6533b828fe1ef96bd12880ac

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Hormonal responses to competition

subject

description

S p o rts competitions have been employed to analy ze the influence of social confro n t ations on hormonal levels. Howeve r, results have been inconsistent. Seve ral va ri ables such as outcome, phy s i c a l exe rtion, mood and causal at t ri bution have been considered as important mediat o rs of this infl u e nc e. Our aim was to examine their role in the testosterone and cortisol responses to a real confro n t ation. To this end, twe l ve judoists who part i c i p ated in a competition between clubs we re studied. Results showed non significant diffe rences depending on outcome in hormones, physical exe rtion, mood and causal at t ri bution; only sat i s faction with the outcome being significant. Intere s t i n g ly, testoste rone response was positive ly associated with self-ap p raisal of perfo rmance and at t ri bution of outcome to personal effo rt. Cortisol response showed a ve ry consistent re l ationship with negat ive moo d. These findings support a clear association of competition-induced hormonal responses with cogni t ive and emotional aspects rather than with objective (outcome or physical exe rtion) ch a ra c t e ri stics of the situat i o n .