TY - JOUR T1 - Trait and state anxiety in male and female cross-country runners. JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 24 LP - 26 DO - 10.1136/bjsm.17.1.24 VL - 17 IS - 1 AU - F. H. Sanderson AU - T. Reilly Y1 - 1983/03/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/17/1/24.abstract N2 - The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between state/trait anxiety and competitive cross-country performance for males and females. A-trait and A-state pre- and post-competition were monitored in 38 females and 26 males at major meetings. The females' A-trait was correlated with pre-race A-state (p less than .05) which was itself correlated significantly with race performance (p less than .05). A significant post-race A-state reduction occurred only with the better runners. The correlation between A-trait and pre-race A-state was also found in the male athletes (p less than .05) while A-trait significantly correlated with race performance (p less than .05). A-state was significantly reduced post-race, the greatest decrease being observed in the top performers. It is concluded that trait as well as transient dispositions are relevant when psychological determinants of performance are considered. ER -