ORIGINAL ARTICLE Competitive experience and performance status: an investigation into multidimensional anxiety and coping SHELDON HANTON 1 , RICHARD NEIL 1 , STEPHEN D. MELLALIEU 2 ,& DAVID FLETCHER 3 1 Cardiff School of Sport, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, 2 Department of Sports Science, Swansea University, Swansea, and 3 School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Abstract In this study, we examined the influence of competitive experience (high vs. low) and performance status (current-elite vs. past-elite) upon athletes’ (N 217) multidimensional trait anxiety, self-confidence, and coping responses. Significant interaction effects showed that the current-elite group, with high experience, had the highest levels of self-confidence and most facilitative interpretation of worry symptoms. Independent variable analysis revealed that the high-experience group reported lower somatic anxiety levels than their low-experience counterparts, and viewed the use of problem- and avoidance-focused coping strategies as more and less effective respectively. Current-elite performers reported lower worry intensity and more facilitative interpretations of somatic anxiety than the past-elite performers, as well as the use of more effective problem-focused and positive emotion-focused coping. The findings highlight competitive experience and performance status as important variables in the study of multidimensional anxiety and coping. Keywords: Intensity, direction, facilitative, debilitative, problem-focused, emotion-focused Introduction The conceptualization of competitive anxiety into multidimensional cognitive and somatic components has enabled a clearer understanding of performers’ responses to stressful situations (for reviews, see Jones, 1995; Woodman & Hardy, 2001). However, the scales developed to assess the construct, such as the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2; Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990), only measure the ‘‘intensity’’ of the cognitive and perceived physiological symptoms purported to sig- nify the presence of anxiety, failing to consider performers’ directional interpretations of these symptoms in relation to the impending sporting event (Burton, 1990; Parfitt, Jones, & Hardy, 1990). The notion of ‘‘direction’’ refers to the extent to which individuals’ interpret the intensity of their symptoms associated with precompetition anxiety as either facilitating or debilitating to performance (Jones, 1991, 1995), and has received considerable attention in the recent sport psychology literature via the adoption of a modified version of the CSAI-2 (Jones & Swain, 1992). Directional interpretations have been examined as a function of person and situational difference variables and support the value of distinguishing between the intensity and direction of associated competition-related symptoms (for reviews, see Hanton, Neil, & Mellalieu, 2008; Mellalieu, Hanton, & Fletcher, 2006). Literature further suggests that direction is a more sensitive variable in distinguishing between group differences than the intensity of the response (e.g. Jones & Hanton, 2001; Mellalieu, Hanton, & Jones, 2003). One individual difference variable consistently found to discriminate between performers’ direc- tional responses is that of skill level (Jones, Hanton, & Swain, 1994; Jones & Swain, 1995; Mellalieu, Neil, & Hanton, 2006; Perry & Williams, 1998). Indeed, while elite and non-elite athletes generally do not differ in the intensity of responses, elite performers report significantly more facilitative in- terpretations of symptoms associated with anxiety, Correspondence: S. Hanton, Cardiff School of Sport, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, Cyncoed, Cardiff CF23 6XD, UK. E-mail: shanton@uwic.ac.uk European Journal of Sport Science, May 2008; 8(3): 143152 ISSN 1746-1391 print/ISSN 1536-7290 online # 2008 European College of Sport Science DOI: 10.1080/17461390801987984