Gender, age, and professional-level differences in the psychological correlates of fear of injury in Italian gymnasts.

Cartoni, Anna Claudia ; Minganti, Carlo ; Zelli, Arnaldo 等

The role that psychological factors play in influencing an athlete's performance is a topic that has received substantial attention in the psychological sport literature (Sonstroem, 1974, Corbin, Stewart & Blair, 1981 : Feltz & Landers, 1983; Kerr, 1987; Lirgg, 1991 ; Moritz & Feltz, 2000). This literature shows that anxiety and fear can have a detrimental influence on performance, whereas self-confidence, self-efficacy and positive thinking can improve performance.

An individual's psychological outcomes, actions, and achievements have social foundations and are embedded in the network of cultural and societal influences he or she may experience (Caprara & Cervone, 2001). For instance, societies may have different expectations about the traits, abilities, and prospective achievements of men and women and, therefore, vary in the degree to which they may enforce homogenous gender conceptions. Gender differences may thus play a role in the context of the relations linking psychological factors and performance. Some literature suggests that gender differences are the product of environmental influences and that males' socialization is substantially different from females' socialization (Greendorfer, 1977; Lewko & Ewing, 1980). In this cultural conditioning view, males are socialized to be more competitive, aggressive, and dominant than females and are more encouraged to take on risks and face up to fears (Gill, 1988; Ginsburg & Silverman, 2000; Kerr & Vlaminkx, 1997). Literature also shows that these differences in socialization may already arise in early infancy and continue throughout childhood and adolescence. In the very early years, boys tend to be more active than girls (Eaton & Enns, 1986) and to engage in different games and play-time activities (Fisher-Thompson, 1990; Giuliano, Popp & Knight, 2000). In later years, teachers, coaches, and peers may contribute to differential socialization by treating boys and girls in very different ways, by having different expectations about them, and by providing different practice opportunities (Thomas & French, 1985). Over time, gender differences may crystallize and influence boys' and girls" attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in significant ways. For instance, Eccles and Harold (1991) found that adolescent boys valued sports and believed in their sport abilities more than girls did. Other research has also pointed out that girls are less likely to participate in activities promoting the development of motor skills associated with sports (Thomas J.R. & Thomas K.T., 1988).

In several studies of physical activity, cultural conditioning has been considered to account for males' relatively low levels of anxiety and high levels of self-efficacy (Barberini, Dotto, Bortoli & Robazza, 1996: Clifton & Gill, 1994; Jones & Swain, 1992; Lirgg 1991 ; Moritz & Feltz, 2000). Nonetheless, while psychologists have typically investigated the fear of failure and the fear of success (e.g. Anshel, 1991; Conroy, 2001: Lazarus, 1991; Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump & Smith, 1990), the study of fear of physical injury and the possible ways of coping with this emotion have received little attention in the sports literature. Fear of injury might be common among athletes, but there are no studies or data to confirm this claim.

In the present study, we examined fear of physical injury among gymnasts at varying levels of technical expertise or competence. Several considerations contributed to our choice of participants. Athletes in gymnastics are required to execute movements on the floor and on apparatus that are a challenge to gravity. The body is called upon to carry out movements that can arouse emotions such as fear, worry, and anxiety, often related to the risk of physical injury. For some gymnasts, fear may become a major psychological barrier that prevents learning and success. It may prevent the learning of new skills and delay the improvement of skills already learned. Furthermore, in the case of inexperienced youngsters, fear can even influence learning more broadly by reducing motivation to train and by evoking withdrawal from activities at an early stage. Finally, fear of physical injury may lead to a specific behavioral block, that is, a refusal to execute a specific technical movement.

We thus investigated gender, age, and professional-level differences in gymnasts' fear of physical injury and its relations to anxiety and self-efficacy for motor performance. This interest was motivated on at least three separate grounds. First, psychological literature has recently highlighted the importance of examining emotions not as general or trait-like phenomena, but rather as self-regulatory mechanisms that are influenced by and may influence specific, context-bound, cognitive experiences (Bandura, 1999; Caprara & Cervone, 2001; Mischel & Shoda, 1999). In line with this theoretical perspective, gymnasts' fear of physical injury can reasonably be the expression of a complex pattern of individual experiences. This pattern could involve both general dispositions such as a gymnast's tendency to experience anxiety, and specific self-evaluation processes such as the degree to which an athlete is confident in his or her ability to perform. Second, the notion of cultural conditioning inherently embraces the possibility that anxiety, self-efficacy, and fear of physical injury may operate differently in different individuals who are at different ages or levels of professional and technical competence. Thus, male and female (or low vs. high professional-level) gymnasts may differ not only at average group levels but also in terms of the relations linking anxiety, self-efficacy, and fear of physical injury (i.e., an hypothesis about moderating group effects). Third, the study of group differences in gymnasts' fear of injury represents a novel step in sport research conducted within the Italian culture.

