The relationship between coach criticism and athletes' anxiety: The role of mindfulness and self-judgment

Abstract

Background and Aim: The sample included 184 adolescent athletes (150 boys and 34 girls), aged between 12 and 18 years old, who completed a protocol of self-report instruments assessing sports anxiety (SAS-2), the perception of coach’s critical attitudes (APoCCAS), mindfulness (CAMM) and self-compassion (SCS). Method: The sample included 184 adolescent athletes (150 boys and 34 girls), aged between 12 and 18 years old, who completed a protocol of self-report instruments assessing sports anxiety (SAS-2), the perception of coach’s critical attitudes (APoCCAS), mindfulness (CAMM) and self-compassion (SCS). Results: Sports anxiety showed a positive association with critical coach attitudes and self-judgment and a negative association with mindfulness. Mindfulness revealed a negative association with self-judgment and the athletes’ perception of the coach’s critical attitudes. Self-judgment was positively associated with the athletes’ perception of the coach’s critical attitudes. The regression model explained 45% of the variance in sports anxiety, with mindfulness and self-judgment being the only predictors. Path analysis results indicated that the athlete’s mindfulness and self-judgment fully mediated the effect of the athletes’ perception of the coach’s critical attitudes on sports anxiety. Conclusions: Results suggest that athletes who perceive more critical attitudes from the coach, who have more self-judgmental attitudes, and fewer mindfulness skills tend to have higher levels of sports anxiety. The present study is innovative in showing how these variables are associated, suggesting that the development of mindfulness skills and the reduction of self-judgmental attitudes can help decrease the impact of the coach’s critical attitudes on competitive anxiety.