Investigating the relationship between group and individual competition anxiety and its relationship with perfectionism

1. Introduction

Exercise plays an important role in human mental health. There are different views on the psychological characteristics of athletes. According to Freud [1], athletes expel their aggression, which is instinctive and society does not allow them to express it, through exercise. In such a situation, aggression turns to sport. Perfectionism means a network of cognitions that relate to one's expectations and interpretations of events and involve one's own evaluations and those of others, characterized by summarizing unrealistic standards and rigid and vague adherence to those standards.

Competitive anxiety is a state of anxiety and a competitive trait. According to [2], Tate anxiety is a temporary emotional state that is associated with anxiety and stress [3], and trait anxiety is a person's ability to perceive specific situations (threatening situations) and respond to them with varying degrees of state anxiety [4]. Competitive anxiety refers to the score that a person achieves in the competitive anxiety of Martens, Willie et al. (2018) [3].

In Adler's theory, the feeling of inferiority is the driving force that drives athletic behavior [4]. Progress is the result of an effort to compensate for one's inferiority and achieve a source of internal control, and ultimately motivates the athlete to win the championship. According to social learning theory, one has learned that aggression and having a source of internal control in sports situations is a good answer. Some ones have reached this conclusion because of this feature in sports situations [2].

Stated that athletes are better than others in championships in three dimensions: life satisfaction, general well-being, and self-reliance [4]. The changes caused by participating in sports activities occur gradually, because sports change the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and expectations and values [5]. Distinguishes trait anxiety from state anxiety and believes that state anxiety is an emotional and transient reaction which causes people to evaluate certain situations as threatening [6]. This anxiety varies in intensity and fluctuation in different situations.

The long studies on the effect of exercise on personality traits and mental health have shown that exercise and physical education as a recreational activity and an educational tool pursues many psychosocial goals. Every movement experience with physical change is followed by a change or psychological experience. Exercise is one of the most important methods of physical, psychological and social development, because participating in sports activities brings people closer in terms of space. It provides many ways and opportunities to become proficient in the community and generally creates an educational process in the cultural and social dimensions for the individual. One of the variables that has a great impact on athletes' performance is competitive anxiety [5]. In recent years, much works have been done to reduce and balance competitive anxiety in athletes [6].

One of the variables that can be associated with competitive anxiety is perfectionism. Perfectionism has positive and negative dimensions. Its positive dimension can reduce anxiety and its negative dimension can cause anxiety and competitive anxiety in athletes [7]. It has also been shown that perfectionism can be associated with self-confidence and self-esteem in athletes.

Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perfectionism and competitive anxiety of team and individual athletes. It can strength to the science of sports psychology in an incremental way.

Various studies have pointed to the role and effect of perfectionism and its role in variables related to athletes. Kayla et al. (2012) have shown that negative patterns of perfectionism are associated with high levels of competitive anxiety and low levels of self-confidence [8]. This means that negative levels of perfectionism are positively and significantly correlated with competitive anxiety [9].

In recent years, psychologists have done a lot of research activities to improve the performance of athletes in competitions and athletes to achieve effective sports skills. The use of effective and appropriate strategies and important psychological tools is one of the factors that play an important role in increasing athletic performance and reducing competitive anxiety. Recently, two different conceptualizations of this structure have been developed. Both views consider perfectionism to be multidimensional. Frost et al. (2018) have introduced five dimensions and components that are likely to contribute to perfectionism as a whole [10]. The first and most important of these conceptualizations is the extreme concern for mistakes, but people who are perfectionists and have a high status and competence should be distinguished from those who have high standards for themselves [11].

The second dimension includes a set of personal performance metrics. Most theorists have described this dimension as a central feature of perfectionism; because perfectionists have very high standards and often cannot achieve them satisfactorily.

The third and fourth dimensions are a person's perception of parents' expectations and their extreme criticisms. In this context, parents have been described as the core of the disorder [12].

The fifth component of perfectionism is the tendency to be skeptical about how one functions.

