Male and female archers have different mental profiles

The summary today

Around ten studies on archers have compared men and women with questionnaires and tests, and the result changes from one study to the next. Those that find a difference find it on a different scale each time, and none repeats: among young Russian archers the males work faster on attention tests, among British archers they seek more adventure, but on sensation seeking as a whole they score higher only at national or international level, among Italian competitors the women report more worry and less ability to step back from their thoughts, among young Turkish archers the males make more use of imagery of the movement and the females are more task-oriented, among Indonesian archers the males have higher self-esteem. Alongside these differences there are null results just as clear: seventy elite Greek archers do not differ on any of the seven mental skills measured, two hundred young archers at the European championships use mental techniques in the same way, eighty Indian juniors, in a questionable journal, show the same anxiety and the same confidence. Many of the samples are small, half the studies appear in regional journals, and more than once sex travels together with level and experience, so a difference between male and female archers may really be a difference between those who have shot for longer and those who have not.

Also phrased as: "men and women think differently in archery"; "female archers are more anxious"; "gender differences in mental preparation"; "mental training should be adapted to sex"; "male and female archers think differently in competition"

Evidence

• 2015
  Against Archers Published later

  70 elite Greek archers, 48 men and 22 women, competition mental skills questionnaire (ACSI-28): no significant difference between the sexes on any of the seven factors.

  Psychological skills of elite archery athletes · Evangelos Bebetsos

• 2017
  For Archers Published later

  65 Russian archers aged 13 to 19, 34 male and 31 female, sustained attention test with Landolt rings: the males complete it in 493.5 s against 563.7 (U = 354.0, p = 0.023), at 116.7 signs a minute against 101.5 (p = 0.024), with a concentration index of 104.6 against 89.1 (U = 327.0, p = 0.009). Regional journal.

  Psychological features of attention in archery · Ekaterina Yu. Korobeinikova, Sergey V. Leonov, Irina S. Polikanova

• 2018
  For Archers Published later

  45 British archers, 30 men and 15 women, inside a study comparing them with drag racers: the male archers report more adventure seeking than the female ones (t(43) = 2.3, p = 0.026), both among those competing at national or international level (7.16 against 4.50) and among amateurs (5.61 against 4.36). On overall sensation seeking, by contrast, the difference follows level: 23.1 for the men against 15.5 for the women at the higher levels, 16.6 against 17.9 among amateurs (sport by sex by level interaction, F(1,180) = 5.48, p < 0.02).

  Personality differences amongst drag racers and archers: implications for sport injury rehabilitation · Rhonda Cohen, Bahman Baluch, Linda J. Duffy

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  115 competitive archers from the Italian federation, 43 women and 72 men: the women report more worry (3.51 against 2.93, t(113) = -2.26, p = 0.03) and less ability to decentre from their own thoughts (2.75 against 3.40, t(113) = 2.01, p = 0.04). Questionnaires filled in at a single time point.

  An Exploratory Pilot Study on Choking Episodes in Archery · Pierluigi Diotaiuti, Stefano Corrado, Stefania Mancone, Lavinia Falese, Fábio Hech Dominski, Alexandro Andrade

• 2023
  For Archers Published later

  251 Turkish archers aged 17 to 20, 116 men and 135 women: the males report more cognitive imagery, both specific to the movement (U = 5011.5, p < 0.001) and general, tied to strategy (U = 6053.5, p = 0.002); the females a higher task orientation, reported as significant without the values in the table. Regional journal.

  Okçuluk Sporcularının Sporda İmgeleme Becerilerinin Hedef Yönelimi Düzeylerine Etkisinin İncelenmesi · Esra Şentürk, İlker Özmutlu

• 2023
  Against Archers Published later

  In the same Turkish sample motivational imagery does not differ between the sexes: specific U = 6848.5, p = 0.086; general arousal U = 7126.5, p = 0.219; general mastery p > 0.05.

  Okçuluk Sporcularının Sporda İmgeleme Becerilerinin Hedef Yönelimi Düzeylerine Etkisinin İncelenmesi · Esra Şentürk, İlker Özmutlu

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  200 archers aged 13 to 20 at the European youth championships: 60.5% use concentration techniques, 57% breathing and 54.5% relaxation, with no differences between the sexes (p between 0.37 and 0.87). It measures the use of techniques, not a mental trait.

  Injuries and Persistent Pain in Elite Adolescent Archery Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Epidemiological Study · Nikolaos Vasilis, Athanasios Kyriakides, George Vasilopoulos, Maria Chatzitimotheou, Grigorios Gonidakis, Athanasios Kotsakis, et al.

• 2024
  Context General population Published later

  14 Californian teenagers aged 14 to 17, 6 archers and 8 non-archers, with a cancellation test on a smartphone: the author reports that she also checked sex and school year without finding any significant difference, but gives no figures. Work by a secondary school student, not peer reviewed, in a venue the registry flags as questionable, and with archers and non-archers together.

