Athletic Identity, Perceived Coaching Style and Performance Anxiety among University Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between athletic identity, perceived coaching styles, and performance anxiety among university athletes. It was hypothesized that there will be a relationship between athletic identity, perceived coaching styles, and performance anxiety among university athletes. It was also hypothesized that perceived coaching styles will moderate the relationship between athletic identity and performance anxiety. Correlational research design was used to conduct the study. A sample of 353 university athletes, both men= 191 and women= 162, with the age range from 18-25 years (M= 20.8, SD= 1.78) were recruited by using nonprobability purposive sampling from different public and private sector universities. The athletic identity measurement scale AIMS (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993), leadership scale for sports LSS (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980) and sport anxiety scale 2 SAS-2 (Smith, Smoll, Cumming, & Grossbard, 2006) were used to measure the constructs along with the demographic information sheet and informed consent. The results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed that athletic identity was found to be significantly negatively correlated with performance anxiety and perceived coaching styles were found to be significantly positively correlated with performance anxiety. The results of the moderation analyses showed that training and instruction, social support, democratic behavior, and positive feedback significantly moderated the relationship between athletic identity (self-identity) and performance anxiety, and training and instruction and autocratic behavior significantly moderated the relationship between athletic identity (negative affectivity) and performance anxiety. This study highlights the importance of considering the relationship dynamic between athletic identity, perceived coaching styles and performance anxiety in the pursuit of optimizing athletic performance and decreasing performance anxiety in university athletes.