El estado de la cuestión del optimismo en el deporte

Abstract

: Optimism is a positive psychological resource that is highly relevant in that it is a predictor of good health, better adaptive coping behaviours in the face of stressful events, less vulnerability to physical illness, better immunological functioning and better academic and sporting performance. Specifically in the field of sport, it is found that athletes are more optimistic than non-athletes, have less state-trait anxiety and greater self-confidence, as well as a greater perception of personal achievement in their performance and less emotional exhaustion. For all these reasons, optimism is a predictor variable of sporting success and is an outstanding psychological resource to be studied due to its high predictive power for the psychological well-being of the general population and athletes. LOT-Sport (LOT-S) is studied, which has the same limitations as its counterpart test for the general population (LOT-R), inadequate content validity and low and unstable reliability index, especially in young people. Taking this context into account, we propose the creation of new measures aimed at alleviating the limitations of the current instruments and optimism measurement, enhancing their construct validity and considering different approaches or theoretical models analogous to those used today. Thus, to be able to delimit and define with the greatest possible specificity, the study of a positive psychological resource that has a powerful predictive power in the sporting success and well-being of people.