Leisure, Stress, and Coping: The Sport Participation of Collegiate Student-Athletes

Research has indicated that there is a relationship between stress and participation in leisure (Caltabiano, 1995; Chalip, Thomas, & Voyle, 1992; Reich & Zautra, 1981; Strauss-Blasche, Ekmekcioglu, & Marktl, 2002; Warner-Smith & Brown, 2002; Wheeler & Frank, 1988). It has been suggested that leisure buffers or mediates stress, thereby enhancing individual health and well-being, because of the self-determination and social support that are experienced in leisure (Coleman & Iso-Ahola, 1993). However, a number of issues have been raised by the recent research, including whether or not the leisure, stress, and health relationship varies by type of leisure activity (Iwasaki & Mannell, 2000), exactly why and how leisure (or any given leisure activity) interacts with stress (Iwasaki & Mannell, 1999-2000; Kleiber, Hutchinson, & Williams, 2002), and the possibility that leisure itself could be a stressor (Iwasaki & Mannell, 2000; Iwasaki & Smale, 1998). The interpretive study reported here examined a particular leisure activity--collegiate sport--and individuals' experiences of stress because of their participation in this type of leisure. Results indicate that collegiate sport is perceived to be both a buffer and experience of stress. Results also reveal that race and gender are important in shaping collegiate athletes' experiences of stress. Support was found for the ideas that (a) stress is a transactional process (Lazarus, 1998) and (b) research approaches that allow the dynamic experience and contextualization of the personal meanings of stress and leisure to emerge are needed (Iwasaki & Smale, 1998; Kleiber et al., 2002).