Cognitive and Somatic State Anxiety and Self-Confidence in Cheerleading Competition

Abstract

77 cheerleaders participating in a national collegiate championship competition were administered the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 immediately prior to performance. Significant correlations were found between cognitive and somatic state anxiety, a finding consistent with previous research. Negative correlations were found between both cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence, also as previously reported. Canonical discriminant analysis indicated that significant discrimination between the teams could be accomplished by a combination of the state-anxiety variables. Both groups, 36 men and 41 women, differed significantly from normative scores on the somatic subscale.