Stressors and coping style among volleyball referees in the Northern Border region

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of sports stressors and coping strategies among volleyball referees during match management. Although psychological stressors are inherited in the sports arena, research in controlling or limiting stressors among athletes in multiple sports settings are rapidly growing field of sports literature. However, stressors faced by volleyball referees have received less attention from researchers. This study attempts to develop a framework for identifying the most stressful situations experienced by volleyball referees during matches. Participants were a straightforward sample consisting of 18 volleyball male referees registered in the Saudi Volleyball Federation at the Northern Border region. A Stressors of Volleyball Referee Survey (SVRS) was designed and applied, which consisted of five dimensions based on sources of stress: players, coaches, spectators, mass media, and officiating-technical pressure; these dimensions contain a total of 38 items presented. Results found that all the main and sub-dimensions items for SVRS correlation coefficients ranged between 0.639 and 0.798, which were statistically significant at the level of stability of 0.01. Data revealed that the dimension of officiating-technical pressure ranked as the highest psychological stressor of the total scale's dimensions with an average of 19.78, whereas the lowest ranking score of the total scale's dimensions was the coaches' pressure dimension with an average of 19.56. The study recommended that future studies should apply an intervention program that trains volleyball referees to gain confidence and maintain resilience in order to cope with all stressors faced during matches.