Effect of Perceived Social Support and Coping Strategies on Athletes’ Anxiety of Covid-19

 The new Corona virus pandemic situation and the resulting Covid-19 disease have affected all aspects of human life, especially mental health. Considering the irreparable effects of the corona disease on athletes, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of perceived social support and coping strategies on athletes' Covid-19 anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 The method of current research work was descriptive-correlative in terms of quiddity, and cross-sectional in terms of time. The research statistical population was all football players of Semnan province league in adult category, where using the random sampling method, 208 people were selected as a sample. The research tools were 4 standard questionnaires of perceived social support by Zimmet et al. (1988), efficient coping strategies by Finset et al. (2002), and Corona anxiety by Lee (2020). Structural equations with variance-oriented approach were used to check the research hypotheses.

 The results of the research work showed that perceived social support and coping strategies have a negative and significant effect on athletes' Covid-19 anxiety. Also perceived social support has a positive and substantial effect on coping strategies.

 According to the results of the research work, it is possible to strengthen the level of social support and coping strategies of athletes by planning and psychological counseling in order to reduce the anxiety of the Covid-19 disease, and the mediating role of coping strategy was confirmed.