In the field of water-based sports, there has been a lack of research on how place
attachment plays a role in people's perception of stressful situation and their choice
of coping strategies. This investigation examined the moderating role of place
attachment on the relationship between stress level, appraisal, and coping strategies
among water-based sports participants. Data collected from 462 visitors to Lake
Chungpyung, Korea, offered support for our hypothesized model. Results indicated
that higher levels of stress in water-based sports situations had a positive impact on
appraisal of potentially stressful factors at the lake. The appraisal of stressful
situation also had positive impacts on behavioral (i.e., displacement, resource,
activity, temporal substitution, and direct action) and cognitive coping (i.e.,
rationalization). For the moderating effect of place attachment, our invariance
testing illustrated that water-based sports participants with higher place attachment
tended to select diverse types of behavioral coping while those with lower place
attachment considered fewer coping options.