Ansiedad y percepción de éxito en futbolistas de categoría cadete y juvenil Anxiety and perception of success in cadet and youth soccer players

Abstract

The present study aims to analyse the level of anxiety and motivational orientation (achievement goals) in football players in training categories, which are influential factors in sporting development that usually affect performance, determining their performance. The study involved 104 football players (19 females and 85 males) belonging to the different categories that compete in the league championships at formative ages (cadet and youth). The subjects were aged between 14 and 18 years (15.90±1.31) and were administered the Spanish version of the Competitive Anxiety Scale (SAS-2) and the Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ). The results showed a clear predominant orientation towards the task as opposed to the ego typical of age and competitive category; while competitive anxiety presents worry as the dimension with the highest score and somatic anxiety and deconcentration with very low and similar means. In relation to the levels of competitive anxiety with respect to gender, statistically significant differences were observed in the dimensions of worry and deconcentration, reflecting higher values in females than in males. The results are discussed in terms of other findings and the multidimensional concept of competitive anxiety and the motivational climate (ego-task).