Differences in the affective-motivational dispositions regarding the type of sport and the level of achievement

Abstract

The article presents a pilot-study concerning the structure of differences in the affective-motivational dispositions of sportsmen, regarding the type of sport which they practice and the level of their achievement.. Affectivemotivational dispositions imply the following traits: extraversionintroversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, social desirability of response, cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, sports self-confidence, achievement, positive and negative emotional reactions to achievement. The sample consisted of 69 participants (31 wrestlers – acyclic sport, 18 rowers and 20 swimmers – cyclic sports) of both genders, aged 15 to 27, of different sport achievement (34 top sportsmen, 35 average sportsmen). The following instruments were applied: Eysenck's EPQ, Martens's Competitive Anxiety Test (CSAI-2) and Lazarević's Sport Achievement Motive Test (MSP). A cross - sectional method was used in the research, while univariate (t-test and ANOVA) and multivariate (canonical discriminant analysis) analyses where used for the data analysis. The results show significant differences in the affective-motivational dispositions of sportsmen regarding the type of sport they practice. Sportsmen involved in the acyclic sports scored higher on cognitive anxiety, achievement motive, and positive i.e. negative emotional reactions to the achievement), as well as the level of achievement (the average sportsmen scored higher on extraversion and the sport self-confidence, while they scored lower on somatic anxiety and neuroticism than the top sportsmen).