TYPE Original Research

PUBLISHED 07 December 2023

DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1306188

Athlete anxiety questionnaire: the

OPEN ACCESS development and validation of a
new questionnaire for assessing
EDITED BY
Donatella Di Corrado,
Kore University of Enna, Italy

REVIEWED BY
Elena Mirela Samfira,
the anxiety, concentration and
University of Life Sciences “King Mihai I” from
Timisoara, Romania
Stefania Mancone,
self-confidence of athletes
University of Cassino, Italy

*CORRESPONDENCE Melinda Trpkovici 1,2, Ágnes Pálvölgyi 1, Alexandra Makai 2,3,

Viktória Prémusz Viktória Prémusz 2,3* and Pongrác Ács 2,3
[email protected]

RECEIVED 03 October 2023 Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary,
1

ACCEPTED 23 November 2023

2
Institute of Physiotherapy and Sport Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs,
PUBLISHED 07 December 2023
Hungary, 3 Physical Activity Research Group, Szentágothai Research Centre, Pécs, Hungary

CITATION
Trpkovici M, Pálvölgyi Á, Makai A,
Prémusz V and Ács P (2023) Athlete anxiety
questionnaire: the development and validation Introduction: Anxiety is one of the most prevalent issues among athletes.
of a new questionnaire for assessing the Therefore, measuring the stress caused by high-stakes situations could
anxiety, concentration and self-confidence of
athletes.
be important for investigating the issue. In sports psychology literature, no valid
Front. Psychol. 14:1306188. and reliable questionnaire is available in Hungarian for assessing the anxiety
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1306188 experienced by athletes in high-stakes situations. This study aimed to create a new
COPYRIGHT Hungarian questionnaire to measure anxiety, self-confidence, and concentration
© 2023 Trpkovici, Pálvölgyi, Makai, Prémusz during high-stakes contests.
and Ács. This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Methods: 263 athletes of various sports participated in the cross-sectional study
Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The (age: 16.18 ± 3.46 years). The structure of the Anxiety Athletes Questionnaire
use, distribution or reproduction in other
forums is permitted, provided the original (AAQ) was examined through factor analysis, where exploratory factor analysis
author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are (EFA) as well as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were carried out. The internal
credited and that the original publication in this consistency of the subscales of AAQ was measured by Cronbach’s alpha.
journal is cited, in accordance with accepted
academic practice. No use, distribution or Through a convergent validity test, the AAQ questionnaire was compared to the
reproduction is permitted which does not subscales of the CSAI-2 and ACSI-28 questionnaire subscales by Spearman’s rank
comply with these terms. correlation coefficients. Through a discriminant validity analysis, the differences
by age group, sex, and sport variables were examined by AAQ scores. The Mann–
Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests were utilized in the analysis. The SPSS 28.0
software was used for the statistical analysis, and the level of significance was set
at p < 0.05.
Results: Four factors have been identified through the EFA. The CFA analysis
showed the four-factor model an acceptable model fit (SRMR, RMSEA CFI, TLI).
Cronbach’s alpha of the four subscales showed acceptable internal consistency
(cognitive anxiety: α = 0.871; somatic anxiety: α = 0.700; self-confidence:
α = 0.832; concentration: α = 0.747). The convergent validity showed a weak or
moderate, significant relationship between AAQ subscales and subscales of CSAI
and ACSI (R = −0.398–0.412).
Conclusion: The Athlete Anxiety Questionnaire can be considered a reliable and
valid measurement tool for measuring athletes’ anxiety, self-confidence and
concentration in high-stakes situations.

KEYWORDS

athlete anxiety questionnaire, sports psychology, self-confidence, concentration, sports

stress

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1 Introduction precursors of negative performance (Smith et al., 1990). Furthermore,

