ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1617429
This article is part of the Research TopicDeterminants of Achievement in Top SportView all 29 articles
The relationship between athletes' self-esteem and perceived social support: the mediating effect of Decentering and the moderating effect of training years
Provisionally accepted
Xianbang Huang
Ling Li*- Xi'an Physical Education University, Xi'an, China
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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between athletes' Self-esteem(SE)and The Perceived Available Support in Sports Questionnaire (PASS-Q), with a particular focus on the mediating role of Decentering and the moderating effect of training years. Methods: A total of 354 athletes (198 males and 156 females) from various sports were surveyed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, The Decentering Scale for Sport, The Perceived Available Support in Sports Questionnaire. Correlation analysis, regression analysis, and PROCESS macro modeling were employed to examine the hypothesized relationships. Results: (1) Athletes' SE is significantly positively correlated with Decentering and PASS; (2) Decentering played a mediating role in the relationship between SE and PASS; (3) Training years moderated the direct effect of SE on PASS, such that the effect was stronger among athletes with longer training years. Conclusion: SE not only directly promotes athletes' PASS but also indirectly enhances it through Decentering. Furthermore, training years serve as a boundary condition for this relationship. These findings provide theoretical insights and practical implications for improving athletes' psychological resilience and social adaptation.
Keywords: Athletes, self-esteem, decentering, perceived social support, training years
Received: 24 Apr 2025; Accepted: 07 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang and Li. 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: Ling Li, liling0530@163.com
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