Analysis of the level of pre-competitive anxiety in young and adult athletes practitioners of Muaythai

Abstract

Anxiety in the sports context can cause emotions that, when negative, can influence the performance of athletes. The aim of this study was to analyze the level of pre-competitive anxiety of young and adult athletes practitioners of Muaythai present in the 1st Muaythai Parana Championship. A sample consisted of 99 athletes, of both sexes, with technical level from amateur to advanced and average age of 23,04 (± 7,53) (14 to 51 years). As the collection instrument, the CSAI-2R questionnaire was used. To compare the sexes the U Mann-Whitney was used, to compare categories the Kruskal-Wallis was used and to verify the multiple comparisons the Tukey test was used. The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 15.0 program. The results obtained indicate that female athletes are more self-confident than male athletes (p=.043). In relation to age, young athletes showed greater cognitive anxiety when compared to adult athletes (p=.023). It is concluded that: among the participants in the Muaythai championship, women are more self-confident than men and young athletes are more cognitively anxious than adults.