ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1436321
This article is part of the Research TopicOnline Assessment in Health and Sport PsychologyView all 15 articles
Mindfulness and Self-Rated Performance among Novice Athletes in China: A Sequential Mediating Role of Flow and Cognitive Anxiety
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Physical Education, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan Province, China
- 2School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China
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Purpose: This study explores the relationship between mindfulness, flow, cognitive anxiety, and selfrated performance in competitive sports, moving away from traditional cognitive-behavioral principles to investigate mindfulness-based interventions, specifically mindfulness-and acceptance-based interventions. The research is centered on understanding how mindfulness relates to the self-rated performance, flow experiences, and cognitive anxiety in novice athletes.Methods: Convenience sampling and snowball sampling were employed to collect cross-sectional data from 315 participants in Changsha, China, during August and September 2023. Utilizing a structural equation model, the study examined the association between mindfulness and the self-rated performance of novice athletes.Results: Mindfulness, flow, and self-rated performance were all negatively correlated with cognitive anxiety, and cognitive anxiety mediated the relationship between flow and self-rated performance. Additionally, flow and cognitive anxiety served as a chain mediation between mindfulness and selfrated performance.The findings suggest that for novice athletes, flow and cognitive anxiety may be crucial mechanisms through which mindfulness improves self-rated performance. When coaches face novice athletes experiencing suboptimal competitive states, they can utilize effective mindfulness practices to enhance the athletes' perception of their performance. This can help novices transition to elite roles and integrate more quickly into the professional sports arena.
Keywords: Novice athletes, mindfulness, Flow, Cognitive anxiety, self-rated performance
Received: 21 May 2024; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Peng, Jing, Wang and Wang. 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: Huilin Wang, School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China
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