In the present investigation, Italian male and female gymnasts completed a series of questionnaires measuring trait anxiety, self-efficacy, and fear of physical injury. The overall purpose of the study was to measure these constructs and examine how their average levels and interrelations varied with gymnasts' gender, age, and professional-level. We considered anxiety as an individual's general trait-like disposition to experience apprehension and tension across many different situations. Self-efficacy refers instead to one's level of confidence in performing a given activity or behavior well (Bandura, 1999). Following the work of Robazza and Bortoli (1994), we studied self-efficacy for physical abilities by measuring gymnasts' confidence in performing motor or physical tasks.

As to the issue of mean group differences on the variables of interest, we hypothesized, in line with previous studies (Bortoli & Robazza, 1993; Clifton & Gill, 1994; Lirgg, 1991), that male gymnasts would express greater confidence in performing physical activities and less anxiety than female gymnasts. Furthermore, based on cultural stereotypes depicting women as less willing to take risks (Kerr & Vlaminkx, 1997), we also hypothesized that female gymnasts would experience more fear of physical injury than male gymnasts. Finally, in line with the hypothesis of contextual or cultural effects, we explored whether fear of physical injury varied with gymnasts' level of experience. Two possibilities seemed plausible. On one hand, high technical competence or experience with competition might protect gymnasts from experiencing fear of physical injury. Thus, greater levels of competence/competition might be related to lesser fear of physical injury. On the other hand, however, high technical competence or experience with competition tends to be associated with relatively more difficult physical exercises that put gymnasts at risk for serious injuries or accidents. Thus, greater levels of competence/competition might be related to stronger fear of physical injury.

Finally, as to the issue of group differences in the relations among the variables of interest (i.e., the possibility of moderating group effects), we explored the possibility that self-efficacy and anxiety predicted tear of physical injury differently in young versus old, male versus female, and high- versus low-experienced, gymnasts.

Method

Participants

One hundred eighty-six Italian gymnasts for whom parental consent was obtained participated in the present research. Eighty-three males and one hundred and three females, all of whom had been practicing gymnastics for at least two years, were contacted while attending summer camps and asked to complete a series of three questionnaires. Participants were assessed individually in one testing session at the end of their daily training. The gymnasts' age ranged from 8 to 19 years (M = 12.96; SD = 3.32). For the purpose of examining age differences, the participants were divided into three age groups that represented, respectively, late childhood (8-10 years-old), early adolescence (11-14 years-old), and adolescence (15-19 years-old). Participants were also divided into two groups of regional and national professional-levels, respectively. This classification took into consideration both the difficulty level of the exercises that the gymnasts typically performed, and the type of professional competition (regional vs. national or international) in which they typically participated. These criteria led to a classification of 97 national-level gymnasts and 89 regional-level gymnasts. Table 1 shows the sample composition across gender, age, and technical levels.

Instruments

Self-Efficacy for Physical Abilities. This questionnaire (SEM-S, Bortoli & Robazza 1996 cited in Barberini, Dotto, Bortoli & Robazza, 1996, see Appendix) measured a person's view of his/her own physical abilities. The questionnaire included 10 items, comprising four positive self-efficacy items (e.g., "I have good control of my movements in all situations"), three negative self-efficacy items (e.g., "I have little confidence in my motor abilities"), and three self-efficacy items for "demanding situations" (e.g., "I can quickly resolve the problems that I may encounter during competitions"). Items were answered on a five-point scale (not at all = 1 ;just a little = 2; somewhat = 3; a lot = 4; quite a lot = 5). The scores for negative items were reversed, and a self-efficacy total score was obtained by summing scores across all items. High scores indicated a high level of self-efficacy in physical abilities. The reliability of the instrument in measuring systematic individual differences in physical self-efficacy was high (Cronbach's [alpha] = .79).