  The Effects of Archery Practice on Sustained and Selective Attentional Processes Questionable venue · Olivia Park

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  30 competitive archers from West Java, 17 men and 13 women: self-esteem 158.29 ± 14.75 in the men against 147.92 ± 10.59 in the women (t-test, p = 0.041). Regional journal.

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

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  In the same 30 archers shooting self-efficacy does not differ between the sexes: mean ranks 18.06 against 12.15, Mann-Whitney U = 67, p = 0.089. The difference that does exist concerns spread: the variances of self-efficacy are not homogeneous (Levene F = 10.85, p = 0.003), those of self-esteem are (p = 0.753), so the authors had to switch to a non-parametric test.

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

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  15 adolescent archers from an Indonesian club, in a before-and-after study of one session of cognitive-behavioural modification: mental toughness is not linked to sex (chi-square, p = 0.782), nor to age (0.405), schooling (0.833) or years of practice (0.117). Regional journal.

  Efforts to increase mental toughness through cognitive behaviour modification for paser club archery athletes · Fitri Nur Shouma, Rizma Fithri, Estri Kusumawati

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  45 traditional Turkish archers aged 20 to 35, 25 men and 20 women, d2 attention test: the women mark more items (596.8 against 570.0, t = 2.456, p = 0.018) but with more errors (15.6 against 7.6), while overall concentration performance does not differ (235.2 against 218.0, t = 1.737, p = 0.090). It is a different way of working, speed against accuracy, rather than a different ability. Regional journal.

  The Effects of Physical Fitness and Physiological Variables on Archery Performance in Traditional Turkish Archers · Muhammed Raşit Eyibil, Oğuz Gürkan

• 2026
  Against Archers Published later

  80 Indian junior recurve archers, 50 male and 30 female, at the national championships: no differences between the sexes in CSAI-2 somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety or confidence (p from 0.441 to 0.992). The males are older (18.8 against 17.5 years), have shot for longer (5.8 against 4.6 years) and score higher in the qualification round. Questionable journal: it does not decide the status.

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

Status history

1. 2015 Contradicted The first comparison in the bibliography, seventy elite Greek archers, 48 men and 22 women, finds no differences: none of the seven factors of the mental skills questionnaire separates the sexes. A single study, and it goes against: contradicted.
2. 2017 Contested Among sixty-five young Russian archers, 34 male and 31 female, the males complete the sustained attention test faster and score higher on the concentration index (104.6 against 89.1, p = 0.009). A cross-sectional difference, in one sample and a regional journal, against a clean null result two years earlier: studies on archers point in opposite directions, contested.
3. 2018 Contested Among forty-five British archers the males report more adventure seeking than the females, at both competitive levels. On sensation seeking as a whole, by contrast, the difference follows level: among those competing at national or international level the men score 23.1 and the women 15.5, while among amateurs the women actually score slightly higher. It is an analysis inside a study designed to compare archers with drag racers, and the difference is tangled with level: the status stays contested.
4. 2021 Contested Among forty-three female and seventy-two male competitive archers from the Italian federation, the women report more worry (3.51 against 2.93) and less ability to step back from their own thoughts (2.75 against 3.40). Another difference, on other scales, measured with a questionnaire filled in once: the picture stays contested.
5. 2023 Contested Two hundred and fifty-one Turkish archers aged 17 to 20 give a picture that splits within the same sample: the males report more imagery tied to the movement and to strategy, the females a higher task orientation, while on motivational imagery the two groups do not differ. It depends on which aspect is examined, and the status stays contested.
6. 2024 Contested Among two hundred archers aged 13 to 20 at the European youth championships the use of concentration, breathing and relaxation techniques is the same in both sexes (p between 0.37 and 0.87). It concerns what archers do rather than how they are, so it does not shift the balance. The same year a student paper, not peer reviewed, on fourteen teenagers mixing archers and non-archers, reports without figures that sex makes no difference to attention tests: too little to carry weight, and the status stays contested.
7. 2025 Contested Three small regional studies add pieces that do not fit together. In thirty Indonesian archers the men report higher self-esteem (158.3 against 147.9, p = 0.041), while on shooting self-efficacy the sexes differ in how spread out they are rather than in their average level. In fifteen adolescent archers mental toughness is not linked to sex. In forty-five traditional Turkish archers the women work faster and with more errors on the attention test, but the overall quality of concentration is the same. A difference on one scale and none on the others: contested.
8. 2026 Contested Eighty Indian junior recurve archers, 50 male and 30 female, at the national championships: no differences between the sexes in somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety or confidence, while the males are older, have shot for longer and score higher. The journal is questionable and does not decide the status, but the result shows once more how sex gets mixed up with level: contested.

Related

Related articles

• Is there such a thing as an archer's mental profile? What comparisons and questionnaires findDo archers have a different mind from other athletes? What comparisons between sports, mental questionnaires and estimates of the mind's share of score find.
• Women and archery: score, strength, the menstrual cycle and competition anxietyScore, strength, the menstrual cycle and competition anxiety: what studies have measured in male and female archers, and how much the results weigh.

Research lines

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

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