Anxiety in Jiu-Jitsu athletes : differences according to age and competitive level

The aim of this study was to analyze pre-competitive anxiety based on the age range and competitive classification of 26 jiu-jitsu athletes aged 25.5 ± 5.24 years. The instrument used was the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2). Data analysis was conducted using the Shapiro-Wilk, independent Student's t-test, Pearson's correlation and simple linear regression (p <0.05). The results revealed that older and more competitive athletes presented a lower magnitude of cognitive anxiety (p <0.05). We observed a moderate and inverse association (r = -0.63, p <0.05) between cognitive anxiety and age, accounting for 38% (R2 = 0.38) of the variance of cognitive anxiety in athletes. It was concluded that age and competitive classification can be considered as intervening factors in the pre-competitive anxiety of jiu-jitsu athletes, specifically in cognitive anxiety.


Introduction
Jiu-jitsu was originated in the eastern culture, as a martial art used for combat with and without weapons. Combat sports, including jiu-jitsu, in their competitive form, divide their athletes by weight in order to create more balanced fights with similar strength and agility (Artioli et al., 2010). This factor leads to the main roles of physical, technical, tactical, morphological, and psychological aspects (Franchini, Branco, Agostinho, Calmet, & Candau, 2015).
In the preparation of the athletes, it is common to train with a high volume of specific modality techniques and, routinely, the recovery time between the training sessions turns out as inadequate (Mendes et al., 2013). This reality precedes poor food consumption, induced vomiting, restriction of liquid intake and use of laxatives/diuretics, with the premise of inducing rapid weight loss to reach compatible weight with the category (Fortes, Lira, & Ferreira, 2017; Morais-Junior, Bastos, Silva, Valido, & Brito, 2017).
The theory comprises three main components; the first component is cognitive, which involves thoughts and doubts about your own performance and the competitive occasion, as well as a judgment of yourself. The second component consists of a somatic disorder, which is characterized by physiological sensations of excitation, such as increased sweating, Research, Society and Development, v. 9, n. 8, e743986488, 2020 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i8.6488 4 heartbeats and muscle tension, altered breathing, and cold in the stomach. Subsequently, the third dimension is called self-confidence, which is the belief on the part of the individual in their abilities to achieve a positive performance (Martens et al., 1990).
However, the literature lacks the effect of anxiety on jiu-jitsu athletes. Thus, being a sport that cognitive function is essential to decide when and which is the best attack and defense movements, addressing such influences on jiu-jitsu athletes is crucial. Thereby, this is the gap this study intends to move forward. Table 1. Comparison of pre-competitive anxiety of jiu-jitsu athletes according to age and competitive rating.

GROUPS
Cognitive Anxiety Somatic Anxiety Self-Confidence x (dp) x (dp) x (dp)

Age range
Up to  There was a significant correlation (p < 0.05) of cognitive anxiety with age (r = -0.63), indicating an inverse relationship between variables (Table 2). After the correlation analyses, simple linear regression was performed to analyze the age variance on cognitive anxiety. The model revealed that 38% of cognitive anxiety variance was explained by age (F = 16.053; β = -0.63; p = 0.001). It is noted that at each increase of 1 standard deviation in the age unit there was a reduction of 0.63 standard deviations in the cognitive anxiety unit. Development, v. 9, n. 8, e743986488, 2020 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i8.6488