The Role of Experience, Perceived Match Importance, and Anxiety on Cortisol Response in an Official Esports Competition

Guillermo Mendoza, Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, José Ramón Alvero-Cruz, Iván Rivilla, Jerónimo García-Romero, Manuel Fernández-Navas, Margarita Carrillo de Albornoz-Gil and Manuel Jiménez
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Guillermo Mendoza: Departamento de Fisiología Humana, Histiología, Anatomía Patológica, y Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez: Faculty of Sports Science, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
José Ramón Alvero-Cruz: Departamento de Fisiología Humana, Histiología, Anatomía Patológica, y Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Iván Rivilla: Departamento de Didáctica de la Educación Física y Salud, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, 26002 Logroño, Spain
Jerónimo García-Romero: Departamento de Fisiología Humana, Histiología, Anatomía Patológica, y Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Manuel Fernández-Navas: Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, Universidad de Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Margarita Carrillo de Albornoz-Gil: Departamento de Fisiología Humana, Histiología, Anatomía Patológica, y Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Manuel Jiménez: Departamento de Didáctica de la Educación Física y Salud, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, 26002 Logroño, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-8

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to analyse the neuroendocrine stress response, psychological anxiety response, and perceived match importance (PMI) between expert and non-expert control gamers in an official competitive context. We analyzed, in 25 expert esports players and 20 control participants, modifications in their somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety, self-confidence, PMI, and cortisol in a League of Legends competition. We found how expert esports players presented higher cortisol concentrations (Z = 155.5; p = 0.03; Cohen’s d = ?0.66), cognitive anxiety (Z = 99.5; p = 0.001), and PMI (Z = 50.5; p < 0.001) before the competition than non-experts participants. We found a greater statistical weight in the cognitive variables than in the physiological ones. The results obtained suggest that real competitive context and player’s expertise were factors associated with an anticipatory stress response. The PMI proved to be a differentiating variable between both groups, highlighting the necessity to include subjective variables that contrast objective measurements.

Keywords: esport; stress; competition; cortisol; anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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