Anxiety And Athletic Perfomance

Anxiety and Athletic Performance

Introduction

Athletes today need to be able to cope with the anxiety and pressure that is placed on them in the competitive world of sports. A large deal of research has been done on examining the relationship between anxiety and performance within the field of athletics. This paper is going to show that the mind in an athlete has a lot to do with the result of the particular event. In order to show that anxiety in athletes is a significant problem this paper is going to be set up in three different areas in order to explain exactly how anxiety affects the athlete. The first section of the paper is going to explain the history and terminology on the study of anxiety in athletes. Next, this paper will show the results of numerous testing that has gone on in order to see the effects of anxiety in athletes. And the third and final section of this paper is going to explain what treatments that can help the athlete cope with the anxiety issues.

History and Terminology

The reasons that previous research on this subject has been hard to synthesize is because of numerous reasons, those including 'methodological flaws' such as lack of clear definitions and also lack of clear 'theoretical construct.' In the following section terms will be established for words that will be throughout this paper. Also, this section will provide an overview of theories that have been used to clarify the relationship between anxiety and performance in athletes.

In Edward's and Hardy's opinion the main problem that research on the relationship between anxiety and performance has encountered is that researchers have not defined all the specific terminology that is required to understand with this subject. The following operational definitions will be used for the terms anxiety and stress. "Stress is a state that results from the demands that are placed on the individual which require that person to engage in some coping behavior." Arousal is going to be considered to be a signal to the athlete that he/ she has entered into a stressful situation and is characterized buy physiological signs. Anxiety results from the athlete's perception that he/ she is not good enough for the particular situation, which will cause stress (Edward and Hardy).

An early model that attempted to explain the relationship between arousal and performance was the 'inverted- U hypothesis.' It stated that when an athlete would become aroused he/ she would do well in the event of competition, but if the athlete became too aroused then performance would deteriorate. Although this model game some explanation to why performances deteriorated when individuals felt stress, it did not compare athletes that were in the same situation who had different arousal levels (Edward and Hardy).

Because of the many faults that researchers found with the inverted U- hypothesis, researchers "attempted to account for the differences in performances of individuals through the concept of individualized zones of optimal functioning," or otherwise known as IZOFs. This theory states that each athlete has an optimal level of pre- performance anxiety, which results in peak performances. However, just like the inverted U, if the pre-performance anxiety lies outside the area of the IZOF, then performance will deteriorate. IZOFs can be determined by repeatedly measuring anxiety and performance. Edwards and Hardy explain that even though this is a better model then the inverted U- hypothesis, it still fails to explain the factors that account for the individual differences in performance among athletes (Edward and Hardy).

The next theory that seemed to make an impact was the 'multidimensional anxiety theory which expanded off a previous theory called the 'reversal' theory. In this model it shows that cognitive anxiety (when there is a fear of failure) to have a negative linear relationship with performance. And as the opposite of cognitive anxiety, self- confidence has been found to have a positive linear relationship with performance. And finally, somatic anxiety (physiological symptoms) has been found to have an inverted - U shaped relationship with performance. Even though this model was a step up in recognizing many elements of anxiety, it still treats them as separate entities (Edward and Hardy).

This next model named the 'catastrophe model' looks at the interactive effects of physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety upon performance. Physiological arousal can influence an individual to do poorly because of their own interpretation of their physiological symptoms. In this model it shows that as cognitive anxiety increases it will be beneficial to performance when at low levels of physiological arousal but a detrimental effect at high levels of physiological arousal. Once physiological arousal levels are too high there is a steep drop in performance, which can only be reversed by a reduction in physiological arousal. Though this model does not include a self- confidence variable, its interactive approach seems to be the best explanation for observed behavior (Edward and Hardy).

Effects of Anxiety on Athletes

This section of the paper is going to go into detail (by using previous studies) on how exactly anxiety effects the athletes. In a study involving a collegiate softball tournament, players were put into one of two conditions: high situation criticality or low. The test results showed that the athletes in the high criticality condition had significantly higher levels of cognitive-anxiety. Why were some of the athletes more worried? Clearly the cognitive interpretation an individual gives to a situation exerts an effect. Also, how the athlete takes to the arousal can determine if the athlete will be able to cope with the situation well or not. It says "Researchers have found that athletes are successful interpret arousal to be facilitative." In a study with an elite group of swimmers found that intensity levels were much higher in the athletes that took their anxiety as deliberative that those who reported it as being facilitative. This has been found in a number of other sports including gymnasts and basketball players. Not only does the situation of the matter count on how much anxiety is involved, but also the years of experience of the athlete. The higher number of years that an athlete has been in the sport, the lower cognitive-anxiety is involved. This was reported after a test was done on a group of tennis players that varied with years of experience, and also tested with an elite