Perfectionism and psychological (in)flexibility as predictors of coping strategies in fencers

Background: Coping strategies refer to the repertoire of behaviors used to manage challenging and stressful relational situations. Objective: The aim was to examine the association between perfectionism, psychological inflexibility, and coping strategies in fencers, taking gender differences into account. Methods: Psychological inflexibility was assessed using the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II; perfectionism with the Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport; and coping strategies with the short version of the Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport. Seventy-eight fencers took part, with a mean age of 29.19 (SD 10.68) years, of whom 61.5% were men. Results: Among women, adaptive perfectionism positively predicted task-oriented strategies (β = .472), while the predictive capacity of psychological inflexibility was not significant. Among men, the regression models for emotion‑oriented coping strategies were significant. Maladaptive perfectionism made a very robust (β = .540) and significant prediction, while the predictive contribution of psychological inflexibility decreased, keeping only residual significance. For distraction-oriented strategies, psychological inflexibility was the sole significant predictor found (β = .290). Conclusions: Gender moderates the influence of maladaptive perfectionism and psychological inflexibility on coping mechanisms.