The study was designed to examine the competitive state anxiety and self-confidence of rhythmic gymnasts participating in the Greek national competition. 86 participants, ages 11 and 12 years, completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, 1 hr. before competition. The athletes, classified by performance (high and low performance) and participation in the finals (finalists and nonfinalists), responded to the three subscales: Cognitive Anxiety, Somatic Anxiety, and Self-confidence. Analyses indicated differences in Self-confidence between high versus low performance groups and finalists versus nonfinalists. No significant differences were found on Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety. In a regression analysis, Self-confidence was the only significant predictor of performance for this sample. Implications refer to the development of strategies to enhance self-confidence in order to improve the gymnast's performance during competition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.