The Relationship Between Competitive State Anxiety and Self-Talk During Performance in Swimmers

Maria Gourzi, Konstantina Filippou, Irini Kagiorgi, & Nikos Zourbanos

Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Hellas

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between competitive anxiety and swimmers’ positive/negative self-talk in competition. Participants were 76 swimmers (35 males and 41 fe- males) with a mean age of 18.20 years (SD = 5.21). The Greek version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inven- tory-II (Κάκκος & Ζέρβας, 1996), which assesses competitive state anxiety, and the Automatic Self-talk Questionnaire for Sports (Zourbanos, Hatzigeorgiadis, Theodorakis, & Chroni, 2006; Zourbanos, Theodorakis, & Hatzigeorgiadis, 2006), which assesses positive and negative self-talk, were used. Regression analysis showed that confidence predicted positive self-talk and had a negative relationship with athletes’ negative self-talk, whereas competitive cognitive and somatic anxiety predicted athletes’ negative self-talk. The findings are discussed in relation to theory and other studies exploring relationships between competitive anxi- ety and self-talk, as well as with regard to the effects of self-talk on performance.

Key words: competitive anxiety, positive and negative self-talk, swimming