The Comparison of Arousal, State Anxiety and Self-Confidence Between Women and Men Elite Table Tennis Players

This study was conducted to compare the arousal, self-confidence, somatic and cognitive anxiety among Iranian elite male and female table tennis players. The subjects were 40 elite table tennis players (20 men and 20 women, mean age of 22.90 +/- 4.90 years) who participated in 2016 national qualifying competitions. Arousal and cognitive anxiety levels were measured by "Sport Grid-Revised" (Ward & Cox, 2004), self-confidence and somatic anxiety were measured by two items of the Mental Readiness Form (MRF-3; Krane, 1994), 10 minutes before the scheduled time of the match. Independent sample t-test was used for data analysis. In comparing women with men, results showed that women arousal level was significantly higher and their somatic anxiety was significantly lower than that of men, but there were no significant difference between their self-confidence and cognitive anxiety. However, in comparison between winner and loser groups the results showed that self-confidence in winner group was significantly higher than the loser group but the cognitive anxiety in loser group was significantly higher than the winner group. These findings demonstrated there were gender-based differences in arousal and somatic anxiety of elite table tennis players before the start of the match, but self-confidence and cognitive anxiety were effective psychological variables on performance during the match.