Personality characteristics and competitive anxiety in individual and team athletes

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to investigate differences in personality and competitive anxiety depending on types of sports and gender, and to determine the influence of personality on competitive anxiety. Participants included 237 athletes (134 men and 103 women) who participated in the Thailand University Games, 2020. They were classified as individual (n = 114) and team (n = 123) athletes. Personality characteristics and competitive anxiety were assessed by using NEO five-factor inventory and sport competitive anxiety test. Differences between individual and team athletes and between gender were tested by using independent t-test. Relationships between personality and competitive anxiety were analyzed by using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was used to measure the contributions of personality on competitive anxiety. The results showed that competitive anxiety was significant difference between individual and team athletes (p = 0.03, d = 0.28). However, there was no difference in personality between groups. When compared between gender, there were significant differences in competitive anxiety (p < 0.001, d = 0.52) and the agreeableness (p = 0.04, d = -0.26) component of personality between female and male athletes. From the correlation analyzes, four characteristics of personality showed significant associations with competitive anxiety including neuroticism (r = -0.472, ρ < 0.001), extraversion (r = 0.184, ρ = 0.005), agreeableness (r = 0.147, ρ = 0.024), and conscientiousness (r = 0.202, ρ = 0.002). Among five personality factors, the neuroticism had minimally negative effect on competitive anxiety (β = -0.52) with percentage of prediction of 22%. These can be concluded that types of sport and gender are the important factors affecting personality and competitive anxiety. The athletes with certain personality traits were more susceptible to competitive anxiety. Importantly, the neuroticism could serve as a prediction of the competitive anxiety in all collegiate athletes.

Athletes with Eating Disorders: Analysis of Their Clinical Characteristics, Psychopathology and Response to Treatment

“…As we expected, the subgroup of aesthetic sports showed higher rates of dropouts and bad outcome than the non-aesthetic sports. These results were in accordance with the fact that these patients experienced more severity in clinical ED symptoms [26] and maladaptive personality features [68] that could condition worse prognoses and risks of chronicity. Additionally, in individual sports, especially aesthetic ones, body shape and leanness were associated with the misconception of maximizing performance and therefore it probably took longer to seek help and increased the risk of chronicity; thus, prevention and early intervention in this subgroup would be especially necessary.…”

“…Our results showed a wide variability in the age of onset of ED, displaying that the pathology in some athletes may start when the professional activity is over. Some evidence suggests that retired professional athletes may be at high risk of mental health problems, including anxiety and depression symptoms [68]. Further studies are needed to understand what happens regarding the ED symptoms once the professional athlete retires.…”

Ansiedade pré-competitiva em atletas de voleibol amador (Pre-competitive anxiety in amateur volleyball athletes) (Ansiedad precompetitiva en atletas de voleibol amateur)

“…Em relação à variável sexo no contexto esportivo, atletas do sexo masculino tendem a relatar níveis mais baixos de ansiedade cognitiva e uma melhor percepção de autoconfiança do que atletas do sexo feminino . Além disto, é provável que atletas do sexo feminino apresentem maior nível de ansiedade competitiva em comparações com os homens (Kemarat et al, 2022). No entanto, ainda não está claro se as características individuais como o sexo dos atletas de vôlei podem influenciar na percepção da ansiedade competitiva em um contexto de esporte amador.…”

“…A busca por melhores resultados no âmbito esportivo, independentemente da modalidade, faz com que muitos atletas cheguem ao seu limite físico e mental (Şekeroğlu, 2019). Dessa forma, o desempenho de um atleta é afetado por fatores físicos e por aspectos psicológicos que desempenham um papel importante em seu rendimento (Kemarat et al, 2022;Peng & Zhang, 2021). Sendo assim, a capacidade de manter um estado psicológico adaptativo e estável durante os períodos de competição é um fator importante a ser considerado pelos atletas (González-Hernández et al, 2020).…”

Neuroticism and Emotional Intelligence in Adolescence: A Mediation Model Moderate by Negative Affect and Self-Esteem

“…In this study, we are going to focus on the first of them, neuroticism (N). This construct can refer to frailty, shyness, and emotional instability [ 2 ]. It ranges from emotional stability to negative affectivity such as tension, nervousness or anxiety [ 3 ], being this the theoretical approach used in this work.…”