Predicting state-competitive anxiety of male and female referees in the Iranian Premier Football League based on personality types

Rostamiyan, Elahe; Kalantari, Farhad; Poursoltani, Hossein

doi:10.22034/ijmbsp.2026.558934.1150

Predicting state-competitive anxiety of male and female referees in the Iranian Premier Football League based on personality types

10.22034/ijmbsp.2026.558934.1150

Volume 5, Issue 4
Summer 2025

Iranian Journal of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Elahe Rostamiyan ¹

Farhad Kalantari ²

Hossein Poursoltani ³

¹ Master&amp;amp;amp;#039;s degree in General Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Maragheh, Iran

² MSc in Sport Management, Department of Sport Sciences, Faculty of Physical Education, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

³ Associate Professor of Sport Management, Payam Noor University. Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The present study purpose to predict the state-competitive anxiety of male and female referees in the Iranian Premier Football League based on personality types. This study was applied in nature and descriptive-correlational in method. The statistical population of the study consisted of 152 referees of the Premier League of Football (97 men and 55 women), of whom 109 were selected as a sample based on the Morgan table. Data were collected using two questionnaires containing 52 items. The face and content validity of the instruments were confirmed by 10 psychology professors and 5 football refereeing experts, and their reliability was obtained through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Linear regression was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that personality types had a significant inverse relationship with competitive anxiety in football referees (P<0.05, r = -0.32) and in men (P<0.05, r = -0.26) and in women (P<0.05, r = -0.41). Also, regression analysis in football showed that personality types (P<0.01 and t = -3.54) and in both men (P<0.01 and t = -2.94) and women (P<0.01 and t = -4.24) were able to predict competitive anxiety. These results emphasize the determining role of personality traits in explaining competitive anxiety and can be a basis for developing psychological interventions to reduce anxiety and improve football referee performance.

Keywords

State-competitive anxiety

Professional football refereeing

Personality types

Subjects