Archers with more self confidence score higher

The summary today

Confidence goes with the score in nearly every study that puts the two side by side, but always in the same weak form: they are measured together and correlated. The earliest figure, 188 American archers of every level, finds confidence among the very few psychological measures that move with the yearly average, r = 0.32, while anxiety and attentional styles stay put. The firmest figure comes from the Chinese national squad: in 61 archers, sport confidence reported a week before a competition is linked to an index adding up the result of that competition and the technical grade already reached, with a total effect of 0.57. The other coefficients are large but fragile: 0.70 in fifteen archers at a training centre, 0.56 in twenty compound archers, and an 88 per cent of variance explained in twelve high-school archers that, with twelve people and a single predictor, cannot be taken at face value. In eighty Indian juniors measured before a national championship the link is there but weak, 0.24, and it disappears when men and women are taken separately. It breaks in two places. In those same twenty compound archers, moving from the correlation to a comparison between the top ten and the bottom ten makes the difference disappear; and in thirty-nine beginners, reported confidence did not predict the score: a weak null result in a questionable venue, but one that runs against the claim. Nobody has measured confidence before and score afterwards across several competitions of the same archer, and nobody has tried raising it to see whether the points follow: that is why it stays reported.

Also phrased as: "self confidence makes the score"; "archers who believe in themselves shoot better"; "self esteem and score in archery"; "how much does confidence matter in competition"; "confidence before the competition and the result"

Evidence

• 1986
  For Archers Published later

  188 American recurve archers of every level, from beginner to Olympic medallist, with sixty-two physical, visual and psychological measures set against the yearly average score: self confidence correlates at r = 0.32 on the 115 with complete data (p < 0.005) and separates the four skill levels, F(3,110) = 8.79, p < 0.001.

  A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance · Daniel M. Landers, Stephen H. Boutcher, Min Q. Wang

• 1991
  Context Archers Published later

  Before an indoor competition at eighteen metres, nine archers of the Greek national squad show confidence of 28.9 ± 4.3 against 22.2 ± 7.5 for nine good archers who were not selected, and less somatic anxiety, 12.3 against 16.9, with cognitive anxiety identical. No test between the groups is reported: it is a baseline description in a study on imagery.

  Visuomotor Behavior Rehearsal in Archery Shooting Performance · Yannis Zervas, Vassilis Kakkos

• 1998
  Context Archers Published later

  Eight archers from the Italian Olympic squad for Atlanta 1996, interviewed a month before the Games about what it takes mentally to shoot well: among the sixteen themes on the necessary conditions, positive expectations are the most often mentioned dimension, with confidence named by three archers and confidence in their own shooting by two. It is what champions say about themselves, with no scores alongside and no weaker archers to compare them with.

  Mental Preparation Strategies of Olympic Archers During Competition: an exploratory investigation · Claudio Robazza, Laura Bortoli

• 2009
  Context Other sport Published later

  Seven elite double trap shooters, measured before a double-blind trial with caffeine and placebo: confidence 25.1 ± 3.8 and 23.4 ± 6.2 out of thirty-six, with moderate anxiety. It only shows what values the same scale gives in a precision sport; it does not link confidence to the result.

  Caffeine and performance in clay target shooting · Bianca Share, Nick Sanders, Justin Kemp

• 2018
  Against Archers Published later

  Thirty-nine beginners after a fourteen-week course, performance measured as the median radial distance of ten arrows at eighteen metres: across the whole sample, reported confidence, like cognitive and somatic anxiety, does not correlate with performance. The venue has questionable editorial standards and the sample is split into subgroups of about twenty.

  Somatic Anxiety May Represent Archers' Actual Autonomic Nervous System Activity But How: Moderating Role of Personality Traits Questionable venue · Nihal Dal, Serdar Tok, Erman Doğan, İlker Balıkçı, Aylin Zekioğlu, Fatih Çatıkkaş

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  Thirty-two young Malaysian archers in a development programme, a score from just six arrows at fifty metres, 45.2 ± 10.4: the high group, eighteen archers, has higher means than the low group on every coping scale, confidence included, with discriminant analysis correct in 93.6 per cent of cases. There is no test for any single scale, and the score goes into the grouping that is then compared. The venue has questionable editorial standards.

