The causal relationship between the perfectionistic self-presentation, proactive coping, and psychological needs of college athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of college athletes" perfectionistic self-presentation on their psychological needs and to confirm the mediating effect of proactive coping. A total of 250 college athletes (male = 161, female = 89) were collected using the convenience sampling method of non-probability sampling. The collected data were analyzed by frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and mediation analysis using SPSS 25.0. The results of this study were as follows. First, In the research model 1, it was found that perfectionistic self-presentation had a positive effect on proactive coping. In the research model 2, it was found that the independent variable, perfectionistic self-presentation and proactive coping, had a positive effect on the dependent variable, psychological needs. Second, in the relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation and psychological needs, proactive coping was found to play a partial mediating role.