A Longitudinal and Multilevel Investigation of Grateful Climate in Cultivating Psychological Resilience: The Mediating Role of Athlete’s Gratitude

Abstract

For athletes facing high levels of pressure and experiencing significant psychological and physical demands, mere adaptation to the pressure is insufficient. They must also possess psychological resilience, which entails the ability to rebound from stressful conditions or even surpass their previous performance levels. Previous research has indicated that receiving unilateral positive support is one of the factors contributing to psychological resilience. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the relationship between athlete gratitude and psychological resilience. Gratitude is considered a relational, reciprocal, and prosocial construct that aligns well with the interdependence inherent in the sports context. This research focuses on both the environmental and individual levels of gratitude, drawing on the multilevel model of gratitude framework. The study investigates how the grateful climate, representing environmental gratitude, influences athletes’ psychological resilience through individual gratitude. A longitudinal survey method was employed, involving a total of 289 high school student-athletes from 49 teams who participated in a five-wave survey conducted over a three-year period. The results indicate a significant influence of the grateful climate on changes in athletes’ psychological resilience. This influence operates through individual gratitude, which acts as a mediating factor in predicting changes in psychological resilience. The findings of this study can provide practical guidance for human resource managers and educators by highlighting the importance of fostering gratitude at both the individual and environmental levels to enhance athletes’ psychological resilience.