Sex, sport, situation, and competitive state anxiety.

Within a multivariate design, the relationship between sex, sport, and competitive situation with state anxiety was examined. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 was administered to selected intramural basketball and volleyball teams (ns = 266 and 226) prior to round-robin and play-off competition. Multivariate analysis of variance yielded a significant interaction of sport by sex and a significant main effect for sport. Follow-up tests indicated that basketball players scored higher somatic and cognitive state anxiety than volleyball players. Women scored higher on somatic and cognitive state anxiety than men prior to play-off games. Results are discussed in terms of importance of a multivariate approach to studying competitive anxiety.