Operating under pressure: A scoping review on stress, anxiety, and coping in sport officials

Officials experience a range of external (e.g., abuse, peer conflict, competition pressures) and internal stressors (e.g., fear of making mistakes). Despite the importance of officials, and their pressurized work environment leaving them susceptible to stress, a thorough review of stress, anxiety, and coping in this population has yet to be conducted. As such, the aim of this review is to map existing research on stress, anxiety, and coping in officials and thereby identify gaps in the literature. Following the framework by Arksey and O'Malley (2005), four databases were searched for articles that met inclusion criteria. Fifty-three articles were included in this scoping review which were conducted across 19 countries and included diverse samples in terms of officiating level and age. However, of the total 10,341 participants, only 8.8 % were women. Synthesized article findings highlight that officials experience multiple stressors which were situational, relational, and/or organizational in nature. Officials attempted to combat stress and anxiety through various coping strategies, but approach-coping was deemed to be the most useful. The consequences of stress, anxiety, and an inability to cope included poor decision making and performance, burnout, and intentions to quit. Although findings present valuable insights into stress and coping in officials, 32 % of research was conducted pre-2000, meaning the current body of literature may not reflect how stress is experienced by officials in modern sporting environments. Future researchers should broaden study scope, employ more qualitative study designs, and diversify participant sampling.