An evaluation on the pre-competition anxiety levels of under eighteen male track and field athletes from the rural areas of Sabah

Abstract

Psychological factors are one of the contributing factors that could influence an athlete's performance in any sporting events. The survey-based study is aimed at evaluating pre-competition anxiety levels of sixty-four under eighteen male track and field athletes from different rural areas of Sabah. The evaluation instrument used in this study is the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2). The findings showed that there was a significant difference in pre-competition anxiety levels between track and field athletes (t = 2.088, df = 62, p <.05), with a mean pre-competition anxiety levels of track event athletes (M = 2.713, SD = .529, n = 32) was shown to be higher than field event athletes (M = 2.461, SD = .432, n = 32). It was also demonstrated from the study that the cognitive and somatic anxiety subscales were also significant (t = 2.140, df = 62, p <.05), (t = 2.623, df = 62, p <.05). The mean level of cognitive anxiety of the track event athletes (M = 2.667, SD = .734, n = 32) was higher than that of the field event athletes (M = 2.302, SD = .625, n = 32). In addition, the mean somatic anxiety level track event athletes (M = 2,500, SD = .766, n = 32) were also higher than field event athletes (M = 2.042, SD = .623, n = 32). Nonetheless, it was shown that the differences were not significant with regards to the self-confidence scales (t = -.413, df = 62, p> .05) with the mean level of confidence in the track athletes to be (M = 2.972, SD = .623, n = 32) whilst the field event athletes (M = 3.038, SD = .654, n = 32).