Collegiate sport represents a unique psychosocial landscape where athletes must constantly balance the dual pressures of academic success and athletic achievement. This dynamic environment exerts significant influence on their psychological functioning, which fluctuates across various contexts, including phases of training, levels of competitive intensity, academic stress, and recovery periods. These fluctuations create a compelling need for a time-sensitive understanding of how resilience, self-regulation, and adaptive capacities in these athletes evolve over time. Furthermore, identifying the critical psychological mechanisms at play and the factors that contribute to successful adaptation is essential for advancing support systems in collegiate sport.

This Research Topic aims to unravel the temporal dynamics and developmental trajectories of psychological adaptation in university athletes. By focusing on key constructs such as emotional regulation, attentional recovery, self-efficacy, stress response, and performance anxiety, the research seeks to uncover how these elements transform throughout an athlete's college journey. The topic calls for empirical studies employing advanced methodologies such as growth curve modeling, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), repeated-measures designs, and hybrid qualitative–quantitative approaches. These methods will help illuminate within-person change patterns and psychological inflection points. The ultimate objective is to understand the complex interplay of individual and environmental factors that shape adaptive outcomes in these athletes.

To gather further insights into this multifaceted topic, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
o Comparative studies across different sports, genders, and cultural contexts
o Investigation of individual-environment interactions shaping adaptation
o Development of phase-sensitive psychological interventions
o Longitudinal analysis of resilience and self-regulation
o Exploration of the role of psychological support systems in collegiate settings

By tracing the evolving psychological architecture of student-athletes over time, this Research Topic aspires to inform evidence-based mental health strategies, enrich the theoretical understanding of sport psychology, and advance person-centered practices in athlete support systems within higher education environments.

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Understanding the psychological journey of collegiate athletes: Temporal evolution and resilience