  Supervised pattern recognition of archers’ relative psychological coping skills as a component for a better archery performance Questionable venue · Z. Taha, R. M. Musa, M. R. Abdullah, A. B. H. M. Maliki, N. A. Kosni, S. M. Mat-Rasid, A. Adnan, H. Juahir

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  Fifty Malaysian archers aged thirteen to twenty, one end of six arrows at fifty metres: the grouping built on the seven coping scales and on the score puts the high group above the low one on every scale but one, and on the score as well. The values appear only in the plots, with no test, and the score is inside the grouping.

  The identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables: A Support Vector Machine approach · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, A P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Jessnor Arif Mat Jizat, Mohamad Fauzi Ibrahim

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  In those same fifty archers, of the seven scales measured, freedom from worry is the only one that does not come out higher in the better-shooting group: confidence and achievement motivation, concentration, goal setting and mental preparation all do.

  The identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables: A Support Vector Machine approach · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, A P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Jessnor Arif Mat Jizat, Mohamad Fauzi Ibrahim

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  A linear classifier built on the coping skills alone recognises which group an archer belongs to in 92 per cent of cases, with five-fold cross-validation on fifty observations.

  The identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables: A Support Vector Machine approach · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, A P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Jessnor Arif Mat Jizat, Mohamad Fauzi Ibrahim

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  That same classifier recognises the better-prepared archers well and misclassifies the others far more often: sensitivity 100 per cent but specificity 73.3, and with a different kernel specificity falls to zero. The 92 per cent figure has to be read with that inside it.

  The identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables: A Support Vector Machine approach · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, A P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Jessnor Arif Mat Jizat, Mohamad Fauzi Ibrahim

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  The same fifty young Malaysian archers as the support vector machine paper, from the same group in the same year, reanalysed with another classifier: the better-prepared group sits above the other on every coping scale except freedom from worry, confidence included, but the values appear only in plots, with no means and no test, and the score goes into the grouping. The classifier recognises the group in 94 per cent of cases. In all likelihood it is the same sample, and it counts only once.

  The application of k-Nearest Neighbour in the identification of high potential archers based on relative psychological coping skills variables · Zahari Taha, Rabiu Muazu Musa, Anwar P P Abdul Majeed, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Muhammad Muaz Alim, Ahmad Fakhri Ab Nasir

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  Twelve competitive high-school archers from the Banyumas district, fifty-metre score 205.3 ± 75.5 and confidence collected as a four-level category: the simple regression gives F(1,10) = 73.12, p < 0.001.

  The relation between confidence level towards archery ability at 50 meters distance on archery atheletes · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafiet Billy Yachsie, Yudik Prasetyo, I Putu Agus Dharma Hita

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  In the same model confidence alone covers about 88 per cent of the variance in the score, 55,123.9 out of a total sum of squares of 62,662.7. With twelve athletes and a single predictor, that share says more about the model than about the phenomenon.

  The relation between confidence level towards archery ability at 50 meters distance on archery atheletes · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafiet Billy Yachsie, Yudik Prasetyo, I Putu Agus Dharma Hita

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  In that same group of twelve high-school archers, half fall into the high confidence categories, four very high and two high, three average and three low, none very low. With a variable distributed like that across twelve people, the regression rests on very few cases per category.

  The relation between confidence level towards archery ability at 50 meters distance on archery atheletes · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafiet Billy Yachsie, Yudik Prasetyo, I Putu Agus Dharma Hita

• 2022
  For Archers Published later

  Sixty-one archers of the Chinese national squad, twelve of them international: sport confidence reported beforehand is linked to a performance index that adds up the result of the competition a week later, qualification score and set points in the matches, and a score for the technical grade already reached, with a direct effect of 0.444 (p < 0.001) and a total effect of 0.574 (interval 0.342 to 0.796).

