ABSTRACT
The use of short ‘state-type’ questionnaires and checklists is now very common in psychology. They have proved especially useful in allowing an individual’s mental state, or changes in mental state, to be monitored in particular situations and over time. Sport psychologists, following the trend in other areas of psychology, have been using state measures for well over ten years in research and practice. In some cases, sport psychologists have borrowed state measures already being used in other areas of psychology (e.g. the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; Spielberger et al., 1970), adapting them for use in sport (e.g. the Sport Competition Anxiety Test; Martens, 1977). In other cases, specially designed sport-specific measures have been utilised (e.g. the Sport Orientation Questionnaire; Gill and Deeter, 1988, or the Running Addiction Questionnaire; Chapman and De Castro, 1990). Athletes have generally been cooperative and willing to complete state measures as long as they are short and do not intrude on performance.
