Investigating a causal model of anxiety in sport

Three experiments tested the Martens, Vealey, and Burton (1990) model of competitive anxiety. In experiment one, perceived uncertainty of outcome, one of three hypothesised causes of state anxiety (A-state), was manipulated by assigning 72 golfers to either a low uncertainty group (LU), composed of unequal ability pairs, or a high uncertainty group (HU), consisting of equal ability pairs. In experiment two perceived importance, another hypothesised cause of A-state was manipulated by assigning 52 club golfers to either a low importance (LI) group that competed for three golf balls, or a high importance (HI) group that competed for a new pair of golf shoes. Experiment three tested the hypothesised interaction between perceived uncertainty and importance by manipulating both perceived uncertainty and importance with 100 golfers