Anxiety in Athletes: Gender and Type of Sport Differences.

The study of anxiety, specifically its relations with sociodemographic variables, has been fruitfull in sport psychology research. This study aimed to investigate athletes' sport anxiety regarding differences in gender and sport played. An application of structural equation modeling was made, with 601 Portuguese athletes. From them 172 (28.6%) were female and 429 (71.4%) were male. They competed in a variety of individual (e.g., athletics, climbing, orienteering, surfing, swimming, tennis; 42.6%) and team sports (e.g., basketball, handball, rugby, soccer, volleyball; 57.4%). Participants' age ranged from 12 to 47 years (M = 17.44 years; SD = 4.99). After testing the measurement invariance of the first and second-order models, across gender and type of sport (individual vs. team), latent mean comparisons were investigated and Cohen's d (1988) statistic was computed to obtain the corresponding effect sizes (Kline, 2016). Significant differences were detected between male and female athletes and between individual and team sports. Female and individual sports athletes presented higher levels of general sports anxiety.The results of this research provided evidence that anxiety is appraised differently by athletes based on their gender and type of sport. El estudio de la ansiedad, ha sido fructífero en la investigación en Psicología del Deporte. El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la ansiedad deportiva de los atletas, con respecto a su género y el tipo de deporte. Se aplicó un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales con 601 atletas portugueses. De ellos, 172 (28.6%) eran mujeres y 429 (71.4%) eran hombres. Competían en modalidades individuales (por ejemplo, atletismo, escalada, orientación, surf, natación, tenis; 42.6%) y deportes de equipo (por ejemplo, baloncesto,balonmano, rugby, fútbol, voleibol; 57.4%). La edad de los participantes osciló entre 12 y 47 años (M = 17.44 años; SD = 4.99). Se investigaron la invariancia de medición y las comparaciones de medias latentes. Se detectaron diferencias significativas entre los atletas masculinos y femeninos y entre los deportes individuales y de equipo. Las atletas femininas y los atletas de deportes individuales presentaron niveles más altos de ansiedad deportiva general. Los resultados de esta investigación proporcionaron evidencia de que la ansiedad es apreciada de manera diferente por los atletas, con respecto a su género y tipo de deporte.