concentration can have correlations not only with the level of anxiety
Regular physical activity has a beneficial effect on mental health. but with self-confidence as well. Athletes who have higher self-
It can decrease psychological stress (Ács et al., 2016, 2020b; Jurak confidence have lower anxiety levels and are more able to focus on the
et al., 2020; WHO, 2022). By reducing anxiety and improving mood, task (Jones, 1995; Perry and Williams, 1998; Kaplánová, 2019; Ita et al.,
sports support the maintenance of psychological health, but it can also 2022). A review of the literature reveals that two types of anxiety, self-
be a stress factor that can cause anxiety (Ács et al., 2020a; Diotaiuti confidence and concentration, can both be associated with sports
et al., 2021a). Anxiety is a variable that is widely investigated in sports performance, which was the starting point for creating a questionnaire
psychology and has been the focal point of numerous studies (Jones, suitable for measuring all 4 factors.
1995; Mellalieu et al., 2009; Omar et al., 2014; Hardy et al., 2018; Two questionnaires have served as the basis for the development
Diotaiuti et al., 2021b). Several reviews have been published to offer of our questionnaire. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2
an interesting and informative insight into the relationship between (CSAI-2) questionnaire investigates competition anxiety, and self-
competitive anxiety and performance (Jones, 1995; Smith et al., 1998; confidence related to the result of the competition (Martens et al.,
Whitehead and Duda, 1998; Gould et al., 2002; Fletcher and Fletcher, 1990). It is based on the theory of Martens who has distinguished
2005; Woodman et al., 2010; Hardy et al., 2018; Tóth et al., 2022). between three dimensions of anxiety (Martens, 1977). The first one is
Frequently, athletes experience performance-related concerns that cognitive anxiety, which is the anticipation of failure and excessive
lead to heightened anxiety, manifesting as muscle tension, sweaty worrying about its consequences. In this case, the athlete is worried
palms, and the emergence of pessimistic thoughts regarding both the about their performance and abilities.
outcome of critical moments and their own capabilities (Crust and Somatic anxiety is a tension that manifests in physical symptoms.
Azadi, 2010; Marín-González et al., 2022). Anxiety is an unpleasant, The third factor is self-confidence, which refers to the level of the
tense emotional state that is accompanied by a high activation of the individual’s faith in themself and their abilities. The questionnaire was
autonomic nervous system and negative feelings and thoughts adapted to Hungarian by Sipos et al. (1999). The Athletic Coping Skills
(Atkinson, 2005; Sangervo et al., 2022). Spielberger has made a Inventory-28 (ACSI-28) questionnaire can be used for measuring
distinction between two types of anxiety: trait anxiety and state athletes’ coping strategies (Smith et al., 1995). The Hungarian version
anxiety (Spielberger, 1975). of the test was created by Jelinek and Oláh and it provides an insight
State anxiety manifests itself only in specific situations (e.g., into athletes’ experience related to competitions and training sessions
competitions), while trait anxiety shows the individual’s general (Jelinek and Oláh, 2000). The measurement tools used in sports
anxiety tendency, i.e., it can be considered a personality trait. The psychology have been developed for examining the states that precede
different types of anxiety have been distinguished for a long time. A the high-stakes situation.
distinction can be made also between cognitive anxiety and somatic The aim of this study was the development of a Hungarian sports
anxiety (Wine, 1971; Deffenbacher, 1977; Smith et al., 1998; psychology questionnaire that can be used for measuring with a
Whitehead and Duda, 1998; Anshel and Wells, 2000; Gill et al., 2004; multidimensional approach anxiety in athletes during high-stakes
Mercader-Rubio et al., 2023). Cognitive anxiety manifests as lasting situations and for measuring the concentration and self-confidence of
worrying, ruminating and dwelling over something, and it causes the athletes, which are both essential factors in sports performance, and
deterioration of concentration, which affects performance and may can have connections to anxiety.
lead to the likelihood of making mistakes (Morris et al., 1981; Lee
et al., 2022). By contrast, somatic anxiety is the psychological and
emotional aspect of the experience of anxiety and it is primarily 2 Methods
associated with the direct activation of the autonomic nervous system
(Liebert and Morris, 1967; Mercader-Rubio et al., 2023). Gould et al. 2.1 Study design and participants
(1987) believed that somatic anxiety directly affects the performance
directly (Gould et al., 1987). The cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted between
There are relatively few questionnaires for measuring anxiety March 2020–December 2022 in Pécs, Hungary. The determination of
within the field of sports psychology. The Sports Competition Anxiety the sample size was based on the recommendation that a ratio of 10
Test (SCAT; Martens, 1977) is a multidimensional measurement tool participants per item is required for conducting factor analysis
that can be used to determine the anxiety levels of athletes; however, (MacCallum et al., 1999). The targeted sample size was 480 exploratory
the test does not differentiate between somatic and cognitive anxiety factor analyses for (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Our
and does not measure the differences between the two. The Sport study coincided with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and
Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith et al., 1990) is a multidimensional anxiety thus we were unfortunately faced with a significant drop in the
measurement questionnaire that distinguishes between cognitive and number of the sample. 273 athletes of various sports aged 12–34 years
somatic anxiety. This test can be used for measuring athletes’ trait were involved in the study, through convenience sampling. The final
anxiety. The questionnaire explores how the athlete usually feels before sample consisted of 263 athletes; 10 participants were excluded
and during contests. The currently available valid Hungarian tests for because of inadequately filled questionnaires. The mean age of the
measuring anxiety only measure the athlete’s state before the high- final sample was 16.18 ± 3.46 years. In terms of the gender ratio,
stakes contest, and the general mental state of the athlete (Sipos et al., 16.79% (44) were females and 83.21% (218) were males. All the
1999). As for sports performance, besides the level of anxiety, participants or in the case of minors their parents were informed
measuring the level of concentration is also necessary. Anxiety may about the research and have provided written consent permitting the
cause deteriorated concentration, which is one of the most prominent participation in the study. The data were processed anonymously. The

