Correlation among Competitive Pressure, State Anxiety and Mental Health of High-Level Athletes
Chunhua LiAbstract
Objective
Intense pre-competition load brings continuous competitive psychological pressure to high-level athletes, easily triggers severe state anxiety and irregular mental states, which directly destroy personal mental health and restrict stable competitive performance. This paper clarifies the internal correlation between competitive pressure, state anxiety and individual mental health, so as to find effective ways to ease sports-related psychological pressure and maintain athletes’ sound mental health.
Subjects and Methods
Elite athletes covering various competitive sports events are taken as research samples. With psychological scale testing, field tracking surveys and statistical analysis, this study quantifies the interactive relationship between competitive pressure intensity, fluctuating anxious emotions, dynamic mental states and mental health indicators, and sorts out their internal functional mechanisms.
Results
Overwhelming competitive pressure greatly aggravates athletes’ state anxiety and breaks balanced positive mental states, bringing persistent adverse impacts on their mental health. Scientific pressure management can effectively ease anxious sentiments, stabilize volatile mental conditions, and comprehensively improve athletes’ overall mental health level.
Conclusions
Competitive pressure, state anxiety and athletes’ mental health maintain tight interactive connections. Targeted psychological interventions ease excessive competitive psychological pressure, adjust abnormal mental states, safeguard athletes’ long-term mental health, and offer psychological references for scientific pre-competition training and sports mental governance.
Corresponding Author
Chunhua Li, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325000, China.