Age-specific Patterns Of Trait Anxiety And The Relationships Between The Multidimensional Components Of State Anxiety In Young Puerto Rican Athletes

Trait anxiety is a psychological variable that relates to performance in sports. Understanding its relationship with cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence is important for youth athletic development. Age-related differences in psychological characteristics may provide insight into targeted interventions. There is limited data in Puerto Rico regarding the psychological characteristics of young athletes across different sports. PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between trait anxiety and the multidimensional components of state anxiety (cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) in young athletes across two age groups (under 14 and 15 + years). METHODS: Scores on the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT), for Trait Anxiety and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2), for the Multidimensional Components of State Anxiety, were analyzed for 86 young athletes competing in different Puerto Rico sports leagues. The participants were divided into two age groups: under 14 years (n = 41) and 15 years and older (n = 45). RESULTS: For the younger group (<14 years), the mean trait anxiety was 19.51 (SD = 5.23), while the older group (≥15 years) showed a mean trait anxiety of 21.14 (SD = 5.64). No significant differences were found between the age groups for trait anxiety (t(84) = -1.37, p = 0.174). Correlational analyses revealed significant positive relationships between trait anxiety and both cognitive anxiety (r = 0.51, p < 0.001) and somatic anxiety (r = 0.48, p < 0.001) and a significant negative relationship with self-confidence (r = -0.39, p = 0.012) in the younger group. The older group showed similar but stronger relationships between trait anxiety and cognitive anxiety (r = 0.56, p < 0.001), somatic anxiety (r = 0.54, p < 0.001), and self-confidence (r = -0.45, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Although trait anxiety levels were similar between age groups, their relationships with other psychological variables were consistently stronger in older athletes. These findings suggest that the effect of trait anxiety on other psychological components may become more pronounced with age. Practitioners should consider age-specific approaches when developing anxiety management strategies, with particular attention paid to the stronger anxiety-confidence relationship in older athletes