posted on 2014-07-16, 10:52authored byChris Harwood, Camilla J. Knight
Objective: This study investigated the stage-specific stressors experienced by British tennis parents
whose children were situated either in the sampling, specializing or investment stages of participation in
the sport [Côtè, J. (1999). The influence of the family in the development of talent in sport. The Sport
Psychologist, 13, 395–417].
Design and method: A qualitative design was employed with semi-structured interviews conducted with
twenty two British tennis parents; six parents representing each of the first two stages of sports
participation and ten representing the investment stage. Data was analyzed through a process of
inductive content analysis following the method proposed by Miles and Huberman [Miles, M. B., &
Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. London: Sage]. Data matrices were developed for each
category of parent to allow for the comparison of the data between themes.
Results and conclusion: Three general dimensions of parental stressor emerged: Organizational,
Competitive and Developmental. Organizational stressors included demands related to finance, time,
training and coaching, and governing body systems; competitive stressors related to behavior, performance
and morality-related issues associated with their child’s matches; and developmental stressors
centered on educational issues, uncertainty of tennis transitions, and future decision making. While
sampling stage parents encountered few developmental stressors compared to later stage parents,
a range of competitive stressors were highly prominent. Organizational stressors were particularly
foremost for specializing and investment stage parents. Implications are discussed with reference to
further research into the parental stress process and to the importance of stage-specific parent education
initiatives.
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Psychology of Sport and Exercise
Volume
10
Issue
(4)
Pages
447 - 456
Citation
HARWOOD, C.G. and KNIGHT, C.J., 2009. Stress in youth sport: a developmental investigation of tennis parents. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10 (4), pp.447-456.