What could explain the psychological well-being and performance of young athletes? The role of social safeness and self-criticism

• Autor(es): Oliveira,Sara ; Cunha,Marina ; Rosado,António ; Gomes,Beatriz ; Ferreira,Cláudia
• Data: 2022
• Origem: SciELO Portugal
• Assunto(s): Psychological well-being; Sports performance; Self-criticism; Social safeness; Young athletes.
• Tipo de Documento: Artigo científico
• Idioma: Inglês

Descrição

Abstract Literature has highlighted that it is important to explore factors that may contribute to athletes’ well-being and also to sports performance, especially in young athletes. This study aimed to test a model that hypothesized that athlete-related social safeness (feelings of belonging to the team) has an effect on the psychological well-being and performance through self-criticism. This study sample comprised 164 Portuguese adolescent athletes of both genders, who practiced different sports. The path analysis results confirmed the proposed model’s adequacy, which explained 52% and 28% of the variance of the psychological well-being and performance, respectively. Results demonstrated that athletes who presented higher social safeness levels tend to reveal higher levels of psychological well-being and perceived performance through lower levels of self-criticism. These novel findings suggest the importance of adopting supportive and safe relationships between teammates due to their positive association with athletes’ mental health and performance.