Predicting Athletic Performance with Self‐ Confidence and Somatic and Cognitive Anxiety as a Function of Motor and Physiological Requirements in Six Sports

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Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to examine the ability of certain psychological attributes to predict performance in six National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate sports Eighty‐four athletes from the varsity sports teams of cross country running, alpine and nordic skiing tennis, basketball, and track and field at the University of Colorado completed a questionnaire adapted from Martens (1977, Martens et al 1983) that measured their trait levels of self‐confidence (Bandura, 1977), somatic anxiety and cognitive anxiety (Martens, 1977 Martens et al, 1983) In addition, at three to six competitions during the season, the members of the cross country running and tennis teams filled out a state measure (Martens et al 1983) of the three attributes from one to two hours prior to the competition Following each competition, subjective and objective ratings of performance were obtained, and for all sports coaches' ratings of performance and an overall seasonal team ranking were determined as seasonal performance measures The sports were dichotomized along motor and physiological dimensions Results indicate that all three psychological attributes were significant predictors of performance in both fine motor anaerobic sports and gross motor, aerobic sports Further, clear differences in these relationships emerged as a function of the dichotomization In addition, unexpected sex differences emerged The findings are discussed relative to prior research and their implications for future research