An examination of the relationship between sport performers' organizational stressor dimensions, physical health, and well-being

Whilst research has assessed the multidimensional nature of organizational stressors, an overlooked dimension is severity. This study, therefore, aimed to develop and initially validate a response scale for assessing the severity of organizational stressors encountered in sport, before examining the relationship between organizational stressor severity, physical health, and well-being. Additionally, the study investigated if stressor severity mediated the relationship between stressor occurrence and outcomes (controlling for neuroticism). 403 sport performers (186 male; Mage = 21.43, SD = 3.89) completed a questionnaire assessing organizational stressors, physical health, well-being, and neuroticism, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modelling. The severity of organizational stressors had a significant, negative relationship with physical health (r = -.374, p < .001), but no significant relationship with hedonic or eudaimonic well-being (p = .624 and .203, respectively). Through mediation analysis, direct effects were found for neuroticism (β = -0.632, p < .001) and stressor frequency (β = -0.226, p = .016) on physical health. When adding stressor severity as a mediator, stressor frequency positively predicted stressor severity (β = 1.025, p < .001); however, the indirect effect of stressor frequency on physical health via stressor severity (β = -0.018, p = .885) and the direct effect between stressor frequency and physical health (β = -0.191, p = .204) were non-significant. These novel findings highlight that higher stressor severity is associated with higher physical health complaints, and that repeated exposure to stressors may heighten an individual’s vulnerability to future stressors. However, importantly, the findings also illuminate the need for future studies to control for neuroticism and be cautious of combining stressor dimensions in regression models due to potential suppressor effects. Practically, the new severity subscale can help to monitor sport performer’s stressors so that practitioners can intervene accordingly to optimize physical health.