Abstract:

The purpose of the current study was to examine the differences of competitive state anxiety scores of 12-year-old tennis players by gender. A total of 50 licensed tennis players, 20 girls and 30 boys, participated in the study. Participants filled the Children’s Form of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2C) until 20 minutes before the official competition started. Their cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence scores were recorded. According to the results, no significant difference was found in any of the subscales of CSAI-2C between boys and girls. Similar results were found in correlation analyzes. In both groups, a positive relationship was observed between cognitive and somatic anxiety, and a negative relationship between cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence. When the results were examined, it was understood that the CSAI-2C results were not affected by gender. Cognitive and somatic anxiety scores of the participants were found to be moderate and self-confidence scores were high. In addition, it was understood that as cognitive and somatic anxiety scores decreased, self-confidence increased.

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