Correlations among focusing attitudes, psychological competitive abilities and public self-consciousness in college athletes

Abstract

ABSTRACTFocusing has been used in various fields. However, there are few studies on focusing in the field of sports. Correlations between focusing attitudes and psychological competitive abilities were investigated to provide psychological support for athletes by focusing. Public self-consciousness was considered a parameter mediating between focusing attitudes and psychological competitive abilities. University student-athletes (N = 180; 111 men and 69 women) completed three questionnaires. Path analysis was conducted using covariance structure analysis. Results suggested that focusing attitudes contributed to improving psychological competitive abilities. Regarding the correlation with public self-consciousness, it was predicted that acquiring an attitude of ‘keeping a distance from experiencing (a focusing attitude)’ would reduce anxiety and fear toward evaluation from others, leading to ‘mental stability and concentration (a psychological competitive ability).’ The results indicated that taking an attitude of ‘accepting and acting from experiencing (a focusing attitude),’ contributed to an improvement in ‘self-confidence (a psychological competitive ability),’ leading to positive effects on other factors related to psychological competitive abilities. Based on the above results, it was indicated that acquiring focusing attitudes would increase athletes’ self-confidence and contribute to improvements in overall psychological competitive abilities. The possibility of psychological support for athletes using focusing is suggested.