Comparative Analysis of Psychological Variables among International Football and Hockey Players of India: A MANOVA Approach

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Page: 1696-1702

Manoj Kumar and R.P. Garg (Department of Physical Education, MDU Rohtak, Haryana India)

The present study investigated the comparative psychological characteristics of international football and hockey players of India across gender. A purposive sample of 100 participants (25 male football players, 25 female football players, 25 male hockey players, 25 female hockey players) was taken from national coaching camps and training centres. Three psychological variables-self-confidence, anxiety, and aggression-were assessed using validated and widely accepted scales: the Self-Confidence Scale (Vealey & Chase, 2021), Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (Martens et al., 2020), and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 2022). Descriptive analysis indicated that football players reported slightly higher self-confidence (males: 4.07 ± 0.15; females: 3.91 ± 0.13) compared to hockey players (males: 4.03 ± 0.12; females: 3.90 ± 0.14). Hockey males showed lower anxiety (2.49 ± 0.19) than football males (2.73 ± 0.21), whereas females showed higher anxiety overall. Aggression levels were marginally higher among football players (male: 3.66 ± 0.15; female: 3.59 ± 0.16) than hockey players (male: 3.65 ± 0.18; female: 3.49 ± 0.17). MANOVA revealed significant main effects for gender and sport, with post hoc analyses showing that male athletes had significantly lower anxiety (p < .05) compared to female athletes, while footballers demonstrated significantly higher aggression scores than hockey players. Interaction effects were not statistically significant. These findings emphasize the importance of psychological profiling in tailoring mental skills training for athletes based on both gender and sport-specific contexts.