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The aims of this field-based study were to evaluate the effects of a cognitive intervention technique and to further examine the anxiety–performance relationship in semiprofessional soccer players. Participants completed a composite version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) 20 minutes before three soccer league matches. Two experimental groups, one suffering from debilitative cognitive anxiety (n = 8), one suffering from debilitative somatic anxiety (n = 8), undertook a 12-week cognitive intervention. Player performances were evaluated using intraindividual criteria. A series of two-way analyses of variance (group and event), with repeated measures on the second factor, indicated significant Group × Event interactions for cognitive anxiety intensity and direction, and somatic anxiety intensity and direction, yet failed to reveal significant interactions or main effects for the performance measures. This study provided partial support for the “matching hypothesis” in that a compatible treatment proved more effective in reducing the targeted anxiety in both experimental groups.

One purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cohesion and competitive state anxiety (A-state). If a cohesion-competition A-state relationship was obtained, the second purpose was to determine whether the perceived psychological benefits and/or psychological costs of cohesiveness mediate that relationship. In order to examine these issues, a sample of interactive sport-team athletes (N = 110) completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Carron, Widmeyer, & Brawley, 1985) and items related to the perceived psychological benefits and costs of membership in cohesive groups. In addition, athletes completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2 (CSAI-2; Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990) prior to competition. Results showed that cohesion was related to A-state responses (p < .004). Specifically, individuals holding higher perceptions of task cohesion reported less cognitive A-state. Results also showed that psychological costs associated with membership on cohesive teams mediates the cohesion–A-state relationship.

This study examined the relationship between sport achievement orientation and cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence in a sample of male (n=60) track and field athletes. Subjects responded to the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) on five occasions during the precompetition period and also completed the Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ). Stepwise multiple-regression analyses were employed in order to determine whether any of the SOQ subscales emerged as significant predictors of the CSAI-2 subscale scores. The dominant predictor to emerge for each anxiety subcomponent was the competitiveness subscale. The subjects were then dichotomized into high and low groups of competitiveness by means of the median-split technique. Two-way analyses of variance revealed significant group by time-to-competition interactions for both cognitive and somatic anxiety. In the case of cognitive anxiety, the high competitive group exhibited no change across time; the low competitive group showed a progressive increase as the competition neared. Findings for somatic anxiety revealed that the low competitive group reported an earlier elevation in the somatic response. Significant main effects of both time-to-event and group (but no interaction) were found for self-confidence. The findings revealed that the high competitive group, although reporting higher levels of self-confidence throughout the experimental period, reported reduced self-confidence on the day of competition; in the low competitive group, self-confidence remained stable. These results suggest that the precompetition temporal patterning of the multidimensional anxiety subcomponents differ as a function of competitiveness.

The general purpose of the present study was to determine if perceptions of team cohesion are related to the interpretation athletes attach to their precompetition anxiety. Specifically examined was the association between athlete perceptions of task cohesiveness (Individual Attractions to the Group– Task, ATG-T, and Group Integration–Task, GI-T) and the degree to which perceptions of the intensity of precompetition anxiety symptoms (cognitive and somatic) were viewed as facilitative versus debilitative. Participants were athletes (N = 392) from the sports of soccer, rugby, and field hockey. Each athlete completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (Carron, Widmeyer, & Brawley, 1985) after a practice session. A directionally modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990) was completed just prior to a competition. Results showed that athletes who perceived their cognitive anxiety as facilitative had higher perceptions of both ATG-T and GI-T, χ² (2, N = 260) = 8.96, p < .05, than athletes who perceived their cognitive anxiety as debilitative. Also, athletes who perceived their somatic anxiety as facilitative had higher perceptions of GI-T, χ² (2, N = 249) = 5.85, p < .05.

This study examined situational antecedents of multidimensional competitive state anxiety and self-confidence in a sample of 125 elite intercollegiate middle-distance runners. Cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence were measured 1 hour prior to performance via the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2. Subjects also completed the 19-item Pre-Race Questionnaire (PRQ) which was designed to examine situational antecedents of the competitive state anxiety components. Factor analysis of the PRQ revealed five factors: perceived readiness, attitude toward previous performance, position goal, coach influence, and external environment. Stepwise multiple regression analyses demonstrated that cognitive anxiety was predicted by the first three of these factors. However, none of the factors were found to significantly predict somatic anxiety. Self-confidence was also predicted by two factors, perceived readiness and external environment. These findings suggest that cognitive anxiety and self-confidence share some common antecedents but that there are also factors unique to each.

