Competitive anxiety level before and during competition among Malaysian athletes

Anxiety is recognized as one of the main factors that reduces athletes’ performance in sports. In many research reviews, researchers have found that high levels of anxiety can have a deteriorating effect on athletes’ or teams’ performance. To date, however, there has been no attempt to examine competitive anxiety level as influenced by gender, levels of skills, and performance. The main aim of the study was to describe and compare the anxiety differences before and during competition among different categories of skills of athletes and genders. Data were collected from 902 athletes using a 27 item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. The results showed that national level and male athletes obtained the lowest score on competitive state anxiety. Based on the current results, it is recommended that sport psychologists, sport counsellors, and coaches in Malaysia use the findings to design appropriate training programmes to help athletes acquire suitable coping strategies so as to reduce their state anxiety levels and enhance their performance

Tahap keyakinan diri dan pencapaian atlet Bumiputera / Vincent A. Parnabas and Yahaya Mahamood

Keyakinan diri adalah melakukan sesuatu tingkah laku dengan jayanya tanpa mempunyai perasaan risau, penilaian positif terhadap diri sendiri, dan mengharap pencapaian yang positif. Pencapaian tinggi atlet dalam sukan banyak bergantung kepada keyakinan. Walaubagaimana pun di Malaysia, belum ada satu kajian ilmiah yang secara khusus mengenal pasti tahap keyakinan diri dan pencapaian bumiputera. Beberapa kajian menunjukkan atlet yang memiliki kemahiran yang berbeza akan menunjukkan tahap keyakinan diri yang yang berbeza. Justeru itu, kajian ini akan bandingkan pelbagai kategori kemahiran atlet bumiputera iaitu yang mewakili universiti, daerah, negeri dan negara. Kajian ini telah memperolehi sebanyak 87 responden, yang merupakan atlet bumiputera, dari Universiti Teknologi MARA. Soal selidik Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2 (CSAI-2) digunakan, bagi tujuan untuk mengutip data. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan atlet elit atau yang mewakili negara memiliki tahap keyakinan diri yang lebih tinggi daripada atlet yang mewakili negeri, daerah dan universiti. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan atlet bumiputera yang memiliki tahap pencapaian yang tertinggi menunjukkan tahap keyakinan diri yang tertinggi jika dibandingkan dengan atlet yang memiliki tahap pencapaian sederhana atau rendah. Kajian ini bermanfaat bagi jurulatih, kaunselor sukan dan psikologi sukan, untuk membuat program-program yang berkaitan dengan peningkatan keyakinan diri bagi atlet bumiputera yang mengalami tahap keyakinan diri yang rendah supaya boleh memperbaiki pencapaian dalam sukan

Competitive state anxiety and performance among Malaysian athletes from the view of multidimensional anxiety theory / Vincent A. Parnabas, Yahaya Mahamood and Kwame Ampofo-Boateng

The Multidimensional Anxiety theory examines the relationship between anxiety and performance. It is the first theory that explains that both cognitive and somatic components play an important role on performance. Cognitive anxiety is the mental component of anxiety and somatic anxiety refers to a person’s perceived changes in her or his physiological. The theory hypothesizes a powerful negative linear relationship between cognitive state anxiety and performance and a less powerful, inverted U relationship between somatic anxiety and performance. The theory states that the increases of cognitive and somatic anxiety will deteriorate an athlete’s performance. However, previous research had showed inconsistent results. Therefore, this research examines the effect of cognitive and somatic anxiety on performance among Malaysian athletes. The sample consisted of 902 athletes, consisting of national (N=53), state (N=395), district (N=120), university (N=211), and school athletes (N= 123). The sample was drawn from among athletes who competed in three big sport events of Malaysia, MASUM (Universities Sports Competition), MSSM (Schools Sport Competition) and Sukan Olimpik Muda (Young Olympic Athletes Competition).The instrument used for the study comprised of a 27-item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2, consisting of cognitive and somatic component. The result has received support from the Multidimensional Anxiety theory, that the increased level of cognitive and somatic anxiety deteriorated athletes’ performance. Coaches, sport psychologists and counsellors can use this research to reduce the cognitive and somatic anxiety to increase athletes’ performance

Penggunaan Narkotika dikalangan Olahragawan Malaysia

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti penggunaan narkotika dikalangan atlet mengikut kemahiran, iaitu yang mewakili peringkat Nasional (negara), negeri, daerah dan universiti. Selain itu, ia juga untuk melihat perbezaan penggunaan narkotika dikalangan atlet berdasarkan gender. Penelitian ini menggunakan sampel 111 atlet Malaysia (Negara = 31; Negeri = 35; Daerah = 19; Universitas = 26), yang dipilih secara random semasa pertandingan olahraga antara universitas. Manakala dari segi gender, atlet lelaki adalah 66 dan atlet perempuan adalah 45. Angket Penggunaan Narkotika (Drug Use Questionnaire) digunakan dalam penelitian ini untuk mengukur tahap penggunaan narkotika. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan tujuan utama penggunaan narkotika adalah untuk menang. Selain itu, penggunaan narkotika dikalangan atlet lelaki lebih tinggi daripada perempuan. Hasil penelitian juga menunjukkan narkotika lebih tinggi diguna oleh olahragawan yang mewakili peringkat Nasional (Negara). Ahli-ahli psikologi olahraga harus memainkan peranan penting untuk menggurangkan ketagihan penggunaan narkotika dengan memberi terapi yang berkesan. Pemerintah Malaysia harus melarang olahragawan yang menggunakan narkotika terlibat dalam pertandingan olahraga

