Cognitive Flexibility and Sports Anxiety Among Turkish Sports High School Students: A Cross-sectional Study

The present study aimed to examine the cognitive flexibility and sports anxiety levels of students in a sports high school in Turkey according to the sports branch in which they were trained. The study sample comprised 240 athletes (male n=138; female n=102) from a sports high school in Osmaniye province, Turkey. Each athlete’s cognitive flexibility and sports anxiety levels were examined using the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS) and Sports Anxiety Scale (SAS-2), respectively. Descriptive statistics, nonparametric hypothesis tests (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests), and correlation analysis (Spearman’s Rank Difference Correlation Coefficient) were used for data analyses. One finding of the study was that there was no positive or negative association between student athletes’ cognitive flexibility skills and sports anxiety levels. Second finding was student athletes’ cognitive flexibility levels were statistically significantly different in terms of gender and branch of sports (p<0.05). The cognitive flexibility levels of female athletes were higher than those of male athletes. The mean value of the cognitive flexibility level was lowest in football players and highest in basketball players. One important finding of the study was that the sports anxiety levels of student athletes increased progressively as the school year increase from 1st grade to 4th grade. The sports anxiety is an important factor that negatively affects athletes’ performance, especially in the adolescent athletes. Thus, it is crucial to develop new strategies to reduce sports anxiety among adolescent student athletes and increase their mental health.