Relationship between Sports and Personal Variables and the Competitive Anxiety of Colombian Elite Athletes of Olympic and Paralympic Sports

Fabián Humberto Marín-González, Iago Portela-Pino, Juan Pedro Fuentes-García and María José Martínez-Patiño
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Fabián Humberto Marín-González: Faculty of Education and Sport Sciences, University Institution National Sports School, Calle 9 #34-01, Cali 760042, Colombia
Iago Portela-Pino: Department of Health Sciences, Isabel I University, 09003 Burgos, Spain
Juan Pedro Fuentes-García: Faculty of Sport Science, University of Extremadura, Av. de la Universidad S/N, 10003 Cáceres, Spain
María José Martínez-Patiño: Faculty of Sciences of Education and Sport, University of Vigo, 36005 Vigo, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Anxiety is one of the most complex and the most studied constructs in psychology, and it is extremely frequent in high-level sportsmen and women. The main goal was to study the influence of sex, age, type of sport, sport modality, other professional occupation, and competitive level on the competitive anxiety symptoms and self-confidence of elite athletes. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with Colombian elite athletes who were members of the “Support to the Excellence Coldeportes Athlete” program. The total population studied included 334 Colombian elite athletes: mean age 27.10 ± 6.57 years old with 13.66 ± 6.37 years practicing his/her sports modality. The precompetitive anxiety symptoms of the participants were assessed using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory—2R (CSAI-2R). Results: Men showed higher levels of self-confidence than women. Younger athletes had a higher cognitive and somatic anxiety. The athletes of individual sports had a higher mean somatic anxiety than those of collective sports. The higher-level athletes had lower values of cognitive and somatic anxiety and higher levels of self-confidence. Finally, the values of anxiety symptoms positively correlated with each other, and negatively correlated with self-confidence. Conclusion: Individualised psychological intervention programs adapted to elite athletes are needed, considering the divergent results found in various variables of scientific interest.

Keywords: high performance; stress; self-confidence; sex; age; type of sport; sport modality; occupation; level (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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