Positive coping strategies and performance level among Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) athletes

Anxiety is one of the main barriers that impact on performance among athletes and countless researches have been conducted on coping strategy techniques to reduce anxiety among athletes. Coping strategies involve positive or negative techniques. Positive techniques include positive self-talk, physical activity, goal setting, thinking on practice, thought stopping, remembering the worst-case scenario, focus on what you can control, imagery, meditation, simulation, breathing techniques, progressive relaxation, autogenic training and biofeedback, while, negative techniques include drugs, alcohol and smoking.The present study sought to explore potential positive coping techniques used by athletes as influence by demographic variables of athletes.The sample consisted of 78 Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) athletes. The sample was drawn from athletes who competed in MASUM (Sport between Universities).Results showed that imagery have the highest usage among athletes. National athletes used more postive coping techniques than state, district, and university level athletes.Positive coping techniques of high level performance athletes were more than medium and low level performance athletes.The findings emphasized the importance of positive coping strategies to enhance performance.Sport psychologists, sport counselors and coaches should encourage their athletes to use positive coping strategies to improve performance

Student-athletes 'self confidence level during MASUM competition

Self-confidence is an athlete 's beliefthat he or she can successfully execute and carry out an appropriate performance. Many researches indicated that high level of self confidence among elite athletes enhance performance. In many research reviews, researchers have found that low level of self confidence had deteriorating effect on athletes 'or teams performance. Elite athletes are well-known for high self confidence levels. However, to date there has been no attempt to examine self confidence level among athletes of nori--elite. Most of the previous researches focus on elite athletes, while ignoring less successful athletes. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to describe and compare the self-confidence level differences among different categories of skills of athletes. The present study also compared the level of self confidence among gender. Data was collected from 205 student-athletes, using a 27 item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, during MASUM (Sport between Universities) competition. The results showed that national level athletes obtained the highest score on self-confidence. Furthermore, university and district level athletes exhibit the lowest level of self-confidence. The result also showed that male student- athletes obtained higher score on self confidence compared females. Based on the current results, it is recommended that sport psychologists, sport counselors and coaches in Malaysia use the findings to design appropriate training programs to help district, university level and female athletes to acquire higher level of self confidence to enhance their performance in sports

Atlet bumiputera : tahap keyakinan diri dan pencapaian dalam sukan / Vincent A. Parnabas, Yahaya Mahamood dan Julinamary Parnabas

Keyakinan diri adalah melakukan sesuatu tingkah laku dengan jayanya tanpa mempunyai perasaan risau, penilaian positif terhadap diri sendiri, dan mengharap pencapaian yang positif. Pencapaian tinggi atlet dalam sukan banyak bergantung kepada keyakinan. Walaubagaimana pun di Malaysia, belum ada satu kajian ilmiah yang secara khusus mengenal pasti tahap keyakinan diri dan pencapaian bumiputera. Beberapa kajian menunjukkan atlet yang memiliki kemahiran yang berbeza akan menunjukkan tahap keyakinan diri yang yang berbeza. Justeru itu, kajian ini akan bandingkan pelbagai kategori kemahiran atlet bumiputera iaitu yang mewakili universiti, daerah, negeri dan negara. Kajian ini telah memperolehi sebanyak 87 responden, yang merupakan atlet bumiputera, dari Universiti Teknologi MARA. Soal selidik Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2 (CSAI-2) digunakan, bagi tujuan untuk mengutip data. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan atlet elit atau yang mewakili negara memiliki tahap keyakinan diri yang lebih tinggi daripada atlet yang mewakili negeri, daerah dan universiti. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan atlet bumiputera yang memiliki tahap pencapaian yang tertinggi menunjukkan tahap keyakinan diri yang tertinggi jika dibandingkan dengan atlet yang memiliki tahap pencapaian sederhana atau rendah. Kajian ini bermanfaat bagi jurulatih, kaunselor sukan dan psikologi sukan, untuk membuat program-program yang berkaitan dengan peningkatan keyakinan diri bagi atlet bumiputera yang mengalami tahap keyakinan diri yang rendah supaya boleh memperbaiki pencapaian dalam sukan

The attribution roles and self-efficacy in determining individual exercise behavior

The main purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between exercise self-efficacy and attributions with exercise behavior and to what extent the two independent variables that can determine the individual exercise behavior. Respondents are consists of 274 students (86 men, 188 women) aged between 20 and 24 years (M = 21.31, SD = 1.27).They were undergraduate students in various fields of specialization at the Institute of Teacher Education, Islamic Education Campus, Ministry of Education Malaysia.The Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ; Godin & Shephard, 1985) is used to determine the level of their involvement in physical activity within a week.While the independent variables of exercise self-efficacy is measured using the Marcus’ Self-efficacy for Exercise Questionnaire (Marcus, Selby, Niaura, & Rossi, 1992) and the revised Causal Dimension Scale (CDSII; McAuley, Duncan, & Russell, 1992) was used for measuring their attributions towards success and failure in physical activity. The findings showed there was a weak relationship between exercise self-efficacy and exercise behavior, and exercise self efficacy also contributed significantly to the behavior of exercise.However, the four dimensions of attribution does not show a significant relationship with exercise behavior.The study is expected to enhance the understanding of motivational factors that contribute to the individual exercise behavior