  Effect of Cognitive Reappraisal on Archery Performance of Elite Athletes: The Mediating Effects of Sport-Confidence and Attention · Dongling Wang, Ti Hu, Rui Luo, Qiqi Shen, Yuan Wang, Xiujuan Li, et al.

• 2022
  For Archers Published later

  In those same sixty-one archers, confidence is the route by which reappraising one's own emotions reaches performance: reappraisal to confidence 0.455 (p < 0.01), indirect effect on performance 0.202 (p < 0.05). The model is estimated on measures all collected at once.

  Effect of Cognitive Reappraisal on Archery Performance of Elite Athletes: The Mediating Effects of Sport-Confidence and Attention · Dongling Wang, Ti Hu, Rui Luo, Qiqi Shen, Yuan Wang, Xiujuan Li, et al.

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  Twenty archers from the Bantul district on the eve of the provincial games, a thirty-five item questionnaire: the group total, 2,382 out of a maximum of 3,500, is classed as good. There is no competition score beside it, so it says nothing about the link with performance.

  Confidence Level of Bantul Archery Athletes in Facing the 2022 Yogyakarta Special Region Porda XVI Event · Zaki Mubarok, Ardhika Falaahudin, Dody Tri Iwandana

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  Taken separately, both blocks of that questionnaire fall into the merely adequate band, internal factors 1,444 and external 938, and it is their sum that lands in the good band, 2,382 against a threshold of 2,380: two points. An example of how fragile the labels of these instruments are.

  Confidence Level of Bantul Archery Athletes in Facing the 2022 Yogyakarta Special Region Porda XVI Event · Zaki Mubarok, Ardhika Falaahudin, Dody Tri Iwandana

• 2023
  For Archers Published later

  Twenty Malaysian compound archers at state and national level, confidence measured with the CSAI-2R before thirty-six arrows at fifty metres: r = 0.56, p = 0.01.

  Comparative Characteristics of Psychophysiological and Shooting Performance Between Intermediate and Elite Compound Archers · Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Mon Redee Sut Txi, Wan Nurlisa Wan Ahmad

• 2023
  Against Archers Published later

  In those same twenty archers, the comparison between the ten with the highest scores and the ten lowest does not reach significance: confidence 16.4 ± 2.9 against 13.6 ± 3.5, t = -1.94. It is the same sample as the supporting correlation, so it is not an independent contrary study; the two groups are defined by the score itself.

  Comparative Characteristics of Psychophysiological and Shooting Performance Between Intermediate and Elite Compound Archers · Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Mon Redee Sut Txi, Wan Nurlisa Wan Ahmad

• 2023
  Context Other sport Published later

  Five elite junior pistol shooters, eight weeks of psychological skills training with no control group: trait confidence rises from 4.94 ± 1.17 to 6.60 ± 0.65 (p = 0.049) and perceived competence from 2.52 to 3.36. The score was not among the outcomes, so it shows that confidence can be raised, not that the points follow.

  Psychological skills training impacts autonomic nervous system responses to stress during sport-specific imagery: An exploratory study in junior elite shooters · Gunyoung Lee, Jihoon Ryu, Teri Kim

• 2023
  Context Other sport Published later

  In those same five shooters the instrument changes the answer: the scale specific to archery and shooting rises from 4.16 ± 0.73 to 5.02 ± 0.39 with a large effect but no significance (p = 0.074, d = 1.46), while the general sport confidence scale does come out significant (p = 0.049). A warning about how much the chosen scale weighs.

  Psychological skills training impacts autonomic nervous system responses to stress during sport-specific imagery: An exploratory study in junior elite shooters · Gunyoung Lee, Jihoon Ryu, Teri Kim

• 2023
  For Archers Published later

  Thirty-two Malaysian junior recurve archers during the COVID-19 isolation, training at home with the coach on a video link: self-confidence is the only CSAI-2R component linked to the shooting score, r = 0.36 with p = 0.02. The higher-level archers report more confidence, but the abstract and the table give different values, 2.32 against 1.38 and 3 against 2.7, and the comparison is not tested. Training at home rather than competition, in a journal with questionable editorial standards.

  Anxiety status of junior archers in COVID-19 during training isolation period towards the shooting performance Questionable venue · Wan Nurlisa Wan Ahmad, Mohd Azrul Hisham Mohd Adib, Irdayanti Mat Nashir, Mon Redee Sut Txi, Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Jing Rui Tang

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  Sixty-five high-level Korean archers, averaging 327 out of 360 at seventy metres, asked open questions: among the answers on preparing for the shot, confidence and a positive mindset are the most cited, twenty-five of the 81 coded answers, 30.9 per cent, ahead of losing self-awareness. The percentages count answers, not archers, and there is no score alongside.

  Aim high, hit ×10: psychological strategies driving the success of South Korean archers · Joonyoung Lee, Suyoung Hwang

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  In those same archers, what happens after an X is described mostly as a rise in positive emotions, seventy-four of the hundred coded answers, far more than technical confirmation, fourteen, or managing tension, twelve.

  Aim high, hit ×10: psychological strategies driving the success of South Korean archers · Joonyoung Lee, Suyoung Hwang

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  Thirty competitive archers from West Java, across recurve, compound, standard bow and barebow: the authors class them as high on self esteem and only average on self efficacy, two measures usually thought of together. No score is set alongside, and the journal is regional.

  Analisis Tingkat Self-Esteem dan Self-Efficacy pada Atlet Panahan · Firmanul Hakim Maulana Husen, Adi Rahadian, Andi Kurniawan Pratama

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  Fifteen archers at a training centre in Central Java, average of three weekly training scores: r = 0.701, p = 0.004. Recurve scores at seventy metres and compound scores at fifty are kept together without being separated.

  The Correlation of Self-Confidence, Concentration, and Goal Setting with Routine Training Scores among Archery Athletes at BPPLOP Central Java · Richa Lintang Amtajawi, Heny Setyawati, Tommy Soenyoto

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  Eighty Indian junior recurve archers at a national championship, confidence measured with the CSAI-2R before competition and the qualification score: Spearman's r = 0.244, p < 0.05, a weak link that disappears when men and women are taken separately. The men are older, more experienced and score higher, 641 against 597, while confidence does not differ between the sexes; the journal has questionable editorial standards.

  Exploring Gender Differences in Competitive Anxiety and Performance in Junior Recurve Archers Questionable venue · Namchan Norbu Bhutia, Atanu Ghosh, Snehunsu Adhikari

Status history

1. 1984 Not studied No one in the registry's bibliography has yet set the confidence an archer reports against the score they shoot: there is neither an association nor an attempt to raise it.
2. 1986 Reported The first large study, 188 American archers from beginner to Olympic medallist with sixty-two measures set against the yearly average score, finds self confidence among the very few psychological measures that move: r = 0.32 on the 115 with complete data, and the four skill levels separate from one another. Anxiety and attentional styles stay put. It is a cross-sectional association collected by questionnaire, so at most reported.
3. 1991 Reported Nine archers from the Greek national squad come to a competition with more confidence and less somatic anxiety than nine good archers who were not selected, 28.9 against 22.2 on the confidence scale. It points the same way, but the authors report no test between the groups and the comparison is a side result in a study on imagery: the status stays at reported.
4. 1998 Reported Eight archers from the Italian Olympic squad, interviewed before Atlanta 1996, put positive expectations, with confidence first, among the mental conditions needed to shoot well. It tells us how champions see it, but it sets nothing against a score and does not compare them with weaker archers: the evidence is still the 1986 study, and the status stays reported.
5. 2018 Contested The year brings three things and the picture opens in two directions. Two papers from the same Malaysian group, on thirty-two and fifty young archers, find the better-shooting group higher on nearly every mental skill, confidence and motivation included, with freedom from worry the only exception; but the score itself goes into the grouping that is then compared, and the differences sit in the plots with no test. A third paper from the same group reanalyses the same fifty archers with another classifier and finds the same pattern: it is the same sample, not a confirmation. On the other side, in thirty-nine Turkish beginners reported confidence does not predict where the arrows land: a weak null result, in a venue with questionable editorial standards, and it does not overturn the picture. Cross-sectional associations on one side and a null result on the other: evidence on archers pointing both ways, weak on both, which is contested.
6. 2021 Reported A regional cross-sectional study of twelve Indonesian high-school archers attributes about 88 per cent of the variance in the fifty-metre score to self confidence, with F = 73.1. With twelve athletes, a single predictor and confidence collected as a four-level category, that number cannot be taken at face value: it adds an association in the usual direction, and with two supporting studies against the single 2018 null the status returns to reported.
7. 2022 Reported The firmest figure so far: in sixty-one archers of the Chinese national squad, sport confidence measured beforehand is linked to an index adding up the result of the competition a week later and the technical grade already reached, with a direct effect of 0.44 and a total effect of 0.57, and it turns out to be the route by which reappraising one's own emotions reaches performance. This is the strongest sample and the most concrete outcome, but the design is still cross-sectional: the questionnaires are collected in one go, there is a single competition, and the index also includes the grade reached over the years. The same year, an Indonesian survey on the eve of the provincial games shows how fragile the labels of these instruments are, with both blocks of the confidence score in the merely adequate band and the total in the good band by two points. Reported.
8. 2023 Reported This is where the claim cracks, and it does so inside one sample. In twenty Malaysian compound archers, confidence before the trial correlates with the fifty-metre score, r = 0.56, but the comparison between the top ten and the bottom ten does not reach significance, 16.4 against 13.6. It is not an independent contrary study, since these are the same twenty archers, so the status does not fall to contested: it stays reported with one more limitation. The same year, in a journal with questionable editorial standards, thirty-two Malaysian juniors training at home during the COVID-19 isolation give a weak correlation in the usual direction, r = 0.36. Added to this, as context from another sport, confidence can be raised by eight weeks of psychological skills training in five junior pistol shooters, although the score was not an outcome of that study.
9. 2025 Reported Background material only, and the status does not move. Sixty-five high-level Korean archers, asked open questions about what they do to send an arrow into the X, put confidence and a positive mindset first among their answers on preparation, 31 per cent, ahead of losing self-awareness, and after an X they mostly describe positive emotions, 74 per cent, far more than technical reflections. This is what archers say about themselves, not a measure set against a score. In Indonesia, thirty competitive archers come out high on self esteem and only average on self efficacy, two things usually thought of together. Neither paper links confidence to the score.
10. 2026 Reported In fifteen archers at a provincial training centre, confidence correlates with the average of their training scores at 0.70. The sample is tiny, everything is collected in the same period, and recurve scores at seventy metres sit together with compound scores at fifty. The study that weighs most, eighty junior recurve archers with the qualification round of a national championship as the outcome, finds a weak link, r = 0.244, which disappears when men and women are taken separately, and it is in a journal with questionable editorial standards. Two more associations in the usual direction, none following the same archer across several competitions: reported.

Related

Related articles

• Competition anxiety: what it costs an archer's score, and when it arrivesDoes competition anxiety cost archers points? What the studies measured, when in a competition the tension arrives and where the research stops.
• Self-confidence and score: what goes together and what comes firstSelf-confidence and score in archers: what the studies measured, how strong the link is, and why nobody knows whether confidence comes before the points.

Research lines

• 56 studiesAnxiety and confidence in archery competition since 1986
• 32 studiesThe archer's mental profile: forty years of questionnaires

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA larger working memory does not make an archer more accurate3 studies · 79 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA longer quiet eye improves shooting accuracy3 studies · 58 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA mental profile tells archers apart from athletes in other sports only in part5 studies · 550 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA mental training programme improves the elite archer's mood1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023
• ReportedA mental training programme reduces burnout in elite archers1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023

See all claims on mind and attention