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
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- EP ID EP606806
- DOI 10.30877/IJMH.6.2.2019.192-202
- Views 106
- Downloads 0
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