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Using a person‐centered approach, the present study aimed to investigate the coping profiles of adolescent football players involved in elite football training centers. The purposes were to (1) identify coping profiles based on the reported use of multiple coping strategies in response to competitive stress, (2) explore whether emotional competencies and psychological need satisfaction would predict coping profile membership, and (3) examine the extent to which coping profiles were differently associated with individual and team perceived stress, interpersonal coping, and subjective team performance, as well as demographic characteristics. A sample of 416 young French football players (males = 282; females = 134; Mage = 16.2; SDage = 1.2) from 12 elite football training centers participated in this study. Latent profile analysis results yielded three coping profiles allowing players to be grouped according to their preferences for a combined use of certain strategies (i.e., low copers, high disengaged copers, and high task copers). Results provided further insight into each coping profile membership by indicating the role played by intrapersonal emotional competence and psychological need satisfaction. Finally, differences between coping profiles have been shown in terms of individual perceived stress intensity, interpersonal coping approach, and gender. These findings provide a deeper understanding of adaptive coping profiles within a population of adolescent football players involved in elite training centers. Implications for developing and tailoring psychoeducational interventions for adolescent football players exhibiting a maladaptive coping profile (i.e., disengagement‐oriented coping profile) are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of how team sport athletes cope with stress in a collective way (i.e., communal coping , Lyons, Mickelson, Sullivan, & Coyne, 1998) is recent in sport. To date no questionnaire has been created to assess the specific communal coping strategies that team sport athletes use to cope collectively. The purpose of this study was therefore to develop and validate a questionnaire measuring communal coping at the team sport level (i.e., the Communal Coping Strategies Inventory for Competitive Team Sports - CCSICTS). Study 1 focused on creating items for the CCSICTS and tested their clarity and applicability. Study 2 tested the factorial structure of the CCSICTS with a sample of 371 Sport Science students. Study 3 examined the convergent validity of the questionnaire with other concepts such as affect, individual coping and cohesion. Study 1 resulted in the development of an initial pool comprising 66 items. The results of Study 2 showed that a model with 36 items fit the data well. These items measured 12 coping strategies, 11 of which are grouped into four higher-order dimensions. Study 3 showed congruent links between communal coping and tested concepts. The CCSICTS is the first known measure specifically created to capture the singularity of communal coping in team sports. The validation of this tool allows new investigations of communal coping mechanisms through quantitative studies. • The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire (i.e., the CCSICTS) measuring communal coping in team sports. • The structure of the CCSICTS consisted of 12 communal coping strategies, 11 of which are grouped into four higher order dimensions. • The CCSICTS is the first known measure specifically created to capture the singularity of communal coping in team sports. • The CCSICTS allows further investigations of communal coping process through quantitative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]