A Comparison of the Intensity and Direction of State and Trait Anxiety During Practice and Competition Among NCAA Division I College Athletes

Previous research on anxiety in sport has focused on determining differences between groups of individuals such as youth versus adults and sport participants versus non-sport participants Overall, little research has been performed to determine state and trait anxiety differences among athletes at the college level Furthermore, a majority of anxiety research has focused on how differing levels of anxiety influence performance, rather than on how individuals perceive their own anxiety (Weinberg & Gould, 1995). Research does show a relationship between performance and facilitative or debilitative perceptions of anxiety (Jones, Hanton, & Swain, 1994). Facilitative and debilitative anxiety research findings, however, have focused on state anxiety more so than trait anxiety The main purpose of this investigation was to determine differences in the amount and direction of perceptions of anxiety among college athletes by gender, age, grade point average, academic classification, participation status, scholarship status, and team versus individual sport participants Male (n=66) and female (n=36) collegiate athletes from a southeastern university completed modified versions (similar to Jones & Swain, 1992) of the Sport Competition Anxiety Test and Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990) Results indicated no significant differences between variables on the intensity of anxiety Furthermore, no significant differences between variables were revealed on the perception of direction of trait, cognitive, or somatic anxiety. Significant score on the anxiety inventories, males scoring low in self-confidence perceived self confidence as significantly less facilitating than males scoring high in self-confidence. No other significant differences were found between males and females scoring high and low on trait, cognitive, and somatic anxiety. No significant differences were found on anxiety intensity and perception of direction of anxiety before a practice and competition