Personality traits and psychobiosocial states among athletes: The mediating role of dispositional mindfulness.

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to ascertain the mediating role of dispositional mindfulness on the relationship between athletes’ personality traits and functional/dysfunctional psychobiosocial states associated with performance. Italian athletes (N = 221, 112 female, Mage = 29.29 ± 9.55) involved in individual (n = 124) or team sports (n = 97) completed questionnaires assessing personality traits, dispositional mindfulness in sport context, and psychobiosocial states. Path analysis was conducted to test the mediation effects of mindfulness (awareness, non-judgmental attitude and refocusing) on the relationship between personality traits (conscientiousness and emotional stability) and psychobiosocial (functional and dysfunctional) states using maximum likelihood estimator (ML) and bias-corrected bootstrap method based on 5000 resamples. Gender and sport types were entered as covariates in the model. Path analysis revealed a significant positive indirect effect of conscientiousness on functional psychobiosocial states via awareness and refocusing dimensions, meanwhile emotional stability showed a positive indirect effect via refocusing. Moreover, a significant negative indirect effect of emotional stability on dysfunctional psychobiosocial states via non-judgmental attitude emerged. Findings suggest that conscientious and emotionally stable athletes are more prone to be mindfully aware of the present moment, to refocus on it, and to adopt a non-judgmental attitude. In turn, they can experience a higher level of functional psychobiosocial states associated with sport performance. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.