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Institutional Review Board of the Regional Research Committee of the is 4 while the maximum score is 16. The scales of the questionnaire
Clinical Center, Pécs, Hungary granted permission for the study are the following: The Coping with adversity subscale measures the
(No.:8821–5/2019/EÜIG). The research was performed in accordance athlete’s behavior in unexpected and challenging situations that
with the Declaration of Helsinki. affect their performance. The Peaking under pressure scale measures
performance in high-stakes situations and the extent to which the
2.1.1 Inclusion criteria competitive situation, expectations and the need for approval
To meet the inclusion criteria, individuals had to be certified influence the athlete’s performance. The Goal setting and mental
athletes with a minimum of 1 year of sports club participation, preparation scale measures the objectives set by the athlete and
engaging in training sessions at least three times per week for one and their mental preparedness. Concentration measures the athlete’s
a half hours each. Additionally, participants needed to be at least level of concentration related to the competitive and training
12 years old and were required to sign the informed consent form, or situation. The Freedom from worry scale measures the extent to
if underage, have their parent or guardian provide consent following which the athlete is filled with anxiety if their sports performance
a study briefing. does not reach the required level, and about how others judge their
performance. The Confidence and achievement motivation scale
2.1.2 Exclusion criteria shows the level of confidence and positive motivation of the athlete.
Receiving psychiatric treatment and taking medications were The Coachability scale aims to measure the relationship between the
specified as exclusion criteria. No athlete had to be excluded due to the athlete and the coach (Smith et al., 1995).
applied exclusion criteria.

