Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2

Summary. Introduction: Over the years, significant attention has been paid to the measurement of Competitive Anxiety in sport context in order to describe, understand and predict major psychosocial factors influencing both athletes’ experience and performance prior to competition. This study presents the validation of the Italian version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2R), an instrument that aims to measure three dimensions of the Competitive State Anxiety, namely Cognitive Anxiety, Somatic Anxiety and Self-Confidence. Methods: Relying on self-report measurements of 484 Italian athletes the dimensionality of the CSAI-2R was tested through confirmatory factor analysis and via the multi-group procedure. Reliability was assessed via Cronbach’s alpha. Results: Goodness-of-fit of the threefactor model was satisfactory. Reliability coefficients were acceptable. The three factors turned out to be significantly correlated with each other. Cognitive anxiety scores were lower for athletes playing team versus individual sports. Conclusions: The CSAI-2R appears to be a valid and reliable tool for scholars and practitioners in the field of sport and applied social psychology, and it is also easy and quick to administer.