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

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 females) with a mean age of 18.20 years (SD = 5.21). The Greek version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-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 anxiety and self-talk, as well as with regard to the effects of self-talk on performance.