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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1468978
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances in Sport Science: Latest Findings and New Scientific Proposals-volume II View all 8 articles

Gender Differences in Skilled Performance under Failure Competitive Environments: Evidence from Elite Archers

Provisionally accepted
Chunhua Li Chunhua Li Yangqing Zhao Yangqing Zhao *
  • Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study explores the gender differences in archers' ability to cope with adversity, highlighting the significant cold-hand effect observed in both male and female archers, with notable differences in the last arrow performance under pressure. Using data from professional recurve archery competitions held between 2012 and 2021, the Poisson regression analysis reveals that male and female archers' performance dropped significantly after experiencing two consecutive missing bullseyes, which means a cold-hand effect exists. However, although there was no significant difference in the performance of male and female archers on the third arrow, female archers have significantly lower last arrow per set scores than male archers after near poor performance or being in a situation where losing can only be avoided by winning the current set. This finding suggests that female archers are more vulnerable to the potentially negative effects of adversity caused by trailing or recent failures than their male counterparts. In addition, the reason for such a gender gap has been discussed.

    Keywords: performance under pressure, gender differences, Cold hand, Feedback, competition

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 11 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yangqing Zhao, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.