Comparison of anxiety levels of individual and group athletes

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The study of anxiety, particularly its relationship to sociodemographic variables, has been fruitful in sport psychology research. This study aims to determine the comparison of athletes' anxiety with the variables of gender differences and the type of sport played (individual/group). The application of structural equation modeling has been carried out on 80 Indonesian athletes. Of this number, 40 (50%) are female athletes and 40 (50%) are male athletes. They compete in a variety of individual sports (swimming, rock climbing; 50%) and team sports (basketball, volleyball; 50%). Athletes' ages ranged from 20-25 years (M = 22 years; SD = 4.99). After testing the measurement invariance of the first- and second-order models, across gender and sport type (individual vs. team), latent mean comparisons were investigated and statistics were calculated to obtain appropriate effect sizes. Significant differences were detected between male and female athletes as well as between individual and team sports. Female and individual sports athletes have higher levels of general sports anxiety. The results of this study provide evidence that anxiety is assessed differently by athletes based on gender and type of sport. Keywords: Athlete anxiety; gender differences in sports; individual vs. team sports; sports psychology research; structural equation modeling in sports;