Hardiness and the competitive trait anxiety response

This study examined the effects of hardiness, its subcomponents and skill level upon the intensity and direction dimensions of competitive trait anxiety and self-confidence intensity. Participants (n = 199) completed the Dispositional Resilience Scale, a modified version of the Sport Anxiety Scale and the self-confidence scale extracted from a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. Findings partially supported the hypotheses that elite athletes high in hardiness, commitment and control would demonstrate lower levels of worry and a more facilitative interpretation of the anxiety response. Self-confidence analyses revealed significant interactions for the commitment and skill interaction only. No interactions were found between skill level and challenge, although main effects were evident for intensity (challenge) and direction (skill level). These findings identify hardiness as an important personality construct within a sport specific situation, and provide support for skill level as being a vital individual difference variable when measuring competitive anxiety. The role of self-confidence and possible coping behaviors are also discussed, as are measurement issues regarding the cognitive terms of "worry" and "concern".