Temporal patterning of competitive state anxiety and hormonal concentration in marathon canoeists

When competitive events are perceived as potentially stressful/challenging, the nature of the temporal patterning of multidimensional state anxiety prior to competition may be associated with changes in hormonal concentration. This investigation aimed to establish the differences in the temporal patterning of the intensity (i.e. the amount or level of anxiety), frequency (i.e. how often anxiety is being experienced) (Swain and Jones 1993, Journal of Sports Sciences, 11, 533-542) and direction (i.e. debilitating vs facilitating) (Jones and Swain, 1992, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 74, 467-472) of anxiety in response to an approaching competition, and the corresponding temporal differences in hormonal concentration, as a function of ability and directional perception of anxiety