Citation

Kleine D. Anxiety Research 1990; 2(2): 113-131.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08917779008249330

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Anxiety is generally considered as an important factor influencing sport performance. However, the research findings are inconsistent with respect to the size and even the direction of the relationship. In order to sum up the available evidence, a meta-analysis was conducted using the Schmidt-Hunter procedure of combining effect sizes. Fifty empirical studies published between 1970 and 1988 which met the minimal requirements for a quantitative synthesis of results were selected. This database included 77 independent samples with N=3, 589 subjects. An overall meta-analysis for the total sample yielded a weighted mean of all correlations between anxiety and sport performance of r=-.19. Subsequent analyses aimed at estimating population effect sizes and homogeneities for theoretically relevant subsets, formed according to person, task, and situation characteristics, like gender, age, performance level, stress intensity, etc. The paper concludes with a discussion of the frequently supposed inverted-U relationship.