Esteem support and resilience

What is it about?

Evidence suggests that social support can improve sports performance and boost resilience in the face of long-term sporting setbacks (e.g., injuries). We tested whether social support in the form of reinforcement and encouragement (i.e., esteem support) helped people bounce back from a setback during a cycling time trial (i.e., demonstrate rebound resilience). We also tested whether this relationship was underpinned by participants' perceptions of pain, motivation toward the cycling task, and their challenge and threat appraisals of the setback.

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Photo by paolo candelo on Unsplash

Photo by paolo candelo on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings show that providing people with esteem support is an effective way to increase their capacity to bounce back from setbacks during sporting tasks (i.e., demonstrate rebound resilience). Our findings also show that this effect is underpinned by increases in task motivation but not by challenge appraisals, threat appraisals, or perceived pain.