Hardiness and anxiety interpretation: An investigation into coping usage and effectiveness

The purpose of this study was to examine the interactive effects of hardiness (high vs. low hardiness) and anxiety direction (facilitators vs. debilitators) on performers' competitive anxiety intensity responses, self-confidence levels and the frequency and effectiveness of coping usage. Significant interaction effects showed that the high hardiness/facilitators reported the greatest use of planning, active coping and effort strategies during stressful competitive situations and viewed this use as more effective in dealing with these situations than the other groups. Main effects for hardiness on the competitive anxiety response and self-confidence revealed the high hardiness group to have lower levels of worry and somatic anxiety and higher levels of self-confidence than the low hardiness group. These findings have important implications for the development of hardiness-related coping strategies in sport performers.