Trait Anxiety. This questionnaire (Busnelli, Dall'Aglio, & Faina, 1974) included twenty items measuring trait anxiety in daily life situations (e.g., "Are you afraid when you have to go to the doctor'?"). Items were answered on a 3-point scale (never = 1; sometimes = 2; almost always = 3). The internal consistency of the items was acceptable (Cronbach's [alpha] = .72). (1)

Gymnastics Fear Inventory. This questionnaire was developed for this study on the basis of information obtained in a focus group including gymnasts and experts on gymnastics. In the present study, athletes answered several questions concerning their fears of getting hurt during physical activities and exercise. The athletes answered the following five questions: 1) "Do you consider yourself to be an apprehensive gymnast?", 2) "Are you afraid of getting hurt?", 3) "Are you afraid of trying out new exercises'?", 4) "Are you afraid of trying out an exercise that you already know?", 5) "Does it ever happen that you imagine (or think) of getting hurt before canting out an exercise?". Item scores ranged from 1 to 4 (never = 1 ; hardly at all = 2; quite often = 3; very much = 4). The total score was obtained by summing scores across the five items. The internal consistency of these five items was quite acceptable (Cronbach's [alpha] = .77).

Results

Mean Group Differences in Anxiety, Physical Self Efficacy, and Fear of Physical hi jury

We first performed a series of three 2 x 2 ANOVAs to examine possible gender, age, and professional-level differences in the mean scores of fear, anxiety, and self-efficacy for physical abilities, respectively. In these analyses, gender (male, female), age (late childhood, early adolescence, and adolescence), and professional-level (regional, national) were entered as fixed factors.

Table 2 shows the mean scores and standard deviations for anxiety, fear of physical injury, and self-efficacy across gender, age, and professional-level groups. On average, male gymnasts were significantly less anxious, F(1, 174) = 50.82, p<.001, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .23, power = 1.0, and more efficacious, F(1, 174) = 5.33, p < .02, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .03, power = .63 than were female gymnasts. Regarding fear of physical injury, female gymnasts tended to be slightly more fearful of physical injury than male gymnasts, but this difference did not reach statistical significance, F(1, 174) = 3.48, p = .06, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .02, power = .46.

On average, children were significantly more anxious than late adolescents, F(1, 174) = 3.16, p = .04, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .03, power = .60, with differences particularly marked and statistically significant between the youngest and the oldest gymnasts (p > .01). Finally, there also was a marginally significant joint effect of participants' age and professional-level on athletes' fear of physical injury, F(2, 174) = 2.80, p = .06, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .03, power = .54. In particular, while the youngest gymnasts were the most fearful among the regional-level athletes, the oldest gymnasts were the most fearful of physical injury among the more experienced, national-level, athletes.

Group differences in the Relations among Fear, Anxiety, and Physical Self-Efficacy

In addition to examining group differences in the average levels of gymnasts' anxiety, self-efficacy, and fear of physical injury, we evaluated whether gender, age, or professional-level moderated the relations among these variables. That is, we were interested in examining whether the magnitude of the relations varied significantly across gender, age, or professional-level groups. Illustratively, this analysis would, for instance, reveal the extent to which anxiety or self-efficacy would predict fear in male gymnasts but not in female gynmasts. This analysis would then serve the purpose of examining whether psychological processes linking anxiety, self-efficacy, and fear of physical injury generalize across groups.

Overall, fear correlated significantly and negatively with physical self-efficacy (r = -.44, p < .01) and positively with anxiety (r = .33, p < .01). Furthermore, physical self-efficacy correlated negatively with anxiety (r = -.43, p < .01). Table 3 shows both these overall correlations and the correlations computed for the different gender, age, and professional-level groups. As a whole, correlations did not vary much with the gymnasts' gender and level of professional experience, suggesting that the processes through which these psychological factors operate might not be affected in significant ways by differing cultural and socialization experiences. Correlational differences were, however, more marked across age groups. In particular, it seemed that the correlations between trait anxiety and fear of physical injury were substantial and positive among the youngest gymnasts and decreased gradually across age to then become virtually zero among the oldest gymnasts. An opposite trend emerged instead for the negative correlation between sell-efficacy and fear of physical injury (i.e., the oldest group showed the strongest correlation). Thus, while correlations among the three psychological constructs did not seem to vary with gender and professional-level, they seem to vary with gymnasts' age.

In order to evaluate these possibilities further, we performed a hierarchical regression analysis in which fear of physical injury was first predicted by the main effects accrued by gender, professional-level, and gynmasts' age (step 1), then by the main effects accrued by self-efficacy and anxiety (step 2), and thirdly by the interactive effects created by multiplying each factor in step 1 with each of the two predictors used in step 2 (step 3). At each hierarchical regression step, the estimation was performed via a stepwise-forward method. Overall, the presence of statistically significant regression effects for any of the six interaction terms included in step 3 would prove that the relations between fear of physical injury and self-efficacy or anxiety were different across gender, age, or professional-level groups.

