The aim of the study was to find predictors of athlete sensitivity to the positive or negative behaviors of supporters and determine a relationship between athletes’ sensitivity to the positive and negative behaviors of supporters and traits such as anxiety and stress or the strategies used to cope with stress. The sample consisted of 171 professional athletes. The study determined three variables that are predictors of athlete sensitivity to the positive behavior of supporters (SPS), i.e., strategies of coping with stress, such as high levels of coachability, confidence and achievement motivation and low levels of freedom from worry (change R2 = 0.15, F of change = 9.78, p of change < 0.001). The predictors of sensitivity to the negative behavior of supporters (SNS) are as follows: a low level of freedom from worry and a high level of fear of negative evaluation (change R2 = 0.31, F of change = 38.56, p of change < 0.001). In the context of the athlete’s position, the predictors of SPS for midfielders are as follows: high level of susceptibility to stress and two strategies of coping with stress, i.e., peaking under pressure and concentration. For forwarders they are as follows: high level of worry and coping with stress via goal-setting, while for defenders, the ways of coping with stress are confidence and achievement motivation. In terms of SNS, for defenders, the predictors are low levels of freedom from worry, coachability, and a high level of fear of negative evaluation. Forwarders, who are sensitive to the negative behavior of supporters, are characterized by a fear of negative evaluation.
The aim of this study was to determine the temperament and impulsiveness profile of short track athletes. Professional athletes (juniors and seniors), under training in the Polish National Team (Nfemale = 21, Nmale = 19, Mage = 20), completed The Temperament and Character Inventory- Revised (TCI-R (56)) and a shortened version of the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation-Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P). The results proved that skaters obtain higher scores than the general population on the temperamental scales i.e., persistence, harm avoidance and novelty seeking and impulsivity scales i.e., sensation seeking and positive urgency. After the cluster analysis, two homogeneous profiles of short track athletes were determined. The first profile includes athletes with high scores on the reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness, cooperativeness, temperamental and sensation-seeking impulsiveness scales coupled with low scores on the temperamental scale, harm avoidance and impulsiveness scales: positive urgency, negative urgency and the lack of perseverance. The second profile is the reverse of the first profile for the short track athletes.