Conceptualization of Sport-Confidence and Competitive Orientation: Preliminary Investigation and Instrument Development

Abstract

An interactional, sport-specific model of self-confidence was developed in which sport-confidence was conceptualized into trait (SC-trait) and state (SC-state) components. A competitive orientation construct was also included in the model to account for individual differences in defining success in sport. In order to test the relationship represented in the conceptual model, an instrument to measure SC-trait (Trait Sport-Confidence Inventory or TSCI), an instrument to measure SC-state (State Sport-Confidence Inventory or SSCI), and an instrument to measure competitive orientation (Competitive Orientation Inventory or COI) were developed and validated. Validation procedures included five phases of data collection involving 666 high school, college, and adult athletes. All three instruments demonstrated adequate item discrimination, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity. In the construct validation phase, the results supported several predictions based on the conceptual model.

Role of hope in academic and sport achievement.

“…The average (across the weeks of Study 2) Cronbach's alpha for the State Self-Esteem Scale was .69. (Vealey, 1986). A measure of selfefficacy was included in Study 2 because hope, in part, reflects perceptions of personal agency.…”

“…This may be similar to the pathways component of hope theory. Second, there is sport achievement self-efficacy, or situational sport confidence (Lemer & Locke, 1995;Vealey, 1986;Weinberg, Gould, & Jackson, 1979;Wurtele, 1986), which is related to Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory. Third, there is sport performance positive and negative affectivity (Crocker & Graham, 1995a, 1995bGould, Eklund, & Jackson, 1992a, 1992bMartin & Anshel, 1995;Renger, 1993;Terry, 1995), where one's derived sense of positive and negative emotions are related to perceptions of success or failure in a given situation.…”

The role of confidence in world-class sport performance

“…The conceptualization of sport confidence as specific and unique to sport was intended to enhance understanding in the field of sport psychology (Vealey, 1986). However, despite Vealey's (2001) proposals that sport confidence influences performance through its affect on how athletes think about, feel about, and respond to everything that happens to them in sport, the processes and mechanisms that underlie confidence have been largely ignored.…”

“…Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that the study of self-confidence has featured prominently in sport psychology literature, with social cognitive theories such as Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory and Vealey's (1986Vealey's ( , 1998Vealey's ( , 2001) models of sport confidence providing the basis for most of this work. Vealey provided the first model of sport confidence in 1986 in an attempt to develop a sport-specific framework and inventories to operationalize confidence in competitive sport.…”

“…Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990;Vealey, 1986;Vealey & Campbell, 1988;Vealey, Hayashi, Garner-Holman, & Giacobbi, 1998). Recent investigations within the stress domain have found self-confidence to be a moderating factor in the interpretation of pre-competition symptoms, where high confidence in some way protects or overrides debilitative interpretations of pre-competition emotions usually perceived as negative (i.e.…”