This hierarchical regression yielded a statistically significant model of effects at each step, F(1,184) = 4.29, p =.04 at step 1,F(2, 183) = 24.68, p = .001 at step 2, and F(3, 182) = 18.16, p = .001 at step 3. Overall, the final model significantly explained 23% of the variance in gymnasts' fear of physical injury, and predictors at each step provided statistically significant increments in explained variance.

In line with the visual inspection of the bivariate correlations reported in table 3, there were no interaction terms that entered the final model. Thus, the relations linking fear, self-efficacy, and anxiety did not vary across gymnasts' gender, age, and professional-levels. There, however, were statistically significant main effects for self-efficacy and anxiety. In particular, gymnasts who were more confident in their abilities experienced less fear of physical injury ([beta] = -.43, p <. 001), whereas gymnasts who were more anxious experienced greater fear of physical injury ([beta] = .28, p< .001).

Discussion

To the best of our knowledge, the present research is the first study that examined the relations linking self-efficacy for physical performance, anxiety, and fear of physical injury in an Italian sample of male and female gynmasts. The study examined these relations as a function of gender and age, as well as differing levels of gymnasts' professional experience. The study responded to important theoretical and research issues. First, psychological literature suggests that the study of emotions must be embedded in an investigation of individuals' cognitive and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1999: Higgins, 1990; Mischel & Shoda, 1999). The study of how self-efficacy for physical performance is related to fear of physical injury responded to this important theoretical call. Second, individuals' peculiar socialization and cultural experiences may shape these processes and there may, theretbre, exist important individual differences in how emotion, cognition, and self-regulation operate. In this study, we addressed this issue by examining whether the relations linking self-efficacy, anxiety, and fear were significantly different in the diverse gender, age, and professional-level groups (i.e., the hypothesis of moderating effects).

In line with these guiding interests, the results of the study were interesting in several respects. On average, Italian female gymnasts were more anxious and felt less confident to do well in physical performance than male gynmasts. This finding is quite in line with research that has highlighted the role of differing cultural norms for males and females and that has documented how males receive more encouragement in sport than females from family members, peers, teachers, and coaches (Giuliano et al., 2000). Despite its apparent inconsistency with these results, the additional finding that male and female gymnasts did not differ on their average levels of fear of physical injury did not seem so surprising, in retrospect. The physical risks associated with the sport of gynmastics are particularly evident to whoever wants to practice this sport and, as such, gymnastics probably tends to attract athletes who are willing to overcome these risks. This may explain the lack of gender differences in fear. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, it would be quite informative to measure, with appropriated tests, the different views about risk of male and female athletes in several sports and compare these views to those obtained for male and female subjects who do not practice any sport. Finally, very young gymnasts, reported greater anxiety and fear of physical injury than adolescent gymnasts, although this age difference seemed to hold especially for those Italian gymnasts who are in the early stage of their professional career and typically participate in regional competitions.

Despite these group differences, the pattern of bivariate relations linking fear of physical injury to self-efficacy and to anxiety were not different in male and female gymnasts, in children and adolescents, and in gymnasts who were at different levels of competence or competition type. This finding emerged both from a visual analysis of the correlations among the psychological constructs reported in table 3 and from a formal statistical regression analysis. It is first important to point out that, despite relying exclusively on self-report data, the correlations among the psychological constructs were all in the expected direction and varied to some extent across variables, thus supporting indirectly the discriminant validity of the measurements used in the study.

The correlations suggested that tear of physical Injury may partially rise in athletes who tend to experience anxiety and who do not have or engage in self-reassuring cognitions about their own abilities. Of course, the cross-sectional and correlational nature of the study can not provide conclusive data on this possibility. More importantly, however, the correlation and regression findings, together, clearly showed that the magnitude of these relations did not vary much across groups, be they gender or age groups as well as groups formed on the basis of the gymnasts' level of competence/competition. These findings suggest that the experience of fear of physical injury follows a similar pattern in different individuals and that the intervening mechanisms that could account for this experience, be they a general tendency towards anxiety or lack of self-reassuring self-efficacy cognitions, have the same importance or play the same role in male and female, young and older adolescent, and regional-level and national-level gymnasts. These findings also suggest that the different processes of socialization that male or female gymnasts experience in their younger years with respect to physical activity, exercise, or sport do not produce significant differences in how they psychologically confront and deal with their daily performances, fears, or physical exercise tasks.

These conclusions call for caution, however. In addition to the correlational nature of the study, which poses clear limits in the validity of any conclusion concerning processes and modelling effects, the present findings also yielded small effect sizes for the tests of group mean differences in the psychological variables of interest, with the exception--perhaps--of the differences in anxiety reported by male and female gymnasts. This finding raises the question of whether gender, age, and professional competence/competition of Italian gymnasts are the most useful factors to examine differences in the athletes' psychological experiences concerning their sport discipline and its physical demands. Future studies should be designed to address and clarify these issues.

