Ready for Failure? Irrational Beliefs, Perfectionism and Mental Health in Male Soccer Academy Players

AbstractSince Junior-to-Senior Transition (JST) is only considered successful when soccer players become professionals, many junior athletes must cope with failure, and their sporting careers and mental health may be at risk. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to (a) identify different career expectancies of male soccer academy players, and (b) describe irrational beliefs, perfectionism and mental health levels associated with different career expectancies, identifying risk factors in the JST. A total of 515 male soccer players between 14 and 19  years old (M = 16.7;SD = 1.6) who played in Spanish professional youth academies during the 2020–2021 season, answered questionnaires on sports career model, beliefs, perfectionism and mental health (i.e., iPBI, MPS-2 and GHQ-12). The results suggest that the number of juniors who aspire to be professionals (57%) f ar exceeds the number of players who become professionals (10%; Dugdale in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine& Science in Sports 31:73 –84, 2021). Also, results show that this population presents high levels of demandingness (M = 5.5), low frustration tolerance (M = 5.2), self-organization (M = 5.2) and social functioning (M = 5.5), and low scores on depreciation (M = 2.6) and loss of confidence and self-esteem (M = 2.4). In a more detailed way, the results are compared according to expectancies. These academies are usually environments where success and failure are antagonis...
Source: Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research