# Influence of training stress on psychological well-being in female college athletes: chain mediating roles of general self-efficacy and psychological resilience

## TL;DR

Training stress negatively affects the mental health of female college athletes, partly through reduced self-efficacy and resilience.

## Contribution

This study identifies a chain mediation pathway through general self-efficacy and psychological resilience linking training stress to psychological well-being.

## Key findings

- Training stress is strongly and directly linked to lower psychological well-being.
- General self-efficacy and psychological resilience partially mediate the negative impact of training stress.
- The combined chain mediation effect accounts for nearly half of the total negative impact.

## Abstract

This study examined female college athletes to explore the association between training stress and psychological well-being. It further investigated whether general self-efficacy and psychological resilience mediate this association.

A questionnaire survey was administered to 604 female college athletes. The instruments included the Training Distress Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Psychological Resilience Scale, and the Psychological Well-Being Scale. PROCESS Model 6 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples was used to test the serial mediation effects.

Training stress was significantly negatively correlated with psychological well-being (r = −0.356, p < 0.001, N = 604). The serial mediation regression analysis showed that training stress significantly and negatively predicted psychological well-being (β = −0.174, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−0.244, −0.104]). Bootstrap analyses (5,000 resamples) indicated a significant total indirect effect (indirect effect = −0.182, BootSE = 0.025, 95% BootCI [−0.232, −0.133]), accounting for 51.1% of the total effect. Within the total indirect effect, the specific indirect effect via general self-efficacy was −0.084 (46.2% of the total indirect effect, 95% BootCI [−0.125, −0.048]), the specific indirect effect via psychological resilience was −0.065 (35.7, 95% BootCI [−0.101, −0.035]), and the serial indirect effect via general self-efficacy and psychological resilience was −0.033 (18.1, 95% BootCI [−0.049, −0.020]).

Training stress significantly undermines psychological well-being in female college athletes. This influence manifests not only as a direct effect but also indirectly through general self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and their chain mediation. Therefore, enhancing general self-efficacy and psychological resilience may be an effective approach to reduce the negative impact of training stress and to promote psychological well-being in female college athletes.