AUTHOR=Liu Xiuxia , Wu Bo , Weng Xinghe , Shan Qi 

TITLE=The effect of the partnership between DanceSport couples on competitive performance: the mediating role of athlete engagement

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1278874

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1278874

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Objectives: Although the positive association of partnership between DanceSport couples with competitive performance (CP) is documented, less is known about mediating factors of this relationship. According to the related literature and self-determination theory (SDT), the present study finds and verify that athlete engagement (AE) mediates the association between partnership and competitive performance.Methods: 242 Chinese sport dancers are recruited using the purposive sampling method. The Partnership Scale-DanceSport Couples (PS-DSC), the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ)， and the Competitive Performance Questionnaire (CPQ) are adopted to collect data.The obligatory instrumental ties, expressive ties, and interpersonal perception scores are all positively correlated with both athlete engagement and competitive performance, and athlete engagement scores are positively correlated with competitive performance. Athlete engagement completely mediates the association between obligatory instrumental ties and competitive performance, and it partially mediates the association between expressive ties, interpersonal perception, and competitive performance, with the mediating effect accounting for 25.29% and 24.40% of the total effect respectively.DanceSport couples and competitive performance, and high-level athlete engagement is needed to improve the chance to promote obligatory instrumental ties, expressive ties, and interpersonal perception between DanceSport couples towards excellent competitive performance. Overall, the results represent an attempt to extend our understanding of the mechanisms by which the three partnership stereotype factors individually influence dancers' cognitive and psychological states.