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The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify common sources of competitive state anxiety for athletes from various sports and competitive levels through the use of focus groups. Participants were 13 college students, seven males and six females, ranging in age from 20 to 26 years (M = 21.85 yrs., SD = 1.57). These athletes participated in basketball, volleyball, swimming, football, baseball, golf, tennis, soccer, ski racing, cheerleading, gymnastics, track and field, and wrestling, with all participants competing in multiple sports. Inductive content analysis identified two overarching themes, internal and external sources of anxiety. External theme categories included spectators, time, competitive level, setting, and consequences, whereas internal theme categories included investment, uncertainty, self-confidence and letting self or others down. Self vs. others and expectations were categories included in both themes. Results illustrate the individualized nature of competitive state anxiety.
Anxiety is defined as a negative emotional reaction that results from experiencing a demanding situation and appraising it as a threat (Lazarus, 1999). While demanding situations are not inherently negative (Wadey & Hanton, 2008), when they are interpreted as threatening anxiety is typically experienced (Burton & Raedeke, 2008; Lazarus, 1999). Experiencing this negative emotional state elicits various consequences, including elevated physiologic arousal interpreted as somatic anxiety, self-talk experienced as cognitive anxiety, and impaired performance (Burton & Raedeke, 2008). Due to the potential negative impact anxiety has on competitive performance, multiple lines of research have examined anxiety in sport (e.g., Martin & Hall, 1997; Perry & Williams, 1998; Zeng, Leung, & Liu, 2008). However, fewer studies have examined the specific sources of competitive state anxiety in sport (e.g., Guillén & Sánchez, 2009; Jones, Swain, & Cale, 1990). Seeking greater understanding of sources of anxiety seems to provide an avenue through which athletes can be helped to interpret these sources more positively, ideally resulting in more consistent performances. "Identifying, understanding, and addressing the sources of anxiety are of utmost importance for sport psychologists and coaches for the purpose of improving athletic performance" (Guillén & Sánchez, 2009, p. 416).
Antecedents of Competitive State Anxiety
Initial competitive anxiety research predominantly utilized quantitative methods striving to generalize results to a larger population (Neil, Mellalieu, & Hanton, 2009). Previous work has been conducted by a number of researchers with some...