Does Engaging in Creative Activities Influence the Use of Coping Skills and Perception of Challenge-Skill Balance in Elite Athletes?

Authors:
Veronique Richard, Florida State University, USA
Yanyun Yang, Florida State University, USA
Mark Runco, American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, USA
Ahmed M. Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain
Gershon Tenenbaum, Florida State University, USA
Email: vrichard2@fsu.edu
Published: October 7, 2019
https://doi.org/10.22492/ijpbs.5.si.01

Citation: Richard, V., Yang, Y., Runco, M., Abdulla, A. M. & Tenenbaum, G. (2019). Does Engaging in Creative Activities Influence the Use of Coping Skills and Perception of Challenge-Skill Balance in Elite Athletes? IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences, 5(si). https://doi.org/10.22492/ijpbs.5.si.01


Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the notion that engagement in creative activity directly affects the flow state dimension of challenge-skills balance, and indirectly via coping strategies in the realm of sport. Two hundred and eight athletes classified as intermediate, advanced, and expert level were administered a Creative Activities and Accomplishment Checklist (CAAC), the Dispositional Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport (DCICS), and the Challenge-Skill Balance subscale of the Dispositional Flow Scale (CS-DFS-2). Measurement and structural equation modeling were used to test the postulated model. The best fit of the model showed that 36% of the variance in challenge-skills balance was accounted for by creative activities and task-oriented coping, of which 27% was attributed to the indirect effect from creative activities via task-oriented coping. The findings extend the role that creativity engagement has on flow state.

Keywords

creativity, coping skills, challenge-skill balance, sport psychology, elite athletes