Background/Purpose: Parents introduce children to youth sport and can increase a childs level of enjoyment in the sport. However, parents can also place too much pressure on the child, which can lead to increased pre-competition anxiety and decreased performance (Bois, Lalanne, & Delforge, 2008; Scanlan & Lewthwaite, 1984). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among perceived and desired parental pressure, pre-competition state anxiety, subsequent performance, and intention to continue the sport in youth swimmers ages 9-18. Method: A sample of 43 swimmers (17 male, 26 female; M=12.8±2.6 years) on a United States Swimming (USS) sanctioned club team in a mid-sized Southern city participated in this study. These swimmers completed the directive behavior scale of the Parental Involvement in Sport Questionnaire (PISQ) in the days preceding a swim meet. Variables analyzed in the PISQ include perceived pressure, desired pressure and the discrepancy between perceived and desired pressure for each parent. Immediately before the swimmers first race of this meet, each athlete completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Modified for Children (CSAI-2C); the swimmers performance from this first race was compared to the previous personal best of the athlete to develop a performance time-ratio. After the meet concluded, each swimmer declared his or her intention to continue swimming past this year. Analysis/Results: Bivariate correlations and regressions were run to analyze the questionnaires. Discrepancy of fathers pressure (b=0.277, p=. 021) and self-confidence (b=-.374, p=. 004) were significant predictors of cognitive anxiety in a regression analysis. In separate regression analyses, cognitive anxiety predicted intention to continue (b =-.066, p=. 036); the more cognitive anxiety a swimmer experiences, the less likely that swimmer will intend to continue swimming and age was the only significant predictor of performance (b=.012, p<.001). Conclusions: Results indicate the importance of working with parents to learn appropriate supportive behaviors when interacting with their children in sport settings and working with parents and coaches to develop programs to reduce cognitive anxiety in children participating in sport.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-07082014-194007 |
| Date | 29 July 2014 |
| Creators | Dasinger, Timothy Michael |
| Contributors | Solmon, Melinda, Garn, Alex, Baker, Birgitta |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07082014-194007/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds