DIVERS’ PREDIVING STATE-TRAIT ANXIETY LEVELS AND MENTAL PERFORMANCE UNDERWATER OR ON LAND (A PRELIMINARY STUDY)

Abstract

In this study it was aimed to compare scuba diving instructors’ and beginner scuba divers’ underwater and land mental performances and to determine pre-diving state and trait anxiety levels. The sample consisted of nine scuba diving instructors and trainees aged 21 to 38. To determine divers’ pre-diving state and trait anxiety levels, the State and Trait Anxiety Inventories developed by Spielberger and adopted into Turkish by Öner and LeCompte were utilized. In order to evaluate divers’ mental performance, selected items of Raven’s Progresive Matrices adopted for underwater circumstances were used. The experimental protocol consisted of two distinct phases. In the first phase, 10 minute preceding diving, State and Trait Anxiety Inventories, and during diving (20 m depth and 3.0 atm pressure) modified Raven’s Progressive Matrices were applied to the sample. In the second phase separated by 58 days, both tests were applied to the sample on land (0 m depth and 1.0 atm pressure) conditions. One-way Anova and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to analyze data. Differences between pre- and post-diving anxiety levels, and between underwater and land mental performances were not found to be statistically salient.