Determinants of Self-Handicapping Strategies in Sport and Their Effects on Athletic Performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine self-efficacy and self-esteem as predictors of claimed and behavioral self-handicapping, and to compare the relationship between behavioral and claimed self-handicaps and athletic performance. A total of 31 basketball players participated in the study. Claimed self-handicaps were significantly negatively correlated with selfesteem whereas behavioral self-handicapping was significantly negatively correlated with self-efficacy. Performance was negatively correlated with behavioral self-handicapping, but was not correlated with claimed self-handicapping. These findings reinforce the conceptual distinction between claimed and behavioral self-handicaps by demonstrating that the two strategies are indeed related to different factors and that they have different consequences for performance.

Do Athletes Claim Handicaps in Low Ego-Threatening Conditions? Re-Examining the Effect of Ego-Threat on Claimed Self-Handicapping

“…In this sense, two studies suggest that in comparison with high self-esteem athletes, low self-esteem athletes engage in more self-handicapping before participating in a physical test (Coudevylle et al, 2008;Martin & Brawley, 2002). It is possible that low selfesteem athletes differ from high self-esteem athletes not only by their tendency to engage more in claimed self-handicapping in high ego-threatening situations, but also by their tendency to engage in this strategy in a wider range of situations.…”

“…Several studies indicate that high self-handicappers claim more handicaps than low self-handicappers (Carron et al, 1994;Finez, 2008;Greenlees et al, 2006); while low self-esteem athletes claim more handicaps than high self-esteem athletes (Coudevylle et al, 2008;Martin & Brawley, 2002) when they are faced with high ego-threatening events like a competition or a physical test. But the data from these studies, do not address whether low self-handicappers and high self-esteem athletes do or do not engage in claimed self-handicapping because there was only one condition (a high ego-threatening condition).…”

“…However, to our knowledge, no research addresses whether athletes also use this strategy during low ego-threatening situations (e.g., conditioning training exercises or techniques training exercises without any salient evaluative components) 1 . Second, while it is evident that high self-handicappers and low self-esteem athletes can engage in claimed self-handicapping (Carron et al, 1994;Coudevylle, Martin Ginis, & Famose, 2008;Greenlees et al, 2006), whether low self-handicappers and high self-esteem athletes also engage in this strategy remains unclear. The present work uses the interactionist approach to investigate the effect of self-handicapping tendency and self-esteem level on the emergence of claimed self-handicapping in two conditions (high and low ego-threatening situations).…”

Relación entre la ansiedad precompetitiva, el clima deportivo y su efecto sobre el rendimiento de un grupo de taekwondistas universitario de Bogotá

“…Otro dato importante encontrado es la dirección de la ansiedad, que según Smith (1996, citado por Cervelló, Santos-Rosa y Ruano, 2002) y Coudevylle et al (2008), puede ser determinada como obstaculizante o dinamizante para contribuir o no al rendimiento deportivo. En este caso, en el índice de correlación encontrado en la segunda medición se hace evidente que la ansiedad es un factor dinamizante con respecto al entrenamiento, puesto que en esta medición se presentaron los niveles más altos de ansiedad precompetitiva.…”

“…En el estudio realizado por Coudevylle et al (2008), se define que el rendimiento es la función de la liberación de obstáculos, lo cual disminuye la ansiedad y la convierte un facilitador dentro de la competencia. Además, los autores benefician las diferencias individuales, expresando que depende del deportista, de sus procesos psicológicos y de su experiencia que la ansiedad tome una dirección positiva, como un recurso para desarrollar el rendimiento en la competencia.…”