Perfectionism, Mood States, and Choking in Asian University Baseball Players under Pressure during a Game

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among mood states, perfectionism, and choking, and to identify a mediating effect of perfectionism on the relationship between mood states and choking experienced by Asian university baseball players in extremely stressful situations during a game. Data collected from a total of 209 male university baseball players were analyzed using SPSS 21 and AMOS 21 statistical software. The mean age of study subjects was 20.25 years. Results are as follows. First, mood states had a positive influence on perfectionism. Second, mood states had no significant influence on choking. Third, perfectionism had a positive influence on choking. Lastly, perfectionism had a complete mediating effect on the relationship between mood states and choking. The study findings will provide basic data to relieve athletes’ psychological burdens, and prevent manifestations of extreme perfectionism and choking, which can ultimately help athletes maintain high self-control of their mood states and perfectionism for better performance.

Mediating Effect of Competitive State Anxiety on the Relationship between Mood States and Perceived Performance Experienced by Asian Male Baseball Players from Universities in Choking under Pressure Situations

“…In addition, the primary conflict in the inconsistent research results is that changes in mood states do not necessarily lead to a change in performance. However, Yoon et al [4] identified that changes in mood states that occur in the presence of perfectionism become an indirect variable that causes choking, which supports the inference that certain factors mediate in the influence relationship between changes in mood states and perceived performance. We believe it is necessary to study these mediating factors, and that is the objective of this study.…”

“…To help subjects fully understand the term "choking under pressure situations (extremely stressful situations [4])", we spent the first 10 minutes of each survey session defining the concept for the players before they completed their questionnaires. The most common definition suggests that choking is "a sudden decrease in the execution of skill and performance considerably when athletes believe that they can not meet standards set by themselves.…”

“…Athletes normally identify the choking event as a dramatic, catastrophic and acute decline in performance standards when they are exposed to high levels of pressure [7,69]. Also, Yoon et al [4] defined choking as a sudden and abnormal change in mood states during a game that causes athletes to underperform under extreme pressure or allows them to exert intense concentra-tion. For instance, when a losing team has a chance to come from behind in the bottom of the ninth inning at a critical moment with bases loaded and a score of 4-3, everyone on the team should be performing to the best of their ability, but everyone might not.…”

“…In highly competitive sports, athletes are inevitably exposed to psychological pressure and thus experience increased anxiety, especially when they find themselves choking under pressure during a game [4]. If athletes interpret the increased anxiety positively, their performance can improve [5], but if they perceive their anxiety negatively or as something out of their control, it can amplify, leading to choking under pressure [4,[6][7][8].…”

“…Therefore, if athletes can cope with high pressure during intense game situations, they can perform to the best of their ability [4,9]. Hill, Hanton, Fleming and Matthews [10] found that cognitive restructuring using cognitive behavioral strategies such as imagery training and pre-performance routine exercises can reduce psychological pressure and alleviate choking under pressure.…”