Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Longitudinal Trajectories of Perceived Stress and Control Among Athletes in Sports Competitions.

The aim of the study was to identify distinct trajectories of perceived stress and control in athletes across a season of sports competitions and whether these trajectory memberships could be predicted by subdimensions of the emotional intelligence (EI). Latent class growth analyses were performed on a five-stage longitudinal measurement plan (to cover the entire sporting season). Four hundred fifteen athletes answered to the Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Mastery Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Attainment of Sport Achievement Goal Scale. The analyses revealed two trajectories of perceived stress (one trajectory adapted and one maladapted to performance) and two trajectories of perceived control (one trajectory adapted and one maladapted to performance). Moreover, athletes with higher emotional intelligence emotion regulation scores belong significantly more to performance-adaptive trajectories. The obtained results could contribute to the advancement of emotional intelligence intervention programs to optimize the dynamics of perceived stress and control within the sporting season.