Perfectionism and Competitive Anxiety in Athletes

In order to explain different aspects of competitive anxiety including cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence as related to dimensions of perfectionism including striving for perfection (positive perfectionism) and negative reaction to imperfection (negative perfectionism), 173 volunteer athletes (115 males, 58 females) from different Iranian sport federations participated in the current study and completed the Competitive Perfectionism Scale (Besharat, 2009a) and the Multidimensional Competitive Anxiety Questionnaire (Besharat, 2009b). The results revealed that 1) striving for perfection (positive perfectionism) was negatively associated with cognitive and somatic anxiety, and positively associated with self-confidence, 2) negative reaction to imperfection (negative perfectionism) was positively associated with cognitive and somatic anxiety and negatively associated with self-confidence, and 3) dimensions of perfectionism can predict changes related to athlete's competitive anxiety. Moreover, striving for perfection decreased competitive anxiety and increased self-confidence through reinforcing personal feelings of competence, control and management of competitive conditions and concentration while performing sport skills and techniques. Conversely, negative reaction to imperfection, increased competitive anxiety and decreased self-confidence by weakening personal feelings of competence, control and management of competitive conditions and disturbing concentration while performing sport skills and techniques.