The role of coping strategies and psychological inflexibility in the mental health of soccer referees

Abstract

Background: Psychological inflexibility is considered a transdiagnostic etiological factor in the development and maintenance of psychological disorders and emotional difficulties. In turn, it can be stated that psychological health is directly related to behavioral efficiency in responding to situations faced on a daily basis. Objective: This study was to investigate whether psychological inflexibility and coping are related to psychopathological symptomatology in soccer referees. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 156 active referees (96.8% men), with 63.5% in amateur categories and 36.5% in semi-professional or professional categories. Psychopathological symptoms were assessed using the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire, psychological inflexibility with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, and coping strategies with the Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport. Results: No significant differences were observed between amateur and semi-professional/professional referees in terms of mental health, coping strategies or psychological inflexibility. High psychological inflexibility scores were associated with emotion-oriented coping (p < .001) but not with distraction (p = .110), or task-oriented coping (p = .744). Increased psychological inflexibility correlated with higher scores on psychopathological symptoms ( p < .001). In regression models, task-oriented and distraction-oriented coping did not significantly contribute to the outcomes. Rather, psychological inflexibility (p < .001) and emotion-oriented coping (p = .001) were the strongest predictors of psychopathological symptoms. Conclusions: It is affirmed that psychological inflexibility is significantly related to mental health and with the choice of coping strategies, mainly emotion-oriented coping and distraction-oriented coping.