neurotic defense mechanisms and immature defense mechanisms with psychological wellbeing and sport success, while the neurotic defense mechanisms were significantly associated with psychological distress. The results of regression analysis showed that psychological wellbeing could be predicted by mature and neurotic defense mechanisms. In addition, sport success could be predicted by immature and neurotic defense mechanisms. It can be concluded that psychological health components and sport success are influenced by defense mechanisms through self-regulating processes which operate with the aim of reducing cognitive discrepancies and minimizing sudden changes. Therefore, modification of defense mechanisms can improve mental quality of life and sport success in athletes. Introduction 379

2 Defense mechanisms in psychological health mousavi, et al 380

3 Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences 2017, Vol. 24, Issue 5 Method In other words, emotions are considered as harmful if they affect the functions of the ego Defense Styles Questionnaire (DSQ) 381

4 Defense mechanisms in psychological health mousavi, et al Sport Success Scale (SSS) Mental Health Inventory (MHI) Results 382

5 Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences 2017, Vol. 24, Issue 5 Table 1. Demographic characteristics of athletes based on age, gender and history of sports activities Gender Sports Frequency Percent Sports experience (year) M S M Age (year) S Male Team Individual Female Team Individual Total Table 2. Descriptive indicators of mental healthcomponents and defense mechanisms Variables M SD Minimum Maximum Psychological distress Psychological well-being Sport success Mature defense mechanism Immature defense mechanisms

6 Defense mechanisms in psychological health mousavi, et al Table 3. Pearson correlation coefficient between defense styles and mental health subscales Variables Psychological distress Psychological well-being Sport success Immature defense mechanisms * * -0.68** Mature defense mechanism ** 0.13 Table 4. Results of stepwise regression analysis criterion variable Step Predictor variables R R Square F B Beta t First * ** Psychological well-being Second Mature defense mechanism * * 2.02 * 384

7 Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences 2017, Vol. 24, Issue 5 Table 5. Results of stepwise regression analysis criterion variable Step First Predictor variables R 0.68 R Square 0.43 F 87.29* B Beta t -5.72** Sport success Second Immature defense mechanism * * -4.82* Discussion 385

8 Defense mechanisms in psychological health mousavi, et al 386

9 Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences 2017, Vol. 24, Issue 5 Acknowledgment References 387

10 Defense mechanisms in psychological health mousavi, et al 388

PREDICTION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESS AND GOAL ORIENTED STUDENTS ATHLETE BASED ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND FAMILY FUNCTIONING

PREDICTION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESS AND GOAL ORIENTED STUDENTS ATHLETE BASED ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND FAMILY FUNCTIONING 1 Leily Behnia and *Mahbobeh Chin Aveh 2 1 Department of General Psychology,