Multidimensional Sport Performance Anxiety in Female Athletes

Abstract

The prevalence of anxiety in adolescents range from 6% to 20%, worldwide and the prevalence rate is much higher in female athletes. Female athletes participating in sports experience different levels of stress from competitive sports. For most young athletes, generally 13 to 25 years old, i.e., high-school, college and university level sport participation is reported to be much stressful as compared to many other activities of daily routine. In general, the thought of competition provokes competitive anxiety in young people. A number of factors contribute to the development, severity, and persistence of anxiety related to sport participation. This research paper reviewed different theories of anxiety and a few limitations of the existing anxiety measuring tools. Finally SAS-2 was used to measure three different dimensions of anxiety i.e. somatic anxiety, worry and concentration/disruption. Participants’ age ranged from 19 to 34 years (M = 23.76 years; SD = 3.31). After testing the measurement invariance of, across type of sport, latent mean comparisons were investigated statistic was computed to obtain the corresponding effect sizes Significant differences were detected between male sports types. The results of this research provided evidence that anxiety is appraised differently by athletes based on their type of sport.