Assessing the relationship between pre- and post-game interpersonal emotions in women’s soccer teams

Researchers have identified that sport emotions are interpersonal and can be transferred between a team and its members. However, studies examining the transfer of emotions across different phases of competition are limited. Consequently, the present study examined the cross-sectional, autoregressive (stability), and cross-lagged (bidirectional) relationships between collective and group-based emotions over three consecutive football matches, whilst controlling for the performance outcome. Competitive female football players (N = 47, Mage = 20.06 years; SD = 1.67) completed a sport emotion questionnaire before and immediately after a match for three consecutive games. Players also completed a perfectionism towards teammates questionnaire one week prior to data collection at football matches. Bayesian dynamic structural equation modeling revealed that collective emotions were associated with group-based emotions pre-game, but this was the case only for positive emotions. In addition, perfectionism towards one’s teammates was associated with group-based emotions at pre-game assessment. Emotions experienced at pre-game assessment were relatively stable at post-game assessment. Finally, collective emotions at pre-game assessment predicted group-based emotions at post-game assessment. It would appear that while the performance outcome strongly shapes players’ group-based emotions following football matches, pre-game collective emotions may offer earlier indications of the likely intensity of an individual’s group-based emotional response post-game; particularly when those emotions are negative.