Meyers, Bourgeois, LeUnes and Murray (1999) Mood and psychological skills of elite and sub-elite equestrian athletes

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Mood and psychological skills of elite and sub-elite equestrian athletes

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CONTRIBUTORS:

	Author:	Meyers, M. C.
	Author:	Bourgeois, A. E.
	Author:	LeUnes, A. (Texas A&M University College Station)
	Author:	Murray, N. G.

JOURNAL:

Journal of Sport Behavior (JSB), 22(3), 399 - 409.

YEAR:

1999

PUB TYPE:

Journal Article

SUBJECT(S):

emotion; mental-training; equestrian-sport; athlete; elite-athlete; comparative-study; sex-factor

DISCIPLINE:

No discipline assigned

HTTP:

https://secure.sportquest.com/su.cfm?articleno=S-63106&title=S-63106

LANGUAGE:

English

PUB ID:

103-343-629 (Last edited on 2002/02/27 18:44:14 US/Mountain)

SPONSOR(S):

ABSTRACT:
Unlike most traditional sports, where both mental and physical abilities are dependent solely upon human decision and response, equestrian sports are dependent to a large degree on human:equine interaction and mutual collaboration to successfully complete a sport task. Although it is generally accepted that a competitive mindset is advantageous to successfully compete in sports, no published research has been directed toward defining the competitive mindset of the equestrian at any level of competition. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify mood and psychological skills of elite and sub-elite equestrian athletes. Following written informed consent, 54 equestrian men and women (mean age 33.6 +/- 11.9 yrs; age range 15-64 yrs) completed a battery of psychometric inventories, consisting of the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr & Droppleman, 1971), and the Psychological Skills Inventory for Sport (PSIS; Mahoney, Gabriel & Perkins, 1987) during the Olympic Trials, or during various equestrian competitions throughout the country. Data were grouped for analyses by rank (elite, sub-elite), event (dressage, show jumping), and descriptively by gender. MANOVAs and susequent Wilks's lambda criterion indicated a significant main effect, F (12,51) = 5.25; p = .0001, across rank. Elite competitors exhibited significantly higher anxiety management (76.4 +/- 3.2 % vs. 62.8 +/- 1.8 %, p < .0005), and concentration (81.0 +/- 3.2 vs 69.1 +/- 1.9 %, p < .002) than sub-elite athletes. No significant main effects, F (20,104) = 1.56; p = .0768) or trends existed by event. In regards to gender, males tended to exhibit higher vigor (21.3 +/- 2.5 vs. 17.1 +/- 0.7), but less tension (6.8 +/- 3.0 vs. 11.4 +/- 0.8), depression (6.3 +/- 5.0 vs 9.6 +/- 1.3), fatigue (3.8 +/- 3.6 vs. 9.0 +/- 0.9), confusion (5.5 +/- 2.3 vs. 7.6 +/- 0.6), and total mood disturbance (9.0 +/- 15.2 vs. 28.7 +/- 3.9) than females. Male athletes also scored higher in anxiety management (75.5 +/- 7.0 vs. 65.6 +/- 1.8 %) and confidnece (72.2 +/- 8.2 vs. 64.3 +/- 2.1 %), but lower in motivation (67.9 +/- 6.6 vs. 70.5 +/- 1.7 %) than female competitors. In conclusion, limited differences exist between equestrian athletes across rank, event, and gender. These athletes also exhibit distinctly different mood and psychological skill profiles than observed in other traditional sports.

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