The effect of sport-specific mindfulness on dispositional flow in collegiate athletes: the sequential mediating roles of cognitive reappraisal and sport confidence

Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between sport-specific mindfulness and dispositional flow in collegiate athletes and to test whether cognitive reappraisal and sport confidence showed independent and sequential indirect effects in this association.

Methods: A total of 583 collegiate athletes from universities in Guangxi, Hebei, Liaoning, and Tianjin, China, completed a cross-sectional questionnaire survey assessing sport-specific mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, sport confidence, and dispositional flow. Confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlation analyses, regression analyses, and sequential mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro (version 5.0, Model 6) were conducted. Indirect effects were tested using 5,000 bias-corrected bootstrap samples, with sex, age group, and years of sport participation controlled.

Results: Sport-specific mindfulness was significantly and positively correlated with cognitive reappraisal ( r = 0.380, p < 0.001), sport confidence ( r = 0.239, p < 0.001), and dispositional flow ( r = 0.409, p < 0.001). After cognitive reappraisal and sport confidence were included in the model, the standardized direct effect of sport-specific mindfulness on dispositional flow remained significant (β = 0.267, 95% CI [0.190, 0.344]). The standardized total indirect effect was also significant (β = 0.144, 95% CI [0.100, 0.197]). Among the indirect pathways, cognitive reappraisal showed the largest standardized indirect effect (β = 0.113, 95% CI [0.077, 0.160]; 78.50% of the total indirect effect), followed by sport confidence (β = 0.019, 95% CI [0.005, 0.044]; 13.36%). The standardized sequential indirect effect through cognitive reappraisal and sport confidence was significant but small (β = 0.012, 95% CI [0.004, 0.026]; 8.14%).

Conclusion: Sport-specific mindfulness was significantly and positively associated with dispositional flow among collegiate athletes. Cognitive reappraisal and sport confidence showed significant independent and sequential indirect effects in this association, with cognitive reappraisal accounting for the largest proportion of the total indirect effect. These findings indicate that cognitive reappraisal and sport confidence are important psychological factors for understanding the relationship between sport-specific mindfulness and dispositional flow among collegiate athletes.