Social Support

A gymnast has been experiencing some technical problems in one of her routines. Her parents have provided her with moral support and encouragement. Her brother, who has no real knowledge about gymnastics, has tried offering technical advice. However, she has not found this support from her family very helpful. With reference to theory and empirical evidence, discuss this situation and the importance of social support for optimal performance. What psychological intervention would you suggest to help with the gymnast’s social support?

·         Social support can be defined as the aid given to us by our peers at the occurrence of a stressor (Cassel, 1976).

·         The key component to note in the definition is the occurrence of a stressor – before addressing the support specific literature we must look at literature regarding stressors and how we can influence their effect on performance.

·         Two main models suggested by the likes of Cassel (1976) are the stress buffering model and the lower stress model. Diagrams.

·         Stress buffering model applicable as stressor (lack of technical advice) has already occurred.  Link with stress process.

·         If the stressor is allowed to go unchallenged then researchers such as Gould (1996) have shown that a long term decrease in performance can occur followed by possible withdrawal from sport. That is to say if athlete feels that technical problems cannot be fixed then performance will steadily decrease.

·         Should be noted that authors such as Rees and Hardy (2000) have found that there is significant resistance by athletes to admit that support via psychologists can be beneficial – it is often thought that it shows mental weakness etc – this should be kept in mind when dealing with athletes – help should come from ‘non-threatening’ sources such as coaches and family members.

·         A key theoretical concept in support literature is the separation of support into perceived versus received elements. Papers by the likes of Rees (2007) and Freeman (2008) have noted that more often than not it is the athletes perception that there is a lack of support that causes the drop in performance – even though there may be plenty of sources willing to help (in this case family and friends).  It is also noted during research into assessing performer’s social support that realistically only perceived support can be measured, and that perceived support levels will have a greater effect on performance that received support levels (Cohen, 1985 and Barrera, 1983). It is theorised by Jones (1995) that this is because if athletes feel that support is unavailable should they need it, they tend to appraise stressors as more threatening than if support were available.