Examining the Relationship Between Self-Talk, Sport Confidence, and Athletic Performance Among University Football Players
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/tt6bhj37Keywords:
self-talk, sport confidence, athlete performanceAbstract
Self-talk and sport confidence are widely regarded as performance-relevant psychological skills, yet evidence from Southeast Asian university sport remains scarce. This cross-sectional correlational study examined the relationship between self-talk, sport confidence, and subjective performance among 30 male UiTM Perlis footballers (aged 18–24), selected purposively. Self-talk was measured using the ASTQS (Zourbanos et al., 2009), sport confidence using the TSCI (Vealey, 1986), and performance using the ASPS (Nahum, 2016). Data were analysed in SPSS 27 using reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and regression. Self-talk was unrelated to confidence (r= .15, p = .417) or performance (r= -.02, p = .923), but confidence was strongly related to performance (r = .66, p < .001). Multiple regression showed self-talk became a significant negative predictor of performance once confidence was controlled (β = -.30, p = .048) a suppression effect despite no zero-order association. Sport confidence, rather than self-talk itself, appears to be the main psychological factor linked to performance in this group. The practical implications for confidence-focused psychological skills training are discussed.
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