ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1558351
This article is part of the Research TopicMechanisms and Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Adolescent Mood DisordersView all articles
The Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Psychological Resilience in Chinese Adolescent Judo Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Mediating Role of Depression and the Moderating Role of Age
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Physical Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2Department of Physical Education, College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- 3School of Competitive Sport, Shandong Sport University, Jinan, China
- 4School of Physical Education, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
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Against the backdrop of high-intensity training and competition pressures that pose risks to the mental health of adolescent judo athletes, this study examines the relationship between perceived social support and psychological resilience among 207 Chinese adolescent judo athletes (106 males, 101 females and recruited between July and October 2024; mean age = 18.77±2.57 years to aged between 14 and 33 years, with a mean age of 18.7 ± 2.5 years, encompassing late adolescents and young adults), with a focus on the mediating role of depression and moderating role of age. Using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ), and Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and moderated mediation analysis (SPSS 26.0 and Hayes' PROCESS macro). Results revealed that perceived social support significantly predicted psychological resilience (β=0.338, p<0.01), with depression fully mediating this association (indirect effect=0.163, 95% CI=[0.099, 0.242], accounting for 56.79% of the total effect). Age moderated the direct relationship between perceived social support and depression, with the protective effect of social support weakening with increasing age (Effect=0.049, 95% CI= [-0.165, 0.263]). These findings highlight that perceived social support enhances psychological resilience both directly and indirectly through reduced depressive symptoms, with age influencing the social support-depression link. Future studies could explore causal relationships, diverse athlete populations, intervention effectiveness, physiological factors, inter-sport comparisons, and athletes' social support needs using mixed methods.
Keywords: adolescents, Judo athletes, perceived social support, Depression, psychological resilience
Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Wang, Liu, Yao, Chu, Zhu and Niu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wenjia Chen, School of Physical Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
Xueqiang Zhu, School of Competitive Sport, Shandong Sport University, Jinan, China
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