Generalization of social anxiety to sporting and athletic situations: Gender, sports involvement, and parental pressure

Abstract

Although researchers have documented that social anxiety may occur in a wide range of interpersonal and performance situations, little attention has been paid to the potential influence of social anxiety on participation in athletics or physical activity. The performance demands of sport and potential social evaluative nature of exercise make it likely that social anxiety would generalize to these situations. Given the physical and psychological benefits of engaging in regular physical activity, avoidance of such activities by socially anxious individuals may have profound health consequences. One‐hundred and eighty undergraduate university students completed a battery of standardized social anxiety measures, and a series of 5‐point Likert‐type questions examining fear and avoidance of sporting and athletic situations. Results indicated that social anxiety and fear of negative evaluation were generally related to social‐evaluative fears in sporting or athletic situations, particularly for women. Furthermore, social anxiety was positively correlated with avoidance of individual sporting activities, but not with avoidance of team activities. Further analyses revealed social anxiety did not differ by competition level. However, for men, familial pressure to play sports during high school was associated with higher fear of negative evaluation. Implications for the assessment and treatment of social anxiety disorder are discussed. Depression and Anxiety 12:193–202, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

A mind-body approach for precompetitive anxiety in power-lifters: 2 case studies

“…Second, they often compete in front of an audience, which in itself can induce performance anxiety. [11][12][13][14] Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) is a stressreduction intervention that has been shown to diminish emotional arousal in phobics. 15,16 Hence, it was hypothesized that NET may be effective in lowering precompetitive anxiety in athletes as well.…”

Physical activity, bodyweight, health and fear of negative evaluation in primary school children

“…This relationship may be explained by considering typical settings in which childhood PA is performed. Norton et al (2000) stated that sporting situations are frequently outcome-oriented and lend themselves to perceptions of negative evaluation. Even non-competitive PA is often observed and evaluated by others.…”

Junior Tennis Players’ Preferences for Parental Behaviors

“…Over-involvement includes parents over-emphasizing winning, having unrealistic performance expectations, or providing excessive criticism following competition (e.g., Gould et al, 2006;Gould, Tuffey, Udry, & Loehr, 1996). Such over-involvement may reduce children's enjoyment of sport (Brustad, 1996;Hellstedt, 1990), lower their selfconfidence and self-esteem (Gould et al, 1996;Leff & Hoyle, 1995), and increase anxiety (Norton, Burns, Hope, & Bauer, 2000;Ommundsen & Vaglum, 1991). Ultimately, overinvolvement may contribute to children burning out or dropping out of sport (Dale & Weinberg, 1990;Gould et al, 1996;Hellstedt, 1987).…”