Relationship Between Group Cohesion and Anxiety in Soccer

Group cohesion in sport is a widely spread theme today. Research has found cohesion to be influenced by several individual and group components. Among the cognitive variables that relate to cohesion we found competitive anxiety. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between task cohesion (ATG-T, and GI-T) and competitive state anxiety (A-state), and also if there would be a relation between cohesion and self-confidence. Participants were 366 football players of both genders male and female, aged between 15 to 23 years old, from Portugal's championships. Cohesion was measured using the Portuguese version of the Group Environment Questionnaire, and to assess competitive anxiety, we used the Portuguese version of the Competition State Anxiety Inventory 2. Our results show that female athletes report experiencing more cognitive anxiety and less self-confidence than male athletes. Only cognitive anxiety relates in a significantly negative way with the perception of cohesion (GI-T e ATG-T) in the total number of participants and in male athletes. Relatively to the somatic anxiety, it only relates negatively with the perception of the integration of the group in the total number of participants and in the male gender.