Negative self-talk during sport performance: Relationships with pre-competition anxiety and goal performance discrepancies.

Abstract

The present investigation examined relationships between pre-competition anxiety, goal-performance discrepancies, and athletes'negative self-talk while performing. Two studies were conducted with athletes who took part in middle-distance cross-country events. The first (N = 38) focused on the relationships between negative self-talk and the intensity and direction of anxiety. Cognitive anxiety intensity had a stronger relationship with negative self-talk (r = .34} than somatic anxiety intensity (r = .23). Furthermore, it was revealed that individuals experiencing anxiety symptoms as facilitative reported less negative self-talk than those experiencing anxiety symptoms as debilitative. The second study (N 36) examined anxiety components and discrepancies between performance-goals and performance as predictors of negative self-talk. Regression analysis revealed that cognitive anxiety direction and goal-performance discrepancies were significant predictors of negative thoughts (R2 = .41, p < .01), with discrepancies being a stronger predictor (beta = .55) than cognitive anxiety direction (beta = -.32). The results ofthe study indicate that quality of performance in relation to pursued goals is a more potent factor determining negative self-talk athletes experience while performing.

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