The sixth dimension in perfectionism theory is the tendency to be orderly and organized, which is somewhat independent but related to other dimensions. This dimension reflects the emphasis on order or arrangement that is often associated with perfectionism [13].

Frost et al. (2018) showed that the dimension of parental problems and criticisms are important in perfectionism, but not closely related to psychological pathology [10]. Frost and Henderson (2019) found that higher scores after parental criticism among mothers were associated with increased perfectionism in girls [8]. In addition, parental expectations scores are associated with the onset of symptoms of psychological pathology in girls [7]. The organizing dimension of perfectionism is also negatively associated with the frequency of negligence and negligence [11].

The results of many studies indicate the reliability of trait anxiety over time, but state anxiety changes as threatening situations change. Also, people who are different in terms of trait anxiety are different in terms of trait anxiety response, in terms of the severity of the state anxiety reaction to threatening situations. For example, people with high trait anxiety show more severe anxiety in the face of a threat such as a negative evaluation, which impairs their self-esteem [14].

Spielberger (2018) states that adjective anxiety develops in early childhood and remains hidden until it is evoked by situational cues [15]. Spielberger and Hodges (2015) concluded that people with high quality trait anxiety were more likely to fail when people with low quality trait anxiety increased [16]. showed that state Anxiety scores in successful students are lower than the scores of unsuccessful students [3]. In contrast to girls, no relationship was found between motivation to avoid failure and trait anxiety in boys [14].

In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate this relationship more broadly, including sport-specific perfectionism and its relationship with competitive anxiety in team and individual athletes, which in turn can be useful and effective in increasing the psychology of sport.

2. Materials and Methods

The method of this study is correlational. This is because the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship (correlation) of perfectionism with competitive anxiety in team and individual athletes. The variable of perfectionism and its subscales are considered as predictor variables and the variables of competitive anxiety (self-confidence, physical condition anxiety and cognitive state anxiety) are considered as predictor variables. The statistical population of this study consists of all team and individual athletes in Iran who have had a history of sports for two and a half years and more and according to the coaches have been able to participate in sports competitions. The number of these athletes in both individual and team groups was approximately over 2000 people.

3. Results

The statistical sample of this study consisted of 400 team and individual athletes who were selected by stratified random sampling method (50% team and 50% individual). Some sample features are considered in Table 1.

As Table 1, 44.25% of the subjects are in the age range of 18 to 20 years, 32.75% are in the age range of 21 to 25 years, 19.5% are in the age range of 26 to 30 years and 3.5% are in the age range of 30 years or more.

As Table 2, 64.0% of the subjects have a history of 2 to 5 years, 17.75% have a history of 6 to 9 years, 13.75% have a history of 10 to 13 years, and 4.5% have a sports history of 13 years or more.

The method of conducting the research was that after selecting the research sample; the researchers referred to the men sports clubs in Iran and provided the research questionnaires to the athletes and completed the questionnaires, individually. After collecting information, raw data were entered into the computer and analyzed with SPSS software.

Data collection tools in this study were:

- Researcher-made questionnaire: This questionnaire includes demographic characteristics (demographic) such as age, sports history, marital status, sport and.

- Perfectionism scale in sport: This scale was developed by Dunn et al. (2005) [17] based on factor analysis. This scale has 30 items that each subject answers as completely disagree, disagree, neither disagree nor agree, agree and strongly agree being scored 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. This scale has four subscales which are: (1) Personal standards (7 items), (2) Excessive worry about mistakes (8 items), (3) Perceived parental pressure (9 items) and (4) Perceived coach pressure (6 items). The internal consistency coefficient through Cronbach's alpha of this scale and its subscales has been reported in the range from 0.76 to 0.89. Competitive Anxiety Scale: This scale has 27 items and was created by Martens et alit has three subscales of self-confidence, cognitive state anxiety and physical state anxiety. The subject responds to this scale on a 4-point Likert scale (very low, low, high and very high). Cronbach's alpha of this questionnaire was reported for the subscale of confidence 0.88, cognitive anxiety 0.88 and physical anxiety 0.85. A simple correlation coefficient was used to test Hypotheses 1 to 8. A multivariate regression test with input method was used to test the research questions.

