Associations between competitive anxiety, athlete characteristics and sport context: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: There is a vast literature investigating the possible associations between competitive anxiety, athlete variables and sports context. As far as we are concerned, there is no study which has compiled such findings to produce more robust evidence on this topic. Objectives: The aim of the study was to conduct an exploratory systematic review of the literature followed by a meta-analysis in order to investigate possible associations between competitive anxiety, socialdemographic characteristics, profile of the athlete and sports context. Methods: Systematic searches of PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Lilacs and SciELO electronic databases were performed to identify studies published between January 2006 and January 2018, including a manual search in the references of the selected studies. Results: A total of 59 studies were included for qualitative synthesis and 27 for meta-analysis. More robust associations were observed between competitive anxiety and female gender, lower age, and less experience time. Discussion: Knowing the variables which exert influence on competitive anxiety can be relevant to plan specific treatment and intervention programs, enabling the athlete´s development beyond technical and physical preparation.

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“…While competitive anxiety includes somatic and cognitive domains, Rocha &Osório (2018) revealed that athletes, who are female and younger, have a higher competitive anxiety score. While the difference between male and older athletes is not big, less experienced athletes experience higher competitive anxiety (Rocha &Osório, 2018). In addition, no difference was revealed between athletes with different competitive levels (Rocha &Osório, 2018).…”

“…While the difference between male and older athletes is not big, less experienced athletes experience higher competitive anxiety (Rocha &Osório, 2018). In addition, no difference was revealed between athletes with different competitive levels (Rocha &Osório, 2018). Higher competitive anxiety among athletes engaged in individual sport explains the negative impact of competitive anxiety on the powerlifting athletes' performance (Judge et al, 2016).…”

Even Warriors Can be Scared: A Survey Assessing Anxiety and Coping Skills in Competitive CrossFit Athletes

“…Previous investigations into the occurrence of anxiety revealed the highest levels in individual sports [11]. Although the reasons are still a matter of debate, it could be argued that here, the focus of the audience is not distributed between multiple athletes and that own failures cannot be compensated by teammates [11].…”

“…Interestingly, in a variety of sports (running, skiing, track and field, swimming, basketball, tennis, football), considerable levels of competition anxiety have been demonstrated [8][9][10]. Among the different types, the magnitude of fear is higher in individual when compared to team sports [11]. While arguably creating situational discomfort, anxiety can have even more severe consequences than this, causing performance decrements [8][9][10] and a higher risk for burnout [12,13].…”

Goal setting as a method of self-regulation in curler athletes with different levels of pre-competition anxiety

“…Соревновательная тревожность у мужчин находится на среднем уровне, у женщинна самом высоком. Полученные результаты созвучны с выводами других специалистов, установивших значительную разницу в состоянии тревожности у спорт сменов и спортсменок индивидуальных и командных видов спорта до и во время соревнований, где женщины получали высокие баллы по данному параметру (Perry, Williams, 1998;Thatcher еt al., 2004;Cartoni еt al., 2005;Parnabas, Mahamood, 2010;Schaal еt al., 2011;Rocha, Osório, 2018). Отсутствие значимых гендерных различий по ситуативной тревожности следует объяснять тем, что, вероятно, данная шкала представляет тревожность как реакцию на конкретные ситуации, но не как интегральный показатель во всех связанных случаях.…”