The relationship of coping strategies and performance–goal discrepancy (PGD) with positive and negative effects in sprinter runner of Iranian university students

This study examined the relationship between coping strategies and performance–goal discrepancy (PGD) with positive and negative effects before and after the competition. Sixty-two Iranian male sprinter runners, aged from 21 to 26 years, completed the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997) and the PANAS (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) questionnaire two hours before and six hours after the competition. The score performance–goal discrepancy (PGD) achieved from difference of person predicted record and competition record. The results showed that the relationship of problem-focused strategies and negative effect was negative and the relationship of emotion-focused strategies and positive effect was positive before and after the competition. Also the results showed that the relationship of problem-focused strategies and positive effect was positive after the competition. The results of path analysis did not indicated that coping strategies mediated the PGD and negative effect relationship, prior and after the competition.