The relationship between motivation orientations and competitive anxiety in Bocce players: Does gender make a difference

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between motivation orientations and anxiety levels of Bocce players, and gender differences in this relationship. A total of 88 Bocce players (47 female, 41 male) participated to this study voluntarily. All the players completed “Sport Competitive Anxiety Test (SCAT)” and “Sport Motivation Scale (SMS)” test. The data was evaluated using SPSS 19.0, through arithmetic means ( X ), standard deviation (SD), t-test, and correlation analyses. For the statistical significance, p value was taken as 0.05 (p<0.05). Results revealed that female players were more intrinsically motivated, while exhibiting less external regulation and less amotivation than male players. Female players were also observed to have slightly higher competitive anxiety level than males. According to the results of t-test, there were significant differences between female and male players in external regulation and amotivation levels, but none of the intrinsic motivation subscale was statistically significant. Besides, there was no significant difference in competitive anxiety levels of female and male Bocce players. Results also showed that there was no correlation between motivation orientations sub-scales and competitive anxiety. In conclusion, female players had higher score than male players in intrinsic motivation and competitive anxiety, but lower score in external regulation and amotivation.