Effects of Self-Handicapping Strategies on Anxiety before Athletic Performance

Abstract

The purpose of the present experiment was to examine whether the use of selfhandicapping strategies influences participants’ anxiety levels before athletic performance. Seventy-one competitive basketball players participated in the study. A repeated measures design was used, such that state cognitive and somatic anxiety intensity and direction were measured before and after participants were given the opportunity to self-handicap. Overall, participants reported their cognitive anxiety to be more facilitating after they had the opportunity to self-handicap. Thus, participants who were given the opportunity to self-handicap (i.e., use claimed and behavioral self-handicaps), reported greater increases in perceptions of cognitive anxiety as facilitating their performance. This study shows the importance of looking at anxiety direction, and not just anxiety intensity, when examining self-handicapping’s effects on anxiety. Implications for sport psychologists are proposed.

Self-esteem, self-confidence, anxiety and claimed self-handicapping: A mediational analysis

“…Higher scores were indicative of greater claims of performance impediments and, consequently, greater claimed self-handicapping. This measure has been used in previous studies involving competitive athletes (Coudevylle et al, 2008a;Coudevylle, Martin Ginis, Famose, & Gernigon, 2008b;Coudevylle, et al, 2009;Kuczka & Treasure, 2005).…”

“…After having completed measures of self-esteem, anxiety (cognitive and somatic), selfconfidence, and claimed self-handicapping, participants then warmed-up and carried out a basketball task. This task was the same as that used in previous experimental designs intended to investigate self-handicapping (Coudevylle et al, 2008a(Coudevylle et al, , 2008b(Coudevylle et al, , 2009 and consisted of completing three repetitions of an obstacle course laid out on a standard basketball court.…”

An experimental investigation of the determinants and consequences of self‐handicapping strategies across motivational climates

“…Higher scores were indicative of greater claims of performance impediments and, consequently, greater self-handicapping. This is the same measure as reported by Coudevylle and colleagues (Coudevylle, Martin Ginis, Famose, & Gernigon, 2008b). With regard to the psychometric properties of the scale, studies have provided construct validity for this approach to measuring self-handicapping by demonstrating strong correlations between the claimed impact of performance impediments and theoretically meaningful constructs such as selfpresentational efficacy (Martin & Brawley, 2002), self-esteem, and performance self-efficacy (Coudevylle et al, 2008a;Martin & Brawley, 2002).…”

Self-Handicapping in Athletes: The Role of Self-Esteem, Achievement Goals and Fear of Failure

“…Bu çalışmaların çoğunluğunu tek bir branşta yer alan (basketbol, futbol, golf) profesyonel sporcular ve rekreatif etkinliklere katılan egzersiz katılımcıları oluşturmaktadır. 15,19,21,22,28,38,39 Bu çalışmada ise, bireysel ve takım sporlarının yer aldığı çeşitli spor branşlarında uğraşan üniversiteli sporcular yer almaktadır. Kendini sabotaj ile ilgili literatürde bulunan araştırmalardan ele alınan ça-lışma gruplarına nazaran, örnekleminin çeşitlilik gösteren spor branşlarından oluşması uluslararası literatürde yapılmış çalışmalardan farklılık göster-mektedir.…”