ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Study on the influence of psychological fatigue on sports motivation of short track speed skaters - The chain mediating effect based on perceived social support and sense of career calling
Guoxing Zhang
Feng Tai
Qing Guo
Shihao Wang
Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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Abstract
Objective: To clarify the mediating effects of perceived social support and sense of career calling on the relationship between psychological fatigue and sports motivation in short track speed skaters.Methods : Using a variety of research methods such as questionnaire survey and mathematical statistics, 798 short track speed skaters were selected as the research objects. The ' Psychological Fatigue Scale ', ' Sports Motivation Scale ', ' Perceived Social Support Scale ', and ' Sense of Career Calling Scale' were used for psychological measurement. SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS 4.2 macro program were used to test the mediating effect, chain mediating effect and Bootstrap analysis. Results : In the correlation analysis, psychological fatigue was significantly negatively correlated with perceived social support ( r = 0.367, P < 0.01 ), sense of career calling ( r = 0.394, P < 0.01 ), and sports motivation ( r = 0.384, P < 0.01 ). Perceived social support was significantly positively correlated with sense of career calling ( r = 0.503, P < 0.01 ) and sports motivation ( r = 0.506, P < 0.01 ). There was a significant positive correlation between sense of career calling and sports motivation ( r = 0.531, P < 0.01 ). Conclusion : ( 1 ) Perceived social support and sense of career calling play a separate mediating role between psychological fatigue and sports motivation of short track speed skaters. ( 2 ) Perceived social support and sense of career calling play a chain mediating role between psychological fatigue and sports motivation of short track speed skaters. ( 3 ) Coaches should use strategies to improve perceived social support and sense of career calling of short track speed skaters, so as to improve the sports motivation of short track speed skaters and reduce their psychological fatigue.
Summary
Keywords
perceived social support, Psychological fatigue, sense of career calling, short track speed skaters, Sports motivation
Received
26 November 2025
Accepted
02 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Zhang, Tai, Guo 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: Guoxing Zhang
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