2.3 Characteristics of the anxiety athletes

2.2 Development process questionnaire

The questionnaire is based on the Competitive State Anxiety The Anxiety Athletes Questionnaire (AAQ) is a new sports
Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Martens et al., 1990) and the ACSI-28 (Athletic psychology measurement tool created by the authors that can be used
Coping Skills Inventory-28) questionnaires (Smith et al., 1995). for the measurement and interpretation of psychological anxiety.
During the pilot test, the questionnaire was tested among athletes with Furthermore, the questionnaire can also be used for the assessment of
the participation of 20 people even before the data collection, then the the level of concentration and self-confidence experienced during
final questionnaire was created based on the results of the expert high-stakes contests. The final version of the measurement tool
group and the pilot study, and the psychometric properties of the consists of 20 items that are grouped into 4 factors. Cognitive anxiety
instrument were examined. Based on the mentioned two is the anticipation of failure and excessive worrying about its
questionnaires, the questions were formulated considering the consequences (e.g.: 1. “During the match/contest, I was worried that
purpose of the measurement. Based on the Hungarian version of the I would not perform the way I would have liked to.”). Somatic anxiety
previous two questionnaires (Sipos et al., 1999; Jelinek and Oláh, is the tension that manifests in physical symptoms (e.g.: 8.) (“During
2000). Development of the Hungarian version of the questionnaire the match/contest, my stomach felt tight.”). Self-confidence refers to the
Athlete Anxiety Questionnaire was prepared using the validity criteria level of the individual’s faith in themself and their abilities (e.g.: 10.
of the Delphi method and COSMIN checklist to manage the “During the match/contest, my self-confidence helped me play well.”).
development process of the new measurement tool (Mokkink et al., The Concentration scale measures the athlete’s level of concentration
2010). The questionnaire was created with an expert group with the related to the competitive situation (e.g.: 13. “During the match/contest,
involvement of sports psychologists, sports coaches, and physical I was able to focus on one thing or person.”). The scales and their
education teachers, and the statistical processing of the data was respective items are the following:
carried out by statisticians.
1 Cognitive Anxiety items: 1,5,9,11,14,18.
2.2.1 Competitive state anxiety inventory-2 2 Somatic Anxiety items: 4,8,17.
The measurement tool consists of 27 statements. The study 3 Self-confidence items: 2,6,10,12,15,19.
subjects had to provide answers through a four-point Likert scale 4 The Concentration items: 3,7,13,16,20 (from which reverse
where 1 means “not at all” and 4 means “very much.” The Cognitive items: 3,7,20).
anxiety subscale shows worries related to the anticipated results of the
performance, while the Somatic anxiety subscale measures physical The questionnaire asks questions about feelings, emotions and
symptoms triggered by stress. thoughts triggered by the actual stress experienced. The test
The Self-confidence subscale related to the result of the competition includes statements that are habitually used by athletes to describe
aims to assess the extent to which the athlete has faith in a good result their states during competition. The study subjects had to provide
and in that their work invested will yield returns in a high-stakes answers through a four-point Likert scale where 1 means “not at
situation. Higher scores mean more intense anxiety and a higher level all” and 4 means “very much.” These abovementioned factors are
of self-confidence related to competing (Martens et al., 1990). the subscales of the questionnaire. The total scores are calculated
by adding up the scores given for each item. The maximum scores
2.2.2 Athletic coping skills inventory-28 for individual scales are the following: Cognitive anxiety: 24
The questionnaire consists of 28 items, the items are grouped points, Somatic anxiety: 12 points, Self-confidence: 24 points, and
into 7 subscales, and each scale has 4 items, and the minimum score Concentration: 20 points.

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2.3.1 Data collection procedure The factor structure of the AAQ questionnaire was carried out
The authors distributed the questionnaires to the coaches, who through principal component analysis. The distribution of variance
asked the athletes on the day of the match to complete them. among the 20 items across four factors accounted for a total of 63.34%.
Following the review and endorsement of the study information Specifically, the cognitive factor contributed to 24.83% of the variance,
sheet and consent form, athletes completed the demographic data self-confidence explained 15.49%, concentration accounted for
sheet, as well as the ACSI-28 and CSAI-2 questionnaires before the 11.05%, and the somatic factor elucidated 11.86%. The rotated factor
competition. This took approximately 20–25 min, after which they matrix (varimax rotation) showed the following structure. See
filled in the 3rd questionnaire (AAQ) after the competition, which correlation coefficients with an absolute value higher than 0.300 were
took approximately 10–15 min. Participation in the study was included in Table 1.
voluntary and anonymous. The completed tests were returned to the Our findings have also been supported by confirmatory factor
authors by the coaches. analysis (N = 157), carried out with the IBM AMOS 29.0 software. The
goodness of the model was assessed based on several fit indexes. One
of the most frequently used fit indexes is the Chi-square test. The test
2.4 Statistical analysis resulted in chi-square = 201.414, df = 154, p = 0.056, chi-square/
df = 1.308 in our CFA. The value of the Chi-square is considered
The newly developed questionnaire’s construct validity was adequate as it is lower than double of the degree of freedom, and the
evaluated through both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and value of p is higher than 0.05. For the assessment of the goodness of
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the EFA phase, we employed fit, we have utilized the comparative fit index (CFI = 0.960) and the
the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 27 (SPSS, Chicago, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI = 0.951), and the root mean square error of
IL, United States). To verify the appropriateness of the data for EFA, approximation (RMSEA = 0.044) value. The CFI and TLI indexes have
the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure and Bartlett’s test of shown an acceptable, close fit. According to the RMSEA value of 0.044
sphericity were employed. Principal components analysis was utilized (0.049–0.076), the fit of the data is appropriate.
to extract factors.
To calculate CFA, we used IBM AMOS 29.0 (SPSS Chicago, IL,
United States) software. Given the sensitivity of Chi-square statistics 3.1 Internal consistency test
and their associated p-values to sample size, this study utilized the
Chi-square test divided by its degrees of freedom as a consideration. In our study, the internal consistency of the various questions of
Comparative fit index (CFI > 0.95 good fit) and goodness of fit the subscales is provided by the correlation between the questions,
index (GFI > 0.95 good fit) were reported as incremental fit statistics indicated by Cronbach’s alpha. The relevant values of the four
and the root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA <0.08 subscales are summarized in Table 2.
good fit) Tucker- Lewis index (TLI > 0.95 good fit) was calculated
(Brown, 2015) as well.
To evaluate internal consistency and reliability, we employed 3.2 Convergent validity
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, with a threshold of ≥0.70 being deemed
acceptable (Taber, 2018). The concurrent validity was assessed by Through a convergent validity test, the AAQ questionnaire was
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (R) for correlations between compared to the subscales of the CSAI-2 and ACSI-28 questionnaires.
the measured scales (Carlson and Herdman, 2012). For the analysis of the correlations between the measurement tools,
The statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS 27.0. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis was used, the results are
software, where values p ≤ 0.05 were considered significant. summarized in Table 3.

