Assessing Socio-Demographic Factors and Stress Management Techniques on Coaches’ Performance in Ghana

Abstract

The study looked into the predictive value of demographic and socio-demographic factors, stress-induced factors, and stress-coping strategies with respect to sports performance and psychological aspects of coaches in the Ghanaian public universities. The survey design adopted was cross-sectional. A census sampling technique was also used to select 130 university sports coaches. The data were analysed through a General Linear Model (GLM) as well as Pearson correlation. The findings indicated that socio-demographic factors, especially age, marital status, coaching experience, and coaching specialisation, were significant predictors of stress-induced factors and performance indices of sports. Marital status (p =.018), coaching experience (p =.058) and coaching specialisation (p =.066) had a positive impact on the sports performance and the level of stress, respectively, indicating that the specialised coaching roles might put coaches in a position of experiencing stress factors that are unique to them. The study also found that there is a weak positive relationship between stress-related variables and decreased mental well-being (r = .263, p =.003), which means that an increase in stress level is associated with a decrease in mental health among coaches. Descriptive statistics indicated that the mean rate of perception of stress (M = 4.30, SD = 0.44) and the mean rate of mental well-being (M = 3.42, SD = 0.50) were high and medium, respectively, which means that the participants were highly exposed to stress and had a wide range of coping ability. Factorial analysis of correlation revealed that unrealistic administrative expectations, heavy workload, insufficient institutional support, and personal problems were the major stressors (all p < .01), which highlight the compounding nature of organisational and interpersonal pressure in the coaching performance and well-being. These results point out that stress associated with a coaching job is a multifaceted phenomenon in university sports and that socio-demographic factors moderate it. The research suggests specific institutional procedures that aim at reducing stress factors, fair distribution of workload, and better system support to contribute to the best mental health and performance levels in university sports coaches in Ghana.