The relationship between self-presentation concerns and pre-game affect among adolescent American football players

Background: The influence of self-presentation concerns on the adolescent sport experience has received scant empirical attention. The purpose of this investigation was to prospectively examine the relationship among self-presentational concerns and pre-game affective states among middle and high school aged football players. Methods: American football players (n=112; mean age=15.57 years) completed a measure of self-presentational concerns (SPSQ, McGowan, et al., 2008) a week prior to the measurement of selected pre-game affective states (i.e., attentiveness, self-assurance, serenity, and fear). Results: Regression analyses revealed that concerns about appearing athletically untalented negatively contributed to the significant prediction (p<0.001) of pre-game attentiveness, β=-0.43, R²_adj=19.5% (p<0.001), and self-assurance, β=-0.38, R²_adj=11.9% (p<0.01). Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of reducing self-presentational concerns in promoting positive pre-game mental states that likely impact the quality of athletes' competitive play and experience.