3 Results 3.3 Discriminant validity

In the study 273 athletes of various sports aged 12–34 years were Based on the Mann–Whitney U-test, a significant difference was
involved, through convenience sampling. The final sample consisted found in cognitive, self-confidence and concentration subscales
of 263 athletes; 10 participants were excluded because of inadequately between genders (p < 0.05). The level of cognitive anxiety was higher
filled questionnaires. The mean age of the final sample was in female athletes (11.67 ± 3.97 vs. 9.26 ± 3.23), but in self-confidence
16.18 ± 3.46 years. In terms of the gender ratio, 16.79% (44) were (19.54 ± 3.08 vs. 17.47 ± 3.74) and concentration (18.07 ± 1.86 vs.
females and 83.21% (218) were males. The largest proportion of 17.73 ± 1.96), in males scored significantly higher. The somatic
participants in the sample were volleyball players (35.9%); this was subscale values were almost identical, the difference was not significant
followed by football players (32.7%), then water polo players (20.9%), (p = 0.756; Table 4).
basketball players (6.5%) and finally table tennis players (3.9%).
The structure of the questionnaire was examined through factor
analysis with the execution of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 4 Discussion
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Through the EFA (N = 106),
we first assessed the suitability of the data for factor analysis. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a new sports
According to Bartlett’s test (p < 0.001) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin psychology questionnaire, that can be used for measuring anxiety,
(KMO) criterion (0.818), the data were suitable for EFA. concentration, and self-confidence during high-stakes situations. The

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TABLE 1 The factor structure of the anxiety athletes questionnaire (N = 106).

Component
Cognitive anxiety Self-confidence Concentration Somatic anxiety
Item 1 0.842

Item 2 0.425

Item 3 0.580

Item 4 0.679

Item 5 0.800

Item 6 0.639

Item 7 0.544

Item 8 0.550

Item 9 0.493

Item 10 0.734

Item 11 0.819

Item 12 0.817

Item 13 0.523

Item 14 0.843

Item 15 0.649

Item 16 0.545

Item 17 0.522

Item 18 0.535

Item 19 0.620

Item 20 0.572

TABLE 2 The internal consistencies of the subscales of the anxiety athletes questionnaire.

