Sources of stress among Greek team handball referees: construction and validation of the Handball Officials' Sources of Stress Survey.

Sports officials have recently received some attention in the academic literature. The aim of the present study was to examine sources of perceived psychological stress among certified Greek team handball referees. For this purpose, participants evaluated the intensity of 17 acutely stressful game situations on two occasions within a period of seven months.

Goal importance within planned behaviour theory as 'the' predictor of study behaviour in college.

Background: The theory of planned behaviour has been rarely used for the explanation of student study behaviour and achievement. Although successful, the theory has been criticised for not including important cognitions, so goal importance was added in the present study. Goal importance refers to the weight-importance an individual assigns towards achieving a specific goal (Hollenbeck & Williams, 1987).

Psychological predictors of coping responses among Greek basketball referees.

The authors examined the effects of situational appraisals (perceived control and intensity), coping styles (monitoring and blunting), and personal dispositions (optimism and self-esteem) on the approach and avoidance coping responses of skilled Greek basketball referees (N = 162) and the consistency of their responses following 3 game-related stressful situations. In an effort to clarify the variables involved in coping and to consider the theoretical principles both within and beyond sports, the authors replicated an earlier study among Australian basketball referees (A. Kaissidis-Rodafinos, M.

Personal and situational factors that predict coping strategies for acute stress among basketball referees.

The aim of this study was to establish the ways in which coping style and situational appraisals are related to the consistency of using approach and avoidance coping strategies for skilled Australian basketball referees (n = 133) after three game-related stressful events. The events, 'making a mistake', 'aggressive reactions by coaches or players' and 'presence of important others', were determined from previous research on sources of acute stress among basketball officials. Our findings indicated that: referees exhibited consistent avoidance, but not approach, coping styles; they used more avoidance than approach strategies; and they perceived stress to be positively correlated with approach, and negatively associated with avoidance, coping strategies.