Enhancing Subjective Well-Being in Young Professional Athletes: The Role of Self-Esteem and Perceived Social Support in Moderating Neuroticism

Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is especially vital for young professional athletes as they attempt to maintain and improve their performance during adolescence and beyond. Young professional athletes encounter various stressors during adolescence; furthermore, it is known that neuroticism is high during these ages. This necessitates the investigation of factors influencing the relationship between SWB and neuroticism. This study aims to examine the relationship between neuroticism and SWB among young professional athletes and determine whether this relationship is moderated by self-esteem (SE) and perceived social support (PSS). For this, a total of 422 professional athletes (mean age: 19.75, SD = 1.71) from various sports clubs in Turkey were included in the study. Participants completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Scale for Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). In the constructed structural equation model, multiple regression analyses, post hoc analyses, and slope analyses were utilized. Young professional athletes with high levels of neuroticism were found to have lower SWB even after controlling for age, wealth, and health status ( b = −0.14, p < .05). When comparing young athletes with low SE ( b = −0.232, p < .05) to those with high SE ( b = −0.165, p = .76), it was determined that SWB tended to decrease more in those with high neuroticism. Additionally, it was significantly predicted that SWB tended to decrease when either SE ( b = −0.183, p < .05) or PSS ( b = −0.214, p < .05) was low, or both were low ( b = −0.293, p < .05). Conversely, in young athletes with both high PSS and high SE ( b = −0.105, p = .072), this relationship became insignificant. However, the study’s cross-sectional design limits causal inferences, and self-reported data may introduce potential bias.