In this study we examined relationships among components of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (cognitive worry, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) to each other, to physiological measures, and to performance prior to, during, and after a bicycle competition. Undergraduate male students (N=24) participated in three counterbalanced conditions: (a) noncompetition, (b) success, and (c) failure. Participants completed the CSAI-2 at pre-, mid-, and postcompetition in each condition and frontalis muscle activity was recorded at those times. Results revealed that the cognitive and somatic components of state anxiety are moderately related to one another and change differently over time. Intraindividual regression analyses conducted to test relationships between anxiety and performance revealed no linear or curvilinear relationships between any of the CSAI-2 components and performance. The frontalis iEMG/performance relationship was best explained by a linear trend. The findings support the prediction that competitive state anxiety is a multidimensional construct with related components that are influenced differently by competitive conditions and task demands.

This study examined whether linear or curvilinear (inverted-U) relationships exist between Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 subscale scores and pistol shooting performance in a paradigm that addressed previous design, methodological, and data analysis problems. Officers (N = 39) from the University of Illinois Police Training Institute served as subjects and participated in a pistol shooting competition. Each subject shot on five separate occasions, immediately after completing the CSAI-2 (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1983), a multidimensional measure of state anxiety. It was predicted that cognitive state anxiety would be more related to performance than would somatic state anxiety. However, relationships between both types of anxiety and performance were predicted to support inverted-U as opposed to linear relationships. Self-confidence was predicted to be positively related to performance. Results were analyzed using the intraindividual analysis procedures recommended by Sonstroem and Bernardo (1982) and showed that cognitive anxiety was not related to performance, somatic anxiety was related to performance in a curvilinear (inverted-U) fashion, and confidence was negatively related to performance.

The multidimensional approach to the study of anxiety (Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990a) considers subcomponents of anxiety, specifically cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence. Much of the research based on this theory has utilized the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2) (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990b). Findings have been inconsistent, with some research suggesting that the three subcomponents have separate relationships with performance and other studies failing to find any relationship between the anxiety subcomponents and performance. This meta-analysis examined the effect of state anxiety as measured by the CSAI-2 (i.e., cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) on athletic performance. Studies were coded for characteristics that could potentially moderate the effects of anxiety on performance (i.e., features of design, subjects, sport). Interdependency between the three subscales was examined using multivariate meta-analytic techniques (Becker & Schram, 1994). Relationships among cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, self-confidence, and performance appeared weak. Exploratory modeling showed that self-confidence displayed the strongest and most consistent relationship with performance.

The purpose of this study was to use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to revise the factor structure of the CSAI-2 using one data set, and then to use CFA to validate the revised structure using a second data set. The first data set (calibration sample) consisted of 503 college-age intramural athletes, and the second (validation sample) consisted of 331 intercollegiate (Division I) and interscholastic athletes. The results of the initial CFA on the calibration sample resulted in a poor fit to the data. Using the Lagrange Multiplier Test (Gamma) as a guide, CSAI-2 items that loaded on more than one factor were sequentially deleted. The resulting 17-item revised CSAI-2 was then subjected to a CFA using the validation data sample. The results of this CFA revealed a good fit of the data to the model (CFI = .95, NNFI = .94, RMSEA = .054). It is suggested that the CSAI-2R instead of the CSAI-2 be used by researchers and practitioners for measuring competitive state anxiety in athletes.

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a somatic intervention technique. Subjects (N = 17) completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory 2 (CSAI-2), which assessed both intensity and direction (debilitative-facilitative) of state anxiety within one hour of a soccer league match. During the match, player performances were evaluated using intraindividual criteria. Subjects were then allocated to control (n = 8) and experimental (n = 9) groups on the basis of their somatic anxiety intensity and direction scores. Following an 8-week intervention, subjects were again assessed during a second soccer match. A series of twoway analyses of variance with one repeated measure revealed significant interactions for cognitive anxiety intensity, somatic anxiety intensity, and somatic anxiety direction. This study provided further support for the “matching hypotheses” in that a compatible treatment proved most effective in reducing the targeted anxiety.