THE MEDIATING ROLE OF OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM ON THE EFFECT OF MENTAL WELL-BEING OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE IN ACTIVE ATHLETES

30th Congress of the European College of Sport Science, Rimini, İtalya, 1 - 04 Temmuz 2025, ss.750, (Özet Bildiri)

NTRODUCTION: This study aims to examine the mediating role of optimism and pessimism on the effect of mental well-

being of psychological performance in active athletes.

METHODS: A total of 739 licensed athletes actively competing in Çanakkale province participated in the study, including

413 men and 326 women aged between 18 and 35. Among the participants, 406 were engaged in team sports (basket-

ball, football, volleyball, handball), while 333 were involved in individual sports (athletics, tennis, boxing, wrestling,

taekwondo, swimming). The data were collected using the Mental Well-Being Scale, Psychological Performance Assess-

ment Scale, Optimism Scale and Pessimism Scale. Descriptive statistics, group comparisons, and correlation analyses

were conducted using SPSS, while mediation analyses were performed using AMOS. The bootstrap confidence interval

method was applied to test the significance of the observed effect sizes.

RESULTS: The findings revealed that optimism and pessimism had an indirect effect on the relationship between mental

well-being and psychological performance. Optimism positively influenced psychological performance, whereas pessi-

mism negatively affected it. The analyses indicated that higher levels of mental well-being significantly and positively

influenced psychological performance through optimism (p< 0.05; β = 0.06), while pessimism had a small to moderate

negative impact (p< 0.05; β = -0.06).

CONCLUSION: These results suggest that promoting optimism and reducing pessimism can play a crucial role in enhanc-

ing athletes psychological performance.