This thesis contains two main sections. The first part presents the detailed formation of a conceptual framework of performance anxiety. The second part presents subsequent empirical studies related to the proposed conceptual mode l, including preliminary development of measurement, and empirical evidence of factorial and predictive validities of the model across two cultures, specifically English (British) and Chinese (Taiwanese). Chapter 1 provides several major lines of arguments and issues that initiated the research endeavor on conceptualizing the construct of performance anxiety. Both theoretical and empirical concerns are highlighted and alternative perspectives on the complex construct of anxiety and the anxiety-performance dynamics are presented. 9 Chapter 2 critically reviews the conceptual arguments on the fundamental debate about whether anxiety is maladaptive in nature and always detrimental to performance. Detailed rationales, as well as definitions and assumptions, for each dimension of anxiety underlying the construction of the proposed conceptual mode l are introduced. Moreover, the development of a measure in English is also reported in this chapter, together with evidence of the factorial validity of the measurement and structural models using confirmatory factor analysis, with two independent British samples. Chapter 3 describes the development of a measure in Chinese and a cross-cultural validation of the factorial structure of the performance anxiety mode l using three Taiwanese samples. The comparability of the measures in English and Chinese versions, and the advantage of cross-cultural validation on the factorial structure of the model are addressed. As expected, the factorial validity obtained in the two English s tudies (Chapter 2) was further confim1ed by the three Chinese studies in this chapter. Chapter 4 reports the predictive validity of the conceptual model of performance anxiety. Three predictions according to the m ode l were examined in the context of elite level of competitive tae-kwon-do sports performance in Taiwan. Results were generally as hypothesized and implications from both theoretical and applied perspective s are discussed. The final chapter (Chapter 5) concludes the research work of this thesis. More specifically, this chapter provides a summary of the thesis and integrated discussion of the conceptual framework as well a s six empirical studies. In more detail, theoretical and applied implications, strengths and limitations of the research, together with future directions for research are addressed.