1. Introduction
It would be appropriate to define well-being as a state of equilibrium or balance that can be affected by life events or challenges [
1]. In the sports field, the impact on well-being has usually focused on the physical manifestation, rather than its cognitive management [
2], as there is comparatively less research on the mental health of athletes. However, the interest in this subject is growing. It is known that the mental demands placed on athletes are a unique aspect of a sporting career, and these may increase their susceptibility to certain mental health problems [
3].
Coaches and athletes are two of the most important human stakeholders of the game and relations between them have been studied in depth by the scientific community over recent years. The importance of the coaching climate on the well-being of young athletes has been clearly demonstrated [
4,
5], and researchers have focused on how the quality of the coach–athlete relationship is linked to athletes’ well-being [
6,
7]. Furthermore, the importance of these relations is even greater when dealing with young athletes [
8,
9] or different genders [
10].
Young players attach great importance to how the coach transmits information and having a coach who generates a positive motivational climate in the team [
11], as opposed to one whose ego is a negative characteristic [
12]. Furthermore, a coach with a healthy interpersonal style improves the well-being of younger players [
13], and his/her autonomy improves their motivation, self-confidence, and satisfaction.
A high-quality coach–athlete relationship is a fundamental precursor to athletes’ optimal functioning and promotes a series of positive circumstances, such as greater enjoyment and compromise [
14,
15]. There is evidence in the literature that personal dialogue with the coach enhances the athlete´s skills [
16]. However, this dyad presents areas of emotional isolation, disagreements, and incompatibility [
17]. Differences between genders with respect to the perception of interpersonal relationships are considered to be a determining factor in the relationship between coaches and players [
18]. A study conducted in the UK on females revealed the powerful and often overbearing role of the coach and gendered ideologies concerning women’s sporting abilities [
19]. Negative perceptions of coaches were also shown by female athletes concerning long and poor speeches or unexpected approaches [
20].
Not only do the perceptions and actions of coaches cause negative effects, but the players’ own feelings about their personal state could compromise their well-being. The perception of pain, lack of hydration [
21], lack of energy, fatigue [
22], or sleep loss [
23] can reduce his/her comfort during the game and directly affect the player’s stress, attention, or activation, among other psychological variables. In addition, previous literature has shown that interventions in five psychological areas could influence women basketball players [
24]. These five topics are: (1) motivation, one of the driving forces that underlie the effort and dedication of the athlete and can be fueled by a wide variety of factors [
25]; (2) stress, one of the most frequent causes of the abandonment of competitive children’s sports [
26]; (3) self-confidence, an aid or an obstacle for the athlete [
27]; (4) activation, important for the athlete to detect the responses they produce and know that these may be different depending on the stimulus [
28]; and (5) attention, allows for the selection between internal and external stimuli that demand further processing.
Although there are studies that focus on the coach and young players [
29,
30], there is a lack of those that emphasize the negative effects, specifically in basketball. There is also no study found that simultaneously evaluates both stakeholders (coach and athlete). Consequently, the aim of the study was to design and validate a questionnaire (Negative Factors Affecting Well-being Players (NFAPW)) to measure the well-being of basketball players and track the negative psychological effects from two perspectives (coach and athlete).
4. Discussion
The two objectives of the study were to design a valid and reliable instrument to assess the factors that negatively influence the well-being of basketball players and to analyze the players’ gender and experience influence on these factors. Regarding these objectives, our results confirm the psychometric properties of the NFAPW and showed a gender influence on the perception of the factors that negatively affect the well-being of the players, both in the coach dimension (
p < 0.001), and in the total scale (
p = 0.001), with large effects [
44].
According to the previous literature, our content and comprehension validation obtained adequate values [
38]. The EFA determined that the two-factor model explained 62.08% of the variance. In addition, the CFA results provided optimum values of CFI, RMSEA, and SRMR that confirmed the excellent fit of the proposed model [
40]. Moreover, the Cronbach’s alpha values obtained from each dimension, and from the total scale, ratified its internal consistency [
41].
Hence, the NFAPW instrument allows for the evaluation of the player’s perception of the factors that negatively affect their well-being. This two-factor model determines which negative effects originate in the actions carried out by the coach or the players’ feelings. Furthermore, the NFAPW could help to determine the well-being of the players and facilitate the diagnosis of intervention programs with greater control.
