Positive Psychological Characteristics, Mental Health in High Skaters During COVID-19 Lockdown (Características Psicológicas Positivas, Salud Mental en Patinadores de Alto Rendimiento Durante el Confinamiento por COVID-19)

The aim of this study was to assess the emotional state, habits and routines (measured through an ad-hoc questionnaire), personality traits (LOT-R, PFRS and COPE-28) and mental health (EBP and GHQ-12) of 71 Spanish high-performance skaters (38 men and 33 women) during COVID-19 confinement. The results indicate a good adaptation of the athletes at the cognitive, emotional and behavioural levels during the confinement. Skaters stand out for optimism, resilience and an active coping style, which may be positive regulators of the behavioural response. Distress is associated with lower resilience and greater avoidance coping. Women presented worse emotional response and greater difficulty to sleep than men. It was concluded that the athletes examined presented a positive profile that makes them cope adequately with confinement, in which potential gender differences need to be considered.