International Journal of Education and Social Science (IJESS)

Elite athletes are presumed to be resilient and self-confident; however, little research has been conducted on how athletes respond to their performance and whether there is a relationship between forms of self-response and performance. This study examines gender differences with regards to self-inadequacy, self-hate, and self-reassuring in elite archers. Self-criticism and the ability to self-reassure appear to be tied to both age and gender. For women, the ability to self-reassure increases and self-criticism diminishes with age and experience. The study also indicates a more complex relationship between the ability to self-reassure and self-hate, at least in men. Self-inadequacy, self-hate, and self-reassurance seemed to have little effect on performance (, , and respectively). The study suggests that more research is needed to better understand the relationship between the forms of self-response.