Superstitious Behaviour in Sportspersons in Relation to Their Performance at Intercollegiate Level

Journal Title: INDIAN JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH - Year 2019, Vol 6, Issue 2

Abstract

Background: Superstitions are beliefs that fate is governed by uncontrollable external forces. Superstitions play a key role in sports since they associate with activities involving danger and lack of predictability. There has been a dearth of studies regarding the effect such superstitious beliefs have on athletes’ performance, and on the looking superstitions from a qualitative perspective, specifically on Indian population, hence this study aims to explore the various superstitious beliefs (SB) endorsed by team sportspersons at intercollegiate level and analyze how these beliefs affect their sports performance. This study also aimed at analysing the gender differences within different team sports. Methods: Data was collected using purposive and snowball sampling technique. 50 sportspersons from badminton, basketball, football, cricket, hockey, and volleyball participated. Semi- structured interviews were conducted to obtain rich data. Content analysis was carried out to obtain the emerging themes. Results: The major themes which emerged from the data include nature, origin, frequency, impact, intentionality, evolution, and orientation of superstitions in reality. Conclusion: Further research is needed in the Indian context regarding sensitivity towards superstitious and the need to incorporate them in coaching for enhancing performance.

Authors and Affiliations

Bhoomi Gupta, Siddharth Dutt

Keywords

Related Articles

Prevalence of Anxiety and Depressive disorders and the Role of Coping Strategies in females with Infertility

Background: Adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders are amongst the most common psychiatric morbidities in infertile women in previous studies. Different women cope with the unpredictable, chronic stress of infertil...

The Effect of Sleep Disorder on Emotional Empathy and Quality of Life

Background: Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. The damage...

A comparative study of family impact in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disability

Background : Parents of children with ADHD/ Learning Disability (LD) have high levels of stress and lack of familiarity with their child’s disorder resulting in a significant impact on their lives; we studied this impact...

Effect of Raja Yoga on Depression and Anxiety

Raja Yoga is a therapy which is comparatively new and widely practiced. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of Raja Yoga for treating depression and anxiety. This was a quantitative research and data was c...

A Study to assess the prevalence of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Interns across the State of Maharashtra, India

Background and Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Interns in Medical Colleges and associated hospitals across Maharashtra...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP606806
  • DOI 10.30877/IJMH.6.2.2019.192-202
  • Views 72
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Bhoomi Gupta, Siddharth Dutt (2019). Superstitious Behaviour in Sportspersons in Relation to Their Performance at Intercollegiate Level. INDIAN JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH, 6(2), 192-202. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-606806