My Blog

When I was younger,
So much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's
Help in any way.
But now these days are gone,
I'm not so self assured,
Now I find
I've changed my mind
And opened up the doors.

--The Beatles "Help"

Okay, from the title of this post and the openning quote, it's easy to see how you might think this is about the Fab Four. But it's not. It's about the effects of perceived and received support on self-confidence.

The question for today: Does support really help us as athletes? And if it does, exactly what type of support is helpful? And can support really boost our self-confidence?

Psychologists draw a distinction between two different types of support: perceived and received. They are actually quite different and have as little as 20% in common. While you might think that received support is really what counts, reconsider. If you are in a performance slump, it may be that just knowing someone is available to help you if you need it can get you back on track.

One of the things support does is protect us from the effects of stress. Researchers have proposed two ways in which this happens. First, the perception that others are there to help us may "buffer" us from the psychological/emotional threat caused by a stressor and lead us to feel more in control and see the stressor as less stressful. Second, once we experience stress, having support might provide a solution to or distraction from the problem.

Two researchers from the University of Exter in the UK looked at 222 athletes to try to get a better picture of how this all works. Two weeks before an important competition they asked athletes to fill out a measure of perceived support. On the day before the competition, athletes filled out measures of stressors, stress, received support and self-confidence.

What did the researchers conclude? That there are beneficial effects of social support upon self-confidence. Okay. No big deal. We all know that, right?

But there was more. Turns out that the distinction between perceived and received support is important.

The researchers write that,

although perceived support can buffer the negative effect of stress up to a point, if the situation remains unresolved an individual might actually need to receive support to cope with the ongoing demands.

As a side note, the researchers were able to identify two specific forms of actual support that athletes find helpful. Emotional support included things like having someone with whom you can talk things through, someone who helps take your mind off of things, and someone who is always there for you. Esteem support included things like having someone who reinforces your positives, someone who believes in you, and someone who lifts your morale.

Now that you know this, what can you do?

• First, identify who is in your support group. Is it other athletes you train with? Your coach? Your family? If you can't come up with anyone get to work. Having support is necessary -- not optional -- if you are going to succeed as an athlete.

• Second, let you support group know you need them to be supportive. Don't take it for granted that they know. As athletes, we can often come of as highly independent, not needing help from anyone. Your support group can't support you if they don't know you need their support.

• Third, let them know that you need their actual support. If anything, the research shows that just knowing they are there for you isn't enough. They have to actually be there for you. You may have to take some responsiblity for that. For example, if you don't let your support network know when you are competing it will be hard for them to show up to cheer you on.

Speaking of support, those of you who have watched the counter at the bottom of the right hand column of this blog, you will have noticed that we are quickly approaching the 3000th visitor to this site. I need your help to get over that hump. If you know anyone that might enjoy this blog and find it useful, send him or her our way. To help accelerate the process of crossing the 3000 mark, there will be a SportsMinded t-shirt (with the new SportMinded logo) to the 3000th visitor. All you have to do is post a comment on the most current blog entry letting me (and all the other readers) know you were number 3000. And if you're the friend who "referred" the 3000th visitor, we'll send a t-shirt your way as well.

Of course, even if you are not the 3000th visitor your comments are always welcome. In fact, it would be great to hear from you. With nearly 3000 people visiting this site, I'm a bit curious. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? So if you get a moment, just post a comment and introduce yourself.

Reference: Rees, T. & Freeman, P. (2007). The effects of perceived and received support on self-confidence. Journal of Sport Sciences, 25, 1057-1065.