Advances in the science of sport performance increasingly demonstrate the importance of integrating mental attitude and physical skills [1, 2]. Such empirical evidence has led to the development of sport psychology as an integral aspect of coaching and health care for teams and athletes [3, 4]. Sport psychology can help an athlete to perform at a level closer to their absolute potential on any given day [5], and this has seen a marked increase in the number of sport psychology consultants working with athletes [6, 7]. Despite the apparent acceptance of the sport psychologist as a member of the ‘team behind the team’, receptiveness among athletes to sport psychology varies [8, 9]. Research into the factors that influence athletes’ attitudes towards sport psychology consulting (SPC) has largely focussed on individual athlete characteristics [10], type of sport [11,12,13] and perceived attributes and stigma [13].
Martin et al. surveyed collegiate athletes in order to determine the dimensions of athlete attitudes that accounted for differences in attitudes towards sport psychology [10]. The findings suggest that there are four main factors that determine attitudes towards sport psychology. The first is the “stigma tolerance”, which can be defined as the belief that an individual will be perceived negatively if they were to engage in psychology consulting [13]. The second factor is the athletes’ individual confidence in sport psychology consulting, based on their individual belief that this form of consulting will be beneficial in terms of improving mental skills and performance [14]. Thirdly, individual cultural preferences are thought to be a major factor. For example, Naoi et al. suggested that due to exposure to a much more ethnically and racially diverse society throughout their lives, American athletes showed less concern about working with consultants of different races and cultures than Japanese athletes [15]. Similarly, Ong and Harwood reported that Western athletes had less stigma toward sport psychology consulting, greater personal openness, and less preference for a consultant of the same race or culture than Eastern athletes, despite some Eastern countries being racially diverse, such as in Singapore [16]. The final factor is one’s personal openness, which represents the athlete’s degree of willingness to engage in sport psychology consulting and discuss relevant issues [14]. A study by Wrisberg et al. found that positively perceived sport psychology experiences amongst elite level student athletes led to more openness to future consultations [17].
Based on the above factors, Martin et al. developed a scale, known as the Sport Psychology Attitudes-Revised (SPA-R) to objectively assess an athlete’s expectations of, and receptiveness to sport psychology [14]. This validated questionnaire measures an athlete’s attitudes towards sport psychology based on four subscales that may explain differences in receptivity towards sport psychology. These subscales are: Confidence in Sport Psychology Consulting; Stigma Tolerance; Personal Openness; and Cultural Preference.
Subsequently, researchers have attempted to determine whether various groups differ in their mean scores on each subscale. Athlete gender has been demonstrated to play a role in determining attitudes and receptivity toward sport psychology, with studies consistently finding that, in comparison to females, males are less likely to seek psychological consulting [10, 18] and more likely to rely on themselves to deal with psychological issues [19, 20]. This finding is reflective of studies in the general population that find that females are more likely to seek help with mental health issues than males [21, 22]. As well as gender, certain personality traits have been found to influence one’s attitude towards sport psychology. For example, a study by Ong and Harwood found that openness and conscientiousness were associated with positive attitudes towards sport psychology [16]. Other studies have shown that individuals who demonstrated high levels of extraversion displayed more positive attitudes towards psychological support [23, 24].
Additional researchers have found that the characteristics of the sport, as well as personal characteristics such as gender and personality, determine attitudes towards sport psychology. For instance, researchers have found that athletes playing contact sports are more likely to have fewer positive attitudes towards sport psychology than those competing in non-contact sports, [11,12,13]. This finding might be explained by the nature of contact sports, that demands athletes to accept the pain and hurt that comes with the sport, perhaps suggesting a decreased willingness to seek help from a sport psychologist.
However, despite the growing research into the factors that influence an athlete’s attitude towards sport psychology, there are no studies that use an evidence-based and validated questionnaire to measure the influence of whether an athlete’s sport is individual or team-based. One of the main differences between team and individual sports is the influence that teammates, or a lack of teammates, can have on the athlete’s performance and perception of the sport.
Past research has shown that team-sport athletes who engaged in sport psychology were judged less favourably by their teammates regarding team selection when compared to other teammates who alternatively sought help from coaches for similar issues [25]. This might be explained by the historical stigma attached to sport psychology and mental health. Likewise, other studies have found that individual sport athletes demonstrated a greater willingness to partake in mental coaching when it was seen as beneficial to their individual level of performance [17]. Arguably, this is because of the increased personal responsibility that an athlete in an individual sport has in comparison to a team sport athlete, where responsibility is shared across the team. For this reason, it is important to establish whether differences exist in athletes’ attitudes to sport psychology in team and individual sports so that we can identify and break down the barriers that explain such a discrepancy. By identifying the factors that influence an athlete’s receptiveness to sport psychology consulting, it is possible to address the perceived barriers to sport psychology, thereby making this service more accessible and attractive to all groups.
The aim of the current study is therefore to use an objective measure to determine whether there is a difference in the attitudes of individual and team sport athletes towards sport psychology. Additionally, to examine whether variability in attitudes to sport psychology between athletes from individual and team sports is influenced by gender, we recruited an equal number of male and female competitors in each sport.