Interaction Between Sub-Scales of Perceived Parental Expectations and Multi-Dimensional Constructs of Sports Anxiety Experienced by Adolescent Athletes

Abstract

Background: Academic, competitive, and social demands experienced by adolescent athletes
influence their well-being and mental health. Perceived parental expectation is long been recognized as
a primary psychological factor, but studies on how distinct factors of perceived parental expectation
predict multi-dimensional constructs of sports anxiety are limited. This study assesses the collective
and individual effects of four sub-scales of perceived parental expectations: Personal Expectations,
Academic Expectations, Career Expectations, and Parental Ambition on three distinct constructs of
sports anxiety – Somatic Anxiety, Concentration Disruption, and Worry in adolescent athletes.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional correlational research design was employed with 30
adolescent athletes from LNIPE-NERC, Guwahati, India, selected using systematic random sampling.
Perceived parental expectations were assessed using the Perception of Parental Expectation Inventory
(PPEI), while different dimensions of sports anxiety were assessed using the Sports Anxiety Scale – 2
(SAS-2). Descriptive Statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk Test, and Linear Regression were performed using
IBM SPSS software at the 0.05 significance level.
Results: Participants reported a moderate level of Parental Ambition and Personal Expectation, while
Academic Expectation and Career Expectation were comparatively higher. Somatic Anxiety and Worry
were observed at moderate levels, while Concentration Disruption showed the highest mean score
among anxiety dimensions. The combined regression model revealed that perceived parental
expectation sub-scales did not significantly predict Somatic Anxiety (F = 0.18, p = 0.94), Concentration
Disruption (F = 1.60, p = 0.20), and Worry (F = 2.32, p = 0.08). Among the individual predictors,
Personal Expectation showed a significant negative association with Worry (B = -0.26, p = 0.01),
whereas Academic Expectation, Career Expectation, and Parental Ambition revealed a non-significant
statistical association with different sports anxiety dimension.
Conclusion: Perceived parental expectations demonstrated a limited predictive significance for multi-
dimensional sports anxiety experienced by adolescent athletes before or during the sports competition.
No statistically significant association of sub-scales of perceived parental expectation and constructs
of sports anxiety such as somatic anxiety and concentration disruption was observed, but parents'
personal expectations correlated significantly with a lower level of cognitive worry. The results
indicate multi-dimensional sports anxiety among adolescent athletes is influenced by various
environmental and psychological factors beyond perceived parental expectations.