The perceived sources of competitive stress in Korean national athletes

Ibis study examined the perceived sources of competitive stress experienced by Korean national athletes. One hundred-eight v Korean athletes from 41 different sports were interviewed about the perceived sources of competitive stress they experienced as national athletes, both presently and in the past. Qualitative methodology was utilized in this investigation and the interview transcripts were analyzed inductively. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Themes were identified from the analysis of the interview data. Combining these themes, seven general dimensions of stress sources were identified: psychological demands, environmental demands, physical demands, perceived expectations of others, human relationship issues, life direction concerns, and uncategorizable sources. Overall, general sources of stress identified in Korean national athletes in this study parallel the same seven stress dimensions identified by Gould, Jackson, and Finch (1993), although there were several Points of divergence relative to the stress experienced by Korean national athletes.