Examining the Relationship between Team Cohesion, Comparative Anxiety and Self-Confidence among Ethiopian Basketball Teams

Abstract

One of the most constantly studied constructs in group dynamic research is cohesiveness. Indeed it refers to two main construct namely task and social cohesion. Since organizations become increasingly depend on group cohesiveness to strive for better performance, these two construct (social and task cohesion) had consistency effect on the performance as suggested in many studies. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between task cohesion (ATG-T and GI-T), Self-Confidence Inventory (SCI), competitive state anxiety (A-State), and also if there would be a relation between cohesion and self-confidence. The sample consisted of 60 basketball players of both genders, male and female from 4 different clubs, aged between 19-26 years old.  The data for cohesion were abstained and measured using Portuguese version of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ), and to assess competitive anxiety, we used the Portuguese version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (SCAT). The 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, 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.

Keywords: Cohesion, Anxiety, Self-confidence, basketball