Relating trait anxiety to perceived physical fitness.

This study was designed to determine the relation of actual cardiovascular physical fitness and perceived physical fitness to trait anxiety. 32 older adult (M age = 68.19 yr.) subjects completed a voluntary maximal graded exercise stress test on a motor driven treadmill to determine their actual cardiovascular physical fitness. Subjects also completed Abadie's Perceived Physical Fitness Scale along with Spielberger's Trait Anxiety Inventory. The partial correlation between actual cardiovascular physical fitness and trait anxiety with the influence of perceived physical fitness removed indicated a nonsignificant relation. The partial correlation between perceived physical fitness and trait anxiety with the influence of actual cardiovascular physical fitness removed indicated a significant inverse relation. Present results suggest that trait anxiety is correlated better with an individual's self-perception of his physical fitness than the actual cardiovascular physical fitness.