Table 1. Frequency distribution of subjects' age

Table 2. Frequency distribution of subjects' sports history

There is a significant correlation between perfectionism (personal standards, excessive worry about mistakes, perceived parental pressure, and perceived coach pressure) with competitive anxiety in team athletes (Table 3). As can be seen in Table 3 in team athletes, there was a positive and significant correlation between excessive anxiety about mistakes and competitive anxiety (r= 0.19), a positive correlation between perceived coach pressure and competitive anxiety (r= 0.24) and there is a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and competitive anxiety (r= 0.26). But there was no significant correlation between personal standards and perceived parental pressure with competitive anxiety (P<0.05). There is a significant correlation between perfectionism (personal standards, excessive worry about mistakes, perceived parental pressure, and perceived coach pressure) and competitive anxiety in individual athletes (Table 3).

Table 3. The research hypothesis 1

As can be seen in Table 4, in individual athletes there was a positive correlation between personal standards and competitive anxiety (r= 0.22), a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and competitive anxiety (r= 0.17). There is a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and competitive anxiety (r= 0.205) and a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and competitive anxiety (r= 0.21). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and competitive anxiety (P<0.05).

Table 4. The research hypothesis 2

Table 5 summarizes the correlation test to examine the relationship between perfectionism (personal standards, excessive worry about mistakes, perceived parental pressure, and perceived coach pressure) with athletic confidence in team athletes.

As can be seen in Table 5, in team athletes, there is a significant negative correlation between personal standards and athletic self-confidence (r= -0.185), and a negative correlation between excessive worry about mistakes, athletic self-confidence (r -0.21), a negative and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure, sports confidence (r= -0.25) and a negative and significant correlation between perfectionism and sports confidence (r=0.235). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and sports confidence (P<0.05).

As can be seen in Table 6, in individual athletes there is a significant negative correlation between personal standards and athletic self-confidence (r= -0.165), a significant negative correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and athletic self-confidence (r= -0.20), negative and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and sports confidence (r= -0.18) and negative and significant correlation between perfectionism and sports confidence (r=-0.19). But there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and sports confidence (P<0.05).

Table 5. The research hypothesis 3

Table 6. The research hypothesis 4

As can be seen in Table 7, in team athletes, there is a negative and significant correlation between personal standards and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.17), a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.24), a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.21) and a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.24). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and cognitive state anxiety (P<0.05).

Table 7. The research hypothesis 5

As can be seen in Table 8, in individual athletes, there is a negative and significant correlation between personal standards and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.235), a positive correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.17), positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.25) and positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.21). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and cognitive anxiety (P<0.05).

Table 8. The research hypothesis 6

As can be seen in Table 9, in team athletes, there is a negative and significant correlation between personal standards and physical anxiety (r= 0.165), a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and physical anxiety (r= 0.18), a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and physical anxiety (r= 0.17) and a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and physical anxiety (r= 0.185). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and physical anxiety (P<0.05).

Table 9. The research hypothesis 7

As can be seen in Table 10, in individual athletes, there is a significant negative correlation between personal standards and physical anxiety (r= 0.21), a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and physical anxiety (r= 0.19), a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and physical condition anxiety (r= 0.20), and a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and physical condition anxiety (r= 0.195). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and physical anxiety (P<0.05).

Table 10. The research hypothesis 8

As can be seen in Table 12, multivariate correlation coefficient for linear combination of personal standard variables (MR= 0.216), excessive worry about mistakes (MR= 0.197), perceived parental pressure (MR= 0.109) and perceived coach pressure (MR= 0.205) are higher than simple correlation coefficients of these variables with competitive anxiety in individual athletes. However, according to the obtained P and MR values, respectively, the variables of personal standards, perceived coach pressure and excessive worry about mistakes are the strongest variables to predict competitive anxiety in individual athletes (P<0.05).