Despite these limitations, however, we believe that the present study supports the general notion that an adequate motor and sport education may aid in building or reinforcing people's self-confidence and, perhaps, in correcting or ameliorating their negative emotional or thinking tendencies. Consistent with this notion, Bandura (1977; 1999) suggested that the acquisition of abilities and their practice permit one to confront difficult situations and may lead to an increasingly more positive perception of the environment, in such a way as to render it less dangerous. In the end, we feel it would be desirable and important to broaden our investigation to include in-depth research on the cognitive and behavioural aspects correlated with fear of physical injury, such as, for example, self-talk and visual imagery. This research would provide further insights on how the professional performance of athletes and gymnasts significantly depend on psychological processes and dimensions of individual differences.

Appendix

Self-Efficacy for Physical Abilities

1. I have good control of my movements in all situations

2. I have limited motor abilities

3. I can quickly resolve the problems that I may encounter during competitions

4. I have little confidence in my motor abilities

5. My physical abilities allow me to perform complex and difficult movements well

6. I think nay movements are slow and awkward

7. I have a good level of motor ability

8. I have trouble at making important decisions during competitions

9. I have excellent reflexes

10. When I am in difficult situations, I have little control of the actions I must perform

Table 1

Sample composition across gender, age and professional-level groups

Age Males Females National level Regional level Total

8-10 23 31 24 30 54
11-14 31 42 32 41 73
15-19 29 30 41 18 59

Total 83 103 97 89 186

Table 2

Mean and Standard Deviations for-Anxiety: Self-Efficacy,
and Fear by Athletes'Gender; Age and Professional-Level

 Anxiety Self-efficacy Fear

All cases 11.86 (5.90) 37.93 (5.14) 9.06 (2.48)
Males 8.75 (4.60) 38.99 (5.15) 8.73 (2.39)
Females 14.36 (5.69) 37.08 (4.98) 9.33 (2.54)
Age 8-10 13.57 (5.82) 37.74 (4.95) 8.89 (2.72)
Age 11-14 11.64 (5.82) 37.45 (5.03) 8.92 (2.53)
Age 15-19 10.56 (5.82) 38.69 (5.42) 9.41 (2.20)
National level 11.81 (5.90) 37.88 (5.12) 9.42 (2.45)
Regional level 11.91 (5.95) 37.99 (5.18) 8.67 (2.48)

Table 3

Bivariate Zero-Order Correlations linking Physical
Self-Efficacy, Anxiety, and Fear of Physical Injury as a
Function of Gymnasts' Gender, Age, and Professional-Level

 Correlations between

 Fear and Fear and Anxiety and
 Anxiety Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy

All cases (n = 186) .33 ** -.44 ** -.43 **
Males (n = 83) .36 ** -.40 ** -.43 **
Females (n = 103) .23 * -.46 ** -.36 **
Age 8-10 (n = 54) .57 ** -.33 * -.27 *
Age 11-14 (n = 73) .29 * -.49 ** -.48 **
Age 15-19 (n = 59) .00 -.54 ** -.23 ***
National level (n = 97) .38 * -.41 ** -.43 **
Regional level (n = 89) .31 ** -.47 ** -.43 **

Note: * p.<.05; ** p.<.01; *** p.<.10

(1) In order to verify the construct validity of the Italian trait anxiety measure used in this study (Busnelli, Dall'Aglio, & Faina. 1974), children's, preadolescents', and adolescents" scores were correlated with these participants' respective scores on the trait scale of the STAI inventory (State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Form Y, Spielberger, 1983). In this regard, it is important to note that the STAI inventory was not designed or validated as a measure of trait anxiety in elementary school children, as the present study would have required. We expected that the correlations between the two trait measures would be positive and statistically significant in the two older groups and non-significant in the youngest subgroup. The results of these analyses confirmed our hypotheses. In particular, the two measures correlated positively and significantly among the middle school athletes (.37) and particularly well among the high school athletes (.43). On the contrary, the correlation between the two measures was statistically non-significant in the youngest group (.25). Thus, these correlation analyses supported the validity of the trait measure used in the present study.

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Address Correspondence To: Anna Claudia Cartoni,University Institute of Motor Sciences of Rome, Piazza Lauro de Bosis 15, 00194 Rome, Italy

Anna Claudia Cartoni, Carlo Minganti and Arnaldo Zelli

University Institute of Movement Science of Rome