The Impact of Partners in Doubles Racquet Sports and Interpersonal Emotional Regulation
Abstract
The overall purpose of this dissertation was to understand the impact that partner play has in doubles racquet sports (tennis, badminton and squash) on emotions, coping and emotional regulation. Study 1 laid the groundwork to understanding the impact (positive or negative) that the different types of partner play (playing well, playing normal, or playing poorly) has in these dyads. Participants (N=103) were randomized into one of three scenarios (written vignettes) designed to manipulate partners play and asked to fill out a questionnaire packet based on the scenario read. Findings of Study 1 showed that there was a difference in the impact on emotions and subjective performance based on whether a partner was playing well, playing poorly, or playing their usual game.
Study 2 was designed to further understand the impact of partner play through a qualitative approach, as well as how these athletes cope or regulate their emotions in these situations and how effective it is. Seventeen athletes, varying in gender, age, and sport (tennis, badminton, and squash) participated in semi-structured interviews. Athletes indicated that their partner did impact their own play and that they used various coping strategies similar to previous literature (emotion focused coping and problem focused coping). Moreover, to help regulate their own emotions, athletes discussed using both interpersonal and intrapersonal emotion regulation. Athletes use strategies that help their partner regulate their emotions in order to regulate their own emotions in difficult situations (interpersonal emotion regulation; IER).
Study 3 aimed to further understand if and how partners use IER when their partner is playing poorly, and how this use or lack thereof is related to social support and trust within these dyads. Using a cross-sectional survey design, participants (N=113) read the poor play vignette used in Study 1 and answered questionnaires measuring IER, social support and trust. These findings did differentiate the type of IER used by the athletes including both the efficacy and tendency of use. Ratings of partner trust were lower than might be expected, implying that trust can fluctuate based on partner play. In addition, despite the moderate use of IER by these racquet sport athletes, this did not predict their trust in their partner.
Overall, these studies are the first looking at the impact of partner play in racquet sport dyads and how it relates to different emotions, types of coping, and types of emotional regulation. Taken together, this research shows that athletes are impacted when their partner is playing poorly and use both interpersonal and intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies.