An examination of the relationship between sport performers’ organizational stressor dimensions, physical health, and well-being

Whilst research has assessed the multidimensionality of organizational stressors, severity has been overlooked. This study aimed to develop and validate a severity response scale, before examining the relationship between organizational stressor severity, physical health, and well-being, and if severity mediated the relationship between stressor occurrence and outcomes. 403 sport performers (186 male; M _age = 21.43) completed a questionnaire assessing study variables and data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Organizational stressor severity had a significant, negative relationship with physical health (r = -.374, p <.001), but notwith hedonic or eudaimonic well-being (p =.624 and.203). Direct effects were found for neuroticism (β = -0.632, p <.001) and stressor frequency (β = -0.226, p =.016) on physical health; however, when adding severity as a mediator, stressor frequency positively predicted stressor severity (β = 1.025, p <.001); however, the indirect effect of stressor frequency on physical health via stressor severity (β = -0.018, p =.885) and the direct effect between stressor frequency and physical health (β = -0.191, p =.204) were non-significant. These novel findings highlight that higher stressor severity is associated with higher physical health complaints, and that repeated exposure to stressors may heighten an vulnerability to future stressors.