ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicReimagining Human Movement: The Impact of Extended Reality on Physical and Emotional ExperienceView all 6 articles
The influence of risk perception in mountaineering on re-participation intentions: A moderated mediation model
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
- 2Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- 3Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
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Objective: Mountaineering is a high-risk outdoor activity requiring strong psychological regulation and risk assessment abilities. The study aims to investigate the relationship between risk perception in mountaineering and re-participation intention, specifically focusing on the mediating role of smooth experience and the moderating effect of social support. Methods: Drawing on Risk Perception Theory and Flow Theory, we proposed a moderated mediation model and surveyed 516 recreational mountaineering participants. Descriptive statistics, reliability and validity tests, and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS 27.0 (PROCESS 4.1, 5000 bootstrap resamples). Results: (1) Risk perception negatively predicted both re-participation intention and smooth experience. (2) Smooth experience positively predicted re-participation intention and mediated the association between risk perception and re-participation intention. (3) Social support moderated the smooth experience and re-participation intention link, such that the positive effect of smooth experience was stronger at higher levels of social support. Conclusion: Smooth experience constitutes a key psychological pathway through which risk perception relates to re-participation intention, and social support strengthens the behavioral benefits of smooth experience. These findings highlight the joint role of psychological experience and social resources in promoting sustained engagement in mountaineering.
Keywords: Mountaineering, outdoor recreation, Re-participation intention, Risk Perception, smooth experience, social support
Received: 11 Nov 2025; Accepted: 02 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Gu, Zhao, Liu, Yin and Bai. 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: shengchao Bai
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