The use of the NFAPW Questionnaire indicated well-being differences based on gender. Similarly, other studies suggest females are more vulnerable on a psychological level to external factors than men, especially when they feel that the complexity of the task increases [
45], identifying the coach as a potential stressful external agent. Female players experience many stressful stimuli during the competition [
46], the coach being one of them [
47] and probably the most influential since the coach–athlete relationship is mutually stressful [
44]. Variables like autonomy could be affected, and the outcomes would confirm the results of a study in which boys had higher levels of autonomy than girls, due to competence emerging as a predictor of flow [
48]. Low self-confidence may lead the athletes to have insecurities and doubts in their decisions because they do not realistically know whether they are capable of coping effectively. This can cause the athlete to see the task as being too complicated with respect to the resources he or she has, generating a poor performance based on a poor perception of self-efficiency and not because of a lack of real skills [
49].
In summary, females are more affected by the coach than males during competition. Thus, it would be very interesting to work on these variables, particularly when the player feels that they are not performing at the level that the activity demands, since their level of anxiety can be increased, generating imbalances that could decrease performance until there is an abandonment of the sport [
50,
51,
52]. However, in the player dimension, the NFAPW did not show any significant differences between gender, probably because during the game, feelings of lack of sleep, tiredness, lack of hydration, energy, and muscle pain are common to both genders of basketball players.
Regarding the experience, our participants’ ages ranged from 16 to 23 (
M = 20.12 ± 1.71) with a minimum of five years practicing basketball. We did not find significant differences between the less experienced and more experienced players in any dimension (coach and player). However, young athletes have a high level of intrinsic motivation so they may be more sensitive to the coach’s actions. According to the previous literature, early experiences influence the motivation to continue training in the long term [
30]. Hence, the coach should know how to maintain the intrinsic motivation of each player to improve the training process and avoid these results.
It is important to highlight that the athletes are also stressors for the coach. Coaches should manage young athletes’ psychological needs [
44]. It is known that coaches that have autocratic behaviors and are nervous or anxious can produce fear, hesitation, and doubt in players [
53,
54]. Conversely, coaches with self-awareness can have an amazingly positive impact on players [
55]. Furthermore, a good motivational climate, avoiding negative feedback and supporting the autonomy of the player, is positively related to their basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness [
56]. Accordingly, when the coach acts as a mentor during the training process, he/she can provide the necessary guidance for the younger players to reach higher levels [
57]. In this line, athletes who experienced intense coach-related acute stress are more likely to have and need coping styles for stress [
58]. Therefore, as long as the coaches avoid actions that produce stress in their players, they can positively affect their athletes’ well-being.
From the player dimension, acceptance-based interventions gained empirical support for the treatment of a broad range of psychological difficulties with athletes [
59]. Internal cognitive and emotional states do not need to be eliminated to facilitate positive behavioral outcomes. Rather, it has been suggested that alternative strategies to improve the well-being may aim towards the acceptance of the present moment and internal experiences during the game [
60], such as thoughts; feelings; physical sensations, like pain, fatigue, or lack of hydration or energy; enhanced attention to external responses; and contingencies that are required during the competition.
In summary, if the players intend to practice the sport in optimal conditions, psychological needs must be met, and there should be a self-determined motivation for practice, a positive relationship with the coach, knowledge at a professional level [
8], family support, and the ability to effectively manage their own feelings as well as academics [
12].
Even though the NFAPW questionnaire is valid and reliable for analyzing two stakeholders (coach and player), some limitations should be considered. These two aspects represent only part of the factors that can influence the well-being of basketball players. Moreover, an analysis of more sports levels and other age categories could improve our results. Accordingly, further studies with robust methodologies, including the analysis of different parameters that could affect the psychological well-being of the player, such as the referee, rivals, teammates, the public, or competition factors, are recommended by the authors of this study. As practical applications, advisory programs for coaches and players with the aim of improving the management of potentially stressful situations in competitions should be included. In addition, the use of questionnaires like the NFAPW could help coaches know their athletes better and individually influence their performance. Lastly, to achieve players’ optimal well-being, the NFAPW could be used by coaches to improve their knowledge of emotional intelligence and to sum up coping skills to take proper care of the player.