Competitive pressure, psychological resilience, and coping strategies in athletes’ pre-competition anxiety

Pre-competition anxiety is common among athletes and, if not managed properly, can hinder performance and long-term development. While competitive pressure is known to contribute to pre-competition anxiety, the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear. According to the protective factor–risk factor model, psychological resilience may mediate the link between competitive pressure and anxiety, with coping strategies playing a moderating role. However, research on this integrated model is still limited. A survey was conducted with 2,056 athletes (1,321 males and 735 females, with 71.9% of participants aged between 18 and 22) to assess the relationships between competitive pressure, psychological resilience, coping strategies, and pre-competition anxiety. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating effect of coping strategies on this relationship. Competitive pressure was significantly positively correlated with pre-competition anxiety. Psychological resilience mediated the relationship between competitive pressure and pre-competition anxiety (β = 0.264, t = 17.772, p < 0.001). Coping strategies significantly moderated the relationship between competitive pressure and psychological resilience (β = -0.303, t = 5.999, p < 0.001). This study identified the psychological mechanism through which competitive pressure affects athletes' pre-competition anxiety via psychological resilience and highlighted that positive coping strategies can reduce the negative impact of competitive pressure on resilience. It emphasizes the importance of strengthening psychological resilience and fostering positive coping strategies in psychological interventions to help athletes manage pre-competition anxiety and improve their performance. However, the cross-sectional design of this study limits the ability to draw causal inferences. Future research could adopt a longitudinal design and explore additional factors, such as personality traits, that may further influence athletes' responses to competitive pressure.