ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicDeterminants of Achievement in Top SportView all 35 articles
Psychological Predictors of Competitive Level in Badminton Athletes: A Gender-Stratified Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
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This study investigated the predictive role of character traits on competitive level in badminton athlet es, focusing on gender-specific pathways. A total of 392 Chinese collegiate athletes (198 males, 194 f emales) completed the WT Character Inventory for Athletes (WTCAIA). Competitive level (Unranke d, Level 2, Level 1) was analyzed using gender-stratified ordered logistic regression while controlling for age and years of training. All models met the proportional odds assumption (p > 0.05). For femal es (Nagelkerke R² = 0.276), Resilience (OR = 1.026, p = 0.022) and Flexibility (OR = 1.035, p = 0.00 2) were significant positive predictors, while Sociability (OR = 0.976, p = 0.031) was negative. For m ales (Nagelkerke R² = 0.408), Resilience (OR = 1.073, p = 0.001) and Emotionality (OR = 1.049, p = 0.026) were positive, and Sociability (OR = 0.962, p = 0.033) was negative. Resilience and Sociabilit y consistently predicted competitive level across genders, while Flexibility and Emotionality showed gender-specific effects. The higher explanatory power in males suggests structural gender differences in the underlying psychological dynamics. These findings provide empirical evidence for integrating character-based assessments into badminton talent identification, and for guiding the development of tailored psychological training strategies that support athlete development.
Keywords: Badminton athletes, character traits, Competitive level, ordered logistic regression, gender differences
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li, Xie, Yang, Chen 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:
Tao Chen
Huiguo Wang
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