ANXIETY AND OTHER EMOTIONS VS. ATHLETES

To identify in a group of athletes -women and men-, the gender that has an increase or decrease in the degree of anxiety, pointing out the internal and/or external circumstances that affect sports performance. This is a mixed comparative and transversal study, to measure the anxiety indexes that originate with the competitive practice between women and men athletes. A probabilistic convenience sampling of 30 people who met the inclusion criteria (19-24 years old), 15 females and 15 males was carried out and the Beck Anxiety Inventory, which consists of 21 items, was applied to them. Data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel. During the sports practice, a tendency was found in the group of women to increase the anxiety indexes; in the group of men the levels decreased and were significantly reduced. The importance of sport practice and the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors in emotional variations is highlighted, as well as the need to evaluate anxiety levels in three moments: before, during and after sport practice.