4. Conclusion

The results of Pearson correlation showed that team athletes, there was a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes with competitive anxiety (r= 0.19), and a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and competitive anxiety (r= 0.24). Also, there is a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and competitive anxiety (r= 0.26). But there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and competitive anxiety (P<0.05); so, Hypothesis 1 was confirmed. This

Table 11. Multivariate regression coefficient of personal standards, excessive worry about mistakes, t, perceived parental pressure and perceived coach pressure with competitive anxiety of team athletes

Table 12. Multivariate regression coefficient of personal standards, excessive worry about mistakes, t, perceived parental pressure and perceived coach pressure with competitive anxiety of individual athletes

finding is consistent with the results of Haase et al.Also, the results of Pearson correlation showed that individual athletes had a positive correlation between personal standards and competitive anxiety (r= 0.22), a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and competitive anxiety (r= 0.17). There is a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and competitive anxiety (r= 0.205) and a positive and significant correlation between perfectionism and competitive anxiety (r= 0.21). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and competitive anxiety (P<0.05). Therefore, Hypothesis 2 was confirmed. These results are in line with the findings of Haase et al. (2002) [11], Jones et al. (2019) [18], and Frost and Henderson (2019) [7]. They point to the relationship between perfectionism and competitive anxiety. The researchers believe that the problems of adaptation of perfectionists are due to the existence of characteristics such as having unrealistic criteria and trying to achieve these criteria, selective attention and extreme generalization of failures, strict self-assessment and tendency to think all or nothing It can be said that these evaluations and standards can affect competitive anxiety, and the athlete has high standards of perfectionism, which is due to excessive worry about mistakes and perceived coach pressure from competitive anxiety. More are suffering, because these standards must always be considered and based on compete and participate in competitions.

The results of Pearson correlation showed that in team athletes, there was a significant negative correlation (r= -0.185) between personal standards and athletic self-confidence, and between excessive concern about mistakes and athletic self-confidence. There was negative and significant correlation (r= -0.21) between perceived coach pressure with sports confidence (r= -0.25) and significant correlation between perfectionism and sports confidence (r= 0.235). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and sports self-confidence (P<0.05); so, Hypothesis 3 was confirmed. This result is consistent with the findings of Frost and Henderson (2019) [19], Jones et al. (2019) [18], and Kajola et al. (2011) [11]. They point to the relationship between positive dimensions of perfectionism and high self-esteem and the relationship between negative dimensions of perfectionism and low self-esteem feelings of guilt, self-blame, laziness, feelings of shame, slowness, and low self-esteem. One of these negative consequences is low self-esteem. Expectations can lower a person's self-esteem. Excessive worry about mistakes can also lower people's self-esteem. Perceived coach pressure has also been negatively related to self-esteem. It can be said that these negative factors cause a person to gain satisfaction. In the pressure of coaching and reaching the standards, athletes always worry about losing sports which can lower self-confidence.

Pearson correlation results also showed that in individual athletes, there was a negative and significant correlation
(r=-0.165) between individual standards and athletic self-confidence, and between excessive concern about mistakes, and significant correlation between sports confidence (r= -0.20). There was negative and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and athletic self-confidence (r= -0.18), and between correlation between perfectionism and sports self-confidence (r= -0.19). But, there was no significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and sports confidence (P<0.05). Therefore, 4 was approved. This result is consistent with findings of Frost and Henderson [13], Kayla et al. [15], Jones et al. (2019) [3] and Kajola et al. (2011) [19]. They have pointed out the relationship between the dimensions of positive perfectionism and high self-confidence and the relationship between the dimensions of negative perfectionism and low self-confidence. To justify these findings, it can be said that the performance of people with high perfectionism- which includes personal standards, worries about mistakes, doubts about the activities and expectations of parents- can increase individual criticism and reprimands over time.

