Influence of task-involving motivational climate on stress management among open skill athletes

Background: Open skill sports such as football, basketball, hockey, and handball require athletes to continuously adapt to unpredictable and externally paced competitive environments. At the collegiate level, these demands are often compounded by academic and social stressors. A coach-created task-involving motivational climate emphasizing effort, learning, personal improvement, and cooperation has been suggested as a key factor in promoting adaptive coping and effective stress management. The present study examined the role of a task-involving motivational climate in enhancing stress management among open skill collegiate athletes from Kerala, India. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was employed with a sample of 200 open skill collegiate athletes (aged 18–25 years) drawn from various colleges and universities across Kerala. Participants represented sports including football, basketball, hockey, handball, and kabaddi. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires: the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire (PMCSQ), the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ), and a sport-adapted coping inventory. Stress management was assessed through measures of competitive anxiety and adaptive coping strategies. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations, hierarchical regression analysis, and mediation analysis were used for data analysis. Results: The findings indicated that a perceived task-involving motivational climate was significantly associated with better stress management, greater use of adaptive coping strategies, and lower levels of competitive anxiety among open skill collegiate athletes. Task-involving climate emerged as a significant predictor of stress management even after controlling for demographic and sport-related variables. Further analysis suggested that task orientation partially mediated the relationship between motivational climate and stress management. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of fostering a task-involving motivational climate in collegiate open skill sports settings. Coaches who emphasize mastery, effort, and learning may enhance athletes’ coping abilities and reduce stress, thereby supporting both performance and psychological well-being.