Percepción del estrés competitivo y cultura en futbolistas profesionales de Brasil y Portugal

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to compare how soccer players with different cultural backgrounds and a similar level of experience perceive the concept of stress. 18 Brazilian soccer players from the Brazilian National Team and 20 Portuguese players from the Portuguese National Team with mean of age 26.69 +- 4.1 and 26.05 +- 2.3 years were assessed using a Stress in Football Inventory. One trend was very clear. When items were assessed as being positive by both groups,the Brazilians tended to rate them in a significantly more positive way. Likewise, when items were negatively assessed by both groups, the Brazilians tended to assess them more negatively. What was perhaps most interesting was the high number of items that were assessed as having a totally opposite effect, with what was perceived by the Brazilians to be negative being seen as neutral or positive by the Portuguese. Cultural factors very probably explain the variance in perceptions of stress.