Coaching leadership behaviors and athletes’ psychological resilience: The role of autonomy-supportive and relational coaching practices

Psychological resilience is an important resource that helps athletes cope with stress and maintain performance in sport settings, and coaching leadership behaviors may play a role in shaping this capacity. This study examined the relationship between athletes’ perceptions of coaching leadership and psychological resilience using hierarchical regression analyses. A total of 181 athletes (39.8% women) from different sport disciplines completed measures of leadership behaviors, resilience, and demographic characteristics. The results showed that leadership behaviors explained a significant proportion of variance in resilience beyond demographic factors. Higher social support and lower levels of autocratic coaching were associated with greater resilience, whereas democratic behavior and training and instruction did not contribute significantly when all leadership dimensions were considered together. Athletes with more years of sport experience reported higher resilience, while age and other demographic variables were not significant. Sport participation level was also examined as an additional contextual factor. These findings indicate that supportive coaching practices and lower controlling behaviors are associated with athletes’ ability to cope with challenges in sport contexts.