THE EFFECTS OF RECREATIVE SPORT ROCK CLIMBING ON STATE AND TRAIT ANXIETY IN 14 YEAR-OLD INDIVIDUALS

The efficiency of regular physical activity to control anxiety and psychological disorders related to anxiety is well established. The purpose of this study was to investigate how recreational sport rock climbing (SRC) affects state and trait anxiety in 14 year-old individuals when it’s done for 8 weeks, once a week 3 hours per session. A total of 14 (8 girls and 6 boys) students, who attend a public school in Ankara, participated in the study voluntarily. On the first day of the study, participants were taught basic climbing rules and equipment. State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was filled out by participants on the first and last days of SRC activities until 20 minutes before the climbs. All climbing activities were performed on the 12-metre-high artificial climbing wall by using top-rope method. To analyze the pre-test and post-test mean differences of STAI, the distribution of data was examined first. As the data showed normal distribution, the mean differences were analyzed with Paired Sample t-Test. According to the findings, the state anxiety scores of participants decreased from 59,57 ± 5,27 to 55,79 ± 3,95 (6,35 %, p 0,001), and trait anxiety scores from 53,64 ± 6,52 to 51,57 ± 7,23 (3,86 %, p= 0,121). As a result, it was understood that recreational SRC, when it is done for eight weeks, once a week and 3 hours per session, provides significant decrease on state anxiety along with an insignificant decrease on trait anxiety as well.