A Temporal Examination of Achievement Goals, Motivational Climate, and Anxiety in Collegiate Swimmers

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in relationships among achievement goal orientations, perceived motivational climate, and pre-competitive anxiety, with attention to possible gender and specialty training group differences among collegiate athletes across a competitive season. A sample of 42 (23 male, 19 female) collegiate swimmers and divers, ages 18-23, completed the Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport (AGQ-S), the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2), as well as the Competitive State Anxiety Questionnaire-2D (CSAI-2D) four times over their competitive season. A three-factor (wave X gender X training group) repeated measures MANOVA revealed significant interactions for wave by gender by training group. In addition, results indicated significant main effect differences for wave and specialty training group; however, no main effect was found for gender. Follow-up within subject one-way ANOVAs showed significant differences in the PMCSQ-2 and CSAI-2D subscales over the four waves of data collection. This suggests that these constructs are dynamic and can change over the course of a competitive season