Sources of Stress in the Members of Disabled Track-and-Field Team

The present study was designed to describe the sources of stress in the members of disabled track and field team, selected to participate in 2008 Paralympics. Personal interviews were performed with the twelve team members during a two-week period before the competitions. The interviews were recorded, and a copy of the tape was given to each subject for final confirmations and corrections. The contents of each interview were typed and coded for confidentiality. Data extracted from each manuscript was analyzed according to Côte guideline. Results showed that participants faced three categories of stress which in order of decreasing frequency were sport stressors, relationships stressors, and academic-occupational stressors. The first category included stressors related to the incentives lodged for national team members, stressors related to the performance, stressors related to the training, and stressors related to the political-religious issues. The second category included stressors related to the family and friends, stressors related to track-and-field family, and stressors related to social issues. The last category included academic stressors, career stressors, and temporal stressors. It was found that performance stressors and stressors related to the incentives lodged for national team members were the most important. Comparing sources of stress among various sports with respect to the participant's gender have been suggested.