Anxiety and sportsmanship in adolescent athletes: the multiple mediating effects of athlete burnout and exercise cognition

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sportsmanship is a core characteristic of competitive sports. To determine the factors related to sportsmanship and explore effective strategies to maintain sportsmanship in adolescent athletes, the present study examined the relationship between anxiety and sportsmanship in adolescent athletes and evaluated the potential mediating roles of athlete burnout and exercise cognition. In this study, 1,544 adolescent athletes (852 boys and 692 girls) with an average age of 14.43 years (SD = 1.92) were enrolled. The analyses showed that there was a significant correlation between state anxiety, trait anxiety, athlete burnout, exercise cognition, and sportsmanship. Additionally, state and trait anxiety were associated with lower levels of sportsmanship, and athlete burnout and exercise cognition played multiple mediating roles in the relationship between anxiety and sportsmanship. These findings suggest that anxiety is a plausible explanation for sportsmanship. Adolescent athletes with high levels of trait or state anxiety are more likely to experience athlete burnout, have poorer levels of exercise cognition, and display less sportsmanship.