Cognitive anxiety Self-confidence Concentration Somatic anxiety

Cronbach alpha 0.871 0.832 0.747 0.700

measurement tools of anxiety in athletes currently available in physical symptoms. The self-confidence shows the level of
Hungarian can only be used for assessing athletes’ states before the confidence associated with competition (Woodman et al., 2010;
high-stakes situation. The development of the new measurement tool Gyömbér, 2018; Ita et al., 2022). Studies about competition anxiety
was based on questionnaires that are used for measuring anxiety in have shown that a more intense level of fear was triggered in
athletes and that have a valid Hungarian version. The structure of the athletes whose competition-related anxiety levels were higher,
questionnaire was examined through factor analysis, where the EFA compared to those whose anxiety levels were lower (Hajdúné
was complemented by a CFA. These have shown that the variables László, 2009; Ita et al., 2022). Consequently, measuring anxiety in
were suitable for conducting an EFA. The factor structure of the AAQ athletes is particularly important. The better we are able to study
questionnaire was carried out through principal component analysis. anxiety the more effectively the coaching of athletes can
The variance explained by the 4 factors of 20 items was 63.34%. The be organized. The ability to manage one’s anxiety in a stressful
items of the questionnaire were grouped into cognitive anxiety, somatic situation is important for successful performance (Smith et al.,
anxiety, concentration, and self-confidence factors. 1995; Géczi et al., 2008; Tóth et al., 2022). Teaching anxiety
Our findings have also been supported by a confirmatory factor reduction methods, confidence building, and concentration
analysis. The goodness of the model was assessed based on several fit development, which all contribute to performance enhancement,
indexes. The new questionnaire has been tested with the participation are pivotal parts of the sports psychology work process (Ágota,
of athletes. The study’s key findings indicate the successful 2002; Krisztina, 2013; Fadare et al., 2022).
development of a valid and reliable questionnaire, confirming the In the literature, there are anxiety tests that measure cognitive and
validity of the three-factor anxiety model proposed by Martens et al. somatic anxiety. The Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2) is a questionnaire
(1990). The components of cognitive anxiety are present in the suitable for measuring anxiety in athletes before or during competition
individual’s thoughts about their own abilities, influenced by the fear (Smith et al., 2006). From the value of anxiety measured with the
of potential failure. SAS-2 scale, a constant tendency can be inferred, which indicates the
Somatic anxiety constitutes the physiological effects of the general experience of the athlete in the situations before and during
experience itself: increased arousal levels accompanied by negative the competition. In contrast, state anxiety is a psychological and

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TABLE 3 Correlations between the competitive state anxiety inventory-2, athletic coping skills inventory-28 and anxiety athletes questionnaire
(N = 263).

AAQ
Somatic Cognitive Self-confidence Concentration
anxiety anxiety
ACSI-28 Coping with adversity R −0.143* −0.316** 0.412** 0.266**

p 0.021 0.000 0.000 0.000

Peaking under pressure R −0.212** −0.071 0.414** 0.191**

p 0.001 0.253 0.000 0.002

Goal setting and R −0.122* −0.042 0.357** 0.178**

mental preparation p 0.049 0.497 0.000 0.004

Concentration R −0.218** −0.277** 0.447** 0.280**

p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Freedom from worry R −0.253** −0.408** 0.321** 0.214*

p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001

Confidence and R −0.146* −0.155* 0.440** 0.194**

achievement p 0.019 0.012 0.000 0.002
motivation

Coachability R −0.107 −0.176** 0.221** 0.154*

p 0.085 0.004 0.000 0.013

CSAI-2 Cognitive anxiety R 0.210** 0.411** −0.257** −0.251**

p 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.000

Somatic anxiety R 0.057 0.564** −0.308** −0.398**

p 0.357 0.000 0.000 0.000

Self-confidence R −0.219** −0.372** 0.654** 0.389**

p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

CSAI-2, Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2; ACSI-28, Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28; AAQ, Anxiety Athletes Questionnaire *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01.

TABLE 4 Discriminant validity of the subscales of the anxiety athletes questionnaire (N = 263), gender differences based on Mann-Witney U-test.

Somatic anxiety Cognitive anxiety Self-confidence Concentration

Mean 3.34 9.26 19.54 18.07
Male
SD 0.85 3.23 3.08 1.86

Mean 3.38 11.67 17.47 17.73

Female
SD 0.81 3.97 3.74 1.96

Mean 3.35 9.95 18.95 17.97

Total
SD 0.84 3.62 3.41 1.89

Z −0.311 −3.760 −3.247 −1.049

Gender difference
p 0.756 <0.001 0.001 0.294

physiological reaction experienced during a specific competition, and The Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT) is also among the
does not appear as a permanent feature. When measuring anxiety as tests that measure competitive anxiety (Martens, 1977). The questions
a trait, athletes are asked about the general reaction they experience of the SCAT are aimed at how the athlete feels in a competitive
during the competition, while when measuring anxiety as a state, the situation. The degree of anxiety can be deduced from the total score
answers refer to a specific situation (Leal et al., 2017; Mercader-Rubio of the SCAT. Individual anxiety levels affect group performance and
et al., 2023). Looking at gender differences, women can team results. Sopa’s study emphasizes that early detection of errors in
be characterized by a higher level of competitive anxiety than men. teamwork and individual anxiety levels can lead to better team
This relationship concerned particularly women practicing sport performance and improved levels of cohesion and communication
recreationally (Tomczak et al., 2022). In our study, we also found (Sopa and Pomohaci, 2020).
significant gender differences in cognitive, self-confidence and Our questionnaire was supplemented with the self-confidence
concentration subscales. factor, which shows a close correlation with anxiety (Gyömbér, 2018;