The results of Pearson correlation showed that in team athletes, there was a negative and significant correlation between personal standards and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.17). There was a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.24), between perceived coach pressure and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.21), and between perfectionism with cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.24). But, there was a significant correlation between perceived parental pressure and cognitive state anxiety (P<0.05). Therefore, Hypothesis 5 was confirmed. These findings are consistent with the results of Haase et al. [11], Jones et al. (2019) [21] and Frost and Henderson (2019) [13]. They point to the relationship between perfectionism and competitive anxiety. In justification of this finding, it can be said that the more perfectionism there is in individuals, the greater amount of negative criticism and blame against themselves. Because the athlete always tries to conform personal standards, thoughts of worrying about the coach's mistakes and recommendations cause competitive anxiety. Also, the results of Pearson correlation showed that in individual athletes, there was a negative and significant correlation between personal standards and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.235), and a positive and significant correlation between excessive worry about mistakes and cognitive state anxiety (r= 17.17).There is a positive and significant correlation between perceived coach pressure and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.25) and between perfectionism and cognitive state anxiety (r= 0.21). But there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and cognitive anxiety (P<0.05). Therefore, Hypothesis 6 was confirmed. This finding is consistent with the results of Haase et al. [11], Jones et al. (2019) [1] and Frost and Henderson (2019) [8]. They point to the relationship between perfectionism and competitive anxiety it can be said that in athletes it means having high standards is due to the expectations of the coach and the person cause negative emotions such as their competitive anxiety.

The results of Pearson correlation showed that in team athletes, there was a significant negative correlation between personal standards and physical anxiety (r= 0.165). Between excessive worry and mistakes, and between physical state anxiety (r= 0.18), between perceived coach pressure and physical state anxiety (r= 0.17) and between perfectionism and physical state anxiety (r=0.185) there is positive and significant correlation. But there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and physical anxiety (P<0.05). Hence, Hypothesis 7 was approved. This finding is consistent with the results of Haase et al. [11], Jones et al. (2019) [4] and Frost and Henderson (2019) [13]. They point to the relationship between perfectionism and competitive anxiety. To justify these findings, it can be said that perfectionist athletes focus their attention on the mistakes that they made during the competition and are severely forgotten about them. In general, their disturbing thoughts related to perfectionism cause them to fall. Their performance in turn, causes athletes' competitive anxiety [19]. So, they have physical and physical symptoms of anxiety and show most of the behavioral symptoms of anxiety and always complain of sweating, muscle stiffness, discomfort and even anxiety headaches. It can be said that this can be due to the fact that the body is always mentally affected and physical anxiety can also cause physical anxiety. Also, Pearson correlation results showed that in individual athletes, there is a negative correlation between personal standards and physical anxiety (r= 0.21). Between excessive worry about mistakes and physical anxiety (r= 0.19), between perceived coach pressure and physical anxiety (r= 0.20), and between perfectionism and physical state anxiety (r= 0.195) there is a positive and significant correlation. But there was no significant correlation between perceived parental stress and physical anxiety (P<0.05). Therefore, Hypothesis 8 was confirmed. This finding is consistent with the results of Haase et al. [11], Jones et al. [16], and Frost and Henderson (2019) [19]. In their research, they point to the relationship between perfectionism and competitive anxiety. High levels of performance mistakes lead to low self-esteem in sports scenes and cause them to make mistakes more visual and more concerned about auditory reactions [18]. It can be said that these feelings can cause competitive anxiety, and cognitive anxiety is associated with physical anxiety and its appearance is more in the form of complaints. Physical problems such as sweating, headache, heartburn, the pressure of parents perceived as one of the predictor variables which was not significantly related to any of the criterion variables (self-confidence, competitive anxiety, both cognitive and physical). This reason may be related to issues and problems in our country, parents are less involved in sports and athletes' competition, so athletes may not perceive the pressure of parental expectations, and if they do, this pressure is due to parents' high expectations about sports competition and it is not individual.

Conflict of interest

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Authors' contributions

All authors contributed to the original idea, study design.

Ethical considerations

The ethics committee approved this study from the Research Ethics Committees of Sport Sciences Research Institute (SSRI).

Data availability

The dataset generated and analyzed during the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.