engleski

Emotional and cardiovascular reactions of parents during their child's sport competition

Although researching and documenting cardiovascular patterns in sport situations is nothing new only few studies focused on investigating parental cardiovascular reactions during their children sport competitions (Lochbaum, Prosoli, and Barić, 2017). The aim of this study was to document cardiovascular and emotional responses of parents during their child’s sport competition. It was conducted on one pair of parents (mother and father) during a judo club competition. Their daughter had two fights, and she won both of them. Prior to and during the competition parents wore a device made by Firstbeat Technologies which monitored their heart rate and Firstbeat SPORTS Software was used to analyze the results. To measure emotions of the parents before, during and after competition we used PANAS scale (Watson, Clark, and Tellegen, 1988), which they filled 6 times each. Parents completed two open-ended questions, one before and one after the competition, regarding their thoughts and expectations and emotional reactions. The analysis of answers before the competition indicate that the father expected good competition and the mother wanted that her child show her skills as best as she can. After the competition they stated they were both excited and tense, with the mother adding happy to the list. The father reported experiencing low level of stress during the competition while the mother stated that competition was very stressful for her as always. Results indicate that both parents had similar cardiovascular reactions during the fights but their reactions differed in intensity and duration. Emotional profiles indicate differences between emotional patterns of father and mother, with mother reporting stronger emotional reactions. These results along with our past published research suggest that reactions of the parents during the competitions of their children are interesting and important area for further investigation and sports psychology lead parent education program.

sport psychology, parents in sport

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