Sports officials have recently received some attention in the academic literature. The aim of the present study was to examine sources of perceived psychological stress among certified Greek team handball referees. For this purpose, participants evaluated the intensity of 17 acutely stressful game situations on two occasions within a period of seven months. To explore the factor structure of the Handball Officials Sources of Stress Survey, 84 team handball officials completed the questionnaire. The analysis yielded a 4-factor structure (Evaluation, Fear of Physical Harm, Interpersonal Conflicts, and Fear of Appearing Incompetent), which accounted for 70% of the total variance. Age, education, rank, and years of experience as a handball player were unrelated to the referees' scores on the survey. To confirm the factor structure, 93 handball officials completed the survey seven months later. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial structure of the scale. Sources and intensity of stress for handball referees are comparable to those identified in previous studies of referees' stress in other team sports.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AnshelM. H.JamiesonJ.RavinS. (2001) Coping with acute stress among male and female Israeli athletes. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 31, 271–289.
2.
AnshelM. H.KaissidisA. (1997) Coping style and situational appraisals as predictors of coping strategies following stressful events in sport as a function of gender and skill level. British Journal of Psychology, 88, 263–276.
3.
AnshelM. H.WeinbergR. S. (1995) Sources of acute stress in American and Australian basketball referees. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7, 11–22.
4.
AnshelM. H.WeinbergR. S. (1996) Coping with acute stress among American and Australian basketball referees. Journal of Sport Behavior, 19, 180–204.
5.
AnshelM. H.WeinbergR. S. (1999) Re-examining coping among basketball referees following stressful events: implications for coping interventions. Journal of Sport Behavior, 22, 141–161.
6.
BentlerP. M. (1995) EQS structural equations program manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software.
7.
BollenK. A.LongJ. S. (1994) Testing structural equation models. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
8.
ByrneB. M. (1994) Structural equation modeling with EQS and EQS/Windows: basic concepts, applications, and programming. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
9.
CleggR.ThompsonW. (1979) Modern sports officiating. Dubuque, IA: Brown.
10.
GeenR. G.GangeJ. J. (1983) Social facilitation: drive theory and beyond. In BlumbergH. H.HareA. P.KentV.DaviesM. (Eds.), Small groups and social interaction. Vol. 1. London: Wiley. Pp. 141–153. (cf. Footnote 2)
11.
GoldsmithP. A.WilliamsM. J. (1992) Perceived stressors for football and volleyball officials from three rating levels. Journal of Sport Behavior, 15, 106–118.
12.
HuL.BentlerP. (1999) Cut-off criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.
13.
JonesG.HardyL. (1989) Stress and cognitive function in sport. Journal of Sport Sciences, 7, 41–63.
14.
KaissidisA.AnshelM. H. (1993) Sources of and responses to acute stress in adult and adolescent Australian basketball referees. Australian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 25, 97–103.
15.
Kaissidis-RodafinosA.AnshelM. H.PorterA. (1997) Personal and situational factors that predict coping strategies for acute stress among basketball referees. Journal of Sport Sciences, 15, 427–436.
16.
Kaissidis-RodafinosA.AnshelM. H.SideridisG. (1998) Sources, intensity, and responses to stress in Greek and Australian basketball referees. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 29, 1–22.
17.
Kaissidis-RodafinosA.TsorbatzoudisH.GrouiosG. (1997) [Sources of and responses to stress with Greek basketball officials: qualitative data]. [Physical Education and Sports], 41, 45–62. [in Greek]
18.
LazarusR. S. (1966) Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
19.
LeventhalE. A.SulsJ.LeventhalH. (1993) Hierarchical analysis of coping: evidence from life-span studies. In KrohneH. W. (Ed.), Attention and avoidance. Seattle, WA: Hogrefe & Huber. Pp. 71–99.
20.
MardiaK. V. (1970) Measures of multivariate skewness and kurtosis with applications. Biometrika, 57, 519–530.
21.
MarklandD.HardyL. (1993) The Exercise Motivations Inventory: preliminary development and validity of a measure of individuals' reasons for participation in regular physical exercise. Personality and Individual Differences, 15, 289–296.
22.
MillaneF. (1988) Neighbours in law. Sporting Tradition, 4, 214–233. (See Footnote 2)
23.
PartemianS.ZahariadisP.BebetsosE.TsorbatzoudisH. (2001) Sources of stress in Greek and international handball referees. Paper presented at the 1st European Congress of Doping in Sport. Thessaloniki 4-6 May. Greece.
24.
PhilipsC. L. (1985) Sport group behavior and officials' perceptions. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 16, 1–11.
25.
RaineyD. (1995) Sources of stress among baseball and softball umpires. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7, 1–10.
26.
RaineyD.WinterichD. (1995) Magnitude of stress reported by basketball referees. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 81, 1241–1242.
27.
RaineyD. W. (1999) Sources of stress, burnout, and intention to terminate among basketball referees. Journal of Sport Behavior, 22, 578.
28.
SchellB.HuntJ.LloydC. (1984) An investigation for future market opportunities for sport psychologists. Journal of Sport Psychology, 6, 335–350.
29.
StewartM. J.ElleryP. J. (1996) Amount of psychological stress reported by high school volleyball officials. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 83, 337–338.
30.
StewartM. J.ElleryP. J. (1998) Sources and magnitude of perceived psychological stress among high school volleyball officials. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 87, 1275–1282.
31.
TabachnickB.FidellL. (1996) Using multivariate statistics. (3rd ed.) New York: Harper-Collins.
32.
Taylor-BrownS.JohnsonK. H.HunterK.RockowitzR. J. (1982) Stress identification for social workers in health care: a preventive approach to burn-out. Social Work in Health Care, 7, 91–100.
33.
TeipelD. (2001) [Aggression in soccer]. [Physical Education and Sports], 46, 45–58 [in Greek]
34.
VallerandR. J. (1989) Toward a cross-cultural validation methodology for psychological scales: implication for research conducted in the French language. Canadian Psychology, 30, 662–680.
