Measurement and correlates of sport-specific cognitive and somatic trait anxiety: The sport anxiety scale

Abstract Previous research indicates the viability of a distinction between cognitive and somatic components of the anxiety response, and multidimensional anxiety scales have proven useful in relating cognitive and somatic anxiety to behavioral outcomes. This article describes the development and validation of a sport-specific measure of cognitive and somatic trait anxiety. The Sport Anxiety Scale measures individual differences in Somatic Anxiety and in two classes of cognitive anxiety, Worry and Concentration Disruption. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported these dimensions in several different athlete samples. Psychometric properties of the Sport Anxiety Scale are described, as are its relations with other psychological measures and with precompetition affective state measures. In the last of the four studies reported, scores on the Concentration Disruption scale were negatively related to the performance of college football players over the course of a season. The studies sugges...

[1]  D. Burton.  Do Anxious Swimmers Swim Slower? Reexamining the Elusive Anxiety-Performance Relationship , 1988 .

[2]  R. Lazarus.  Psychological stress and the coping process , 1970 .

[3]  J. Ware,et al.  The structure of psychological distress and well-being in general populations , 1983 .

[4]  L. Morris,et al.  Assessing various coping strategies and their effects on test performance and anxiety. , 1981, Journal of clinical psychology.

[5]  L. Michelson.  Treatment consonance and response profiles in agoraphobia: the role of individual differences in cognitive, behavioral and physiological treatments. , 1986, Behaviour research and therapy.

[6]  S. Folkman,et al.  Stress, appraisal, and coping , 1974 .

[7]  S. Sarason,et al.  Anxiety in elementary school children : a report of research , 1960 .

[8]  F. Smoll,et al.  Sport Performance Anxiety , 1990 .

[9]  Irwin G Sarason,et al.  The Test Anxiety Scale: Concept and Research. , 1977 .

[10]  B. Muthén,et al.  A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of non‐normal Likert variables , 1985 .

[11]  L. Morris,et al.  Cognitive and Emotional Components of Test Anxiety: A Distinction and Some Initial Data , 1967, Psychological reports.

[12]  I. Sarason.  The effects of anxiety and threat on the solution of a difficult task. , 1961, Journal of abnormal and social psychology.

[13]  P. Young,et al.  Emotion and personality , 1963 .

[14]  R. Friend,et al.  Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety. , 1969, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[15]  L. Morris,et al.  Effects of Stimulative and Sedative Music on Cognitive and Emotional Components of Anxiety , 1976, Psychological reports.

[16]  J. Deffenbacher.  Relationship of worry and emotionality to performance on the Miller Analogies Test. , 1977, Journal of educational psychology.

[17]  J. Taylor,et al.  A personality scale of manifest anxiety. , 1953, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[18]  S. Sarason,et al.  Anxiety in elementary school children , 1960 .

[19]  M. Rosenbaum,et al.  A schedule for assessing self-control behaviors: Preliminary findings. , 1980 .

[20]  J. Nunnally.  Psychometric Theory (2nd ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. , 1978 .

[21]  D. Gould,et al.  Relationship between Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Subscale Scores and Pistol Shooting Performance , 1987 .

[22]  J. R. Wittenborn.  Review of Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (PPS). , 1956 .

[23]  R. Davidson,et al.  Patterning of Cognitive and Somatic Processes in the Self‐Regulation of Anxiety: Effects of Meditation versus Exercise , 1978, Psychosomatic medicine.

[24]  Georgiana Schick Tryon,et al.  The Measurement and Treatment of Test Anxiety , 1980 .

[25]  C. Spielberger.  Theory and research on anxiety , 1966 .

[26]  P. Bentler,et al.  Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures , 1980 .

[27]  Emin Babakus,et al.  The Sensitivity of Confirmatory Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis to Violations of Measurement Scale and Distributional Assumptions , 1987 .

[28]  L. Morris,et al.  Interactive effects of generalized and situational expectancies on the arousal of cognitive and emotional components of social anxiety , 1981 .

[29]  Mark A. Davis,et al.  Cognitive and emotional components of anxiety: literature review and a revised worry-emotionality scale. , 1981, Journal of educational psychology.

[30]  T. Borkovec.  Physiological and Cognitive Processes in the Regulation of Anxiety , 1976 .

[31]  S. Schachter.  The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State , 1964 .

[32]  Rainer Martens,et al.  Sport Competition Anxiety Test , 1979 .

[33]  Irwin G. Sarason.  Stress, anxiety, and cognitive interference: Reactions to tests. , 1984 .

[34]  C. Spielberger,et al.  STAI manual for the State-trait anxiety inventory ("self-evaluation questionnaire") , 1970 .

[35]  L. Morris,et al.  Effects of negative feedback, threat of shock, and level of trait anxiety on the arousal of two components of anxiety. , 1973 .

[36]  D. Marlowe,et al.  A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. , 1960, Journal of consulting psychology.

[37]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , 1970 .

[38]  Stanley Schachter,et al.  CHAPTER 9 – The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State*, 1 , 1966 .