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Ita et al., 2022). Furthermore, supplemented with a concentration three-factor anxiety model, the concentration factor was added, so
factor, which is also related to anxiety level and self-esteem. Athletes we can expand the measurement of effectiveness with an additional
with higher self-esteem, have lower anxiety levels and better ability to factor within a questionnaire, which can form the basis of
focus on the task (Kaplánová, 2019; Ita et al., 2022). It seems to be a future research.
suitable tool with regard to the cognitive and somatic aspects of
anxiety not only for basic research but also for the assessment of the
effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing anxiety. Furthermore, Data availability statement
AAQ may be useful for customizing interventions for individual
athletes with differing somatic and cognitive anxiety patterns. For The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will
example, interventions aimed at arousal regulation, such as relaxation be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
training, may be particularly useful for athletes with high levels of
somatic anxiety, while athletes with high levels of cognitive anxiety or
concentration issues may benefit from more cognitively oriented Ethics statement
interventions. Irrational beliefs are positively related to cognitive and
somatic competitive anxiety in athletes (Chadha et al., 2019). The The studies involving humans were approved by Institutional
findings of Tóth’s study show that athletes with more rigid, extreme Review Board of the Regional Research Committee of the Clinical
and illogical thinking (irrational beliefs) are more worried about their Center, 7,622 Pécs, Hungary, Vasvári str. 4. The studies were conducted
performance and possible negative consequences (cognitive anxiety). in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements.
This may be due to their excessive expectations, as well as a critical Written informed consent for participation in this study was provided
attitude toward their performance (Tóth et al., 2022). Several by the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin.
interventional tools have been shown to be effective in reducing
cognitive trait anxiety, such as the reframing technique. With the help
of this method, the athlete can transform the negative content in his Author contributions
mind into positive content. In this case, negative content from the
point of view of sports performance becomes content that helps MT: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Validation,
positive sports performance (Kaplánová, 2020). We recommend the Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AP:
use of various sports psychology interventions for the development of Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. AM: Formal analysis,
athletes, for example the use of cognitive techniques, e.g., reframing Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original
to reduce anxiety about cognitive traits. draft, Writing – review & editing. VP: Conceptualization, Formal
analysis, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. PÁ:
Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Resources, Supervision,
5 Limitations Writing – review & editing.

The study was not randomized. It would be useful to conduct our

research with a larger sample, however, several contests were canceled Funding
due to the COVID-19 pandemic or access to them was limited, and
thus our access to testing athletes was significantly reduced. Our goal The author(s) declare financial support was received for the
is to examine our research with a larger number of sample elements, research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Project no.
as well as to expand the research according to the types of sports TKP-2021-EGA-10 has been implemented with support provided by
which also makes it suitable for measuring the differences the National Research, Development, and Innovation Fund of
between sports. Hungary, financed under the TKP-2021-EGA funding scheme.

6 Conclusion Conflict of interest

The Athlete Anxiety Questionnaire can be considered a reliable The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
and valid measurement tool for measuring athletes’ anxiety, self- absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could
confidence and concentration in high-stakes situations. All four be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
factors can be linked to sports performance, which is why
we emphasize the importance of mental preparation. During the
interventions, it is important that the athletes acquire techniques that Publisher’s note
can effectively manage stress, improve their concentration skills, and
improve their self-confidence. All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors
The novelty of our questionnaire lies in the fact that it asks about and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations,
the experience of the high-stakes situation, in contrast to the or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product
questionnaires found so far, which deal with the situation before the that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its
high-stakes situation. Furthermore, in addition to maintaining the manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Frontiers in Psychology 07 frontiersin.org

Trpkovici et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1306188

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