AI Insight
This study of 1,918 Chinese college athletes found that perceived social support directly reduces academic burnout and also works indirectly by strengthening mental toughness and reducing athlete burnout. Cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy, showed mixed effects: while it strengthened the protective effect of social support, it also amplified the negative impact of athlete burnout on academic performance, suggesting it does not uniformly buffer against stress.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that interventions for college athletes should focus on building social support networks and mental toughness while monitoring for athlete burnout. The results caution against assuming cognitive reappraisal training is universally beneficial, as its effectiveness depends on the specific psychological pathway being targeted.
Understand the Science
by Guihua Xu, Xirui Yang, Qiyong Zhang
College athletes face substantial challenges from the combined demands of academic study and athletic training, placing them at elevated risk for academic burnout (AB). This study examined how perceived social support (PSS) is associated with AB by testing the mediating roles of mental toughness (MT) and athlete burnout (ATHB) and the moderating effect of cognitive reappraisal (CR). Using a cross-sectional design, 1,918 college athletes from over 20 Chinese universities completed standardized questionnaires assessing PSS, MT, ATHB, CR, and AB. Serial and moderated serial mediation were analyzed with the PROCESS macro (Models 6 and 89) while controlling for demographic and sport-related variables. PSS was directly and negatively associated with AB (β = −0.122, p < 0.001), with significant indirect associations separately through MT and ATHB and sequentially through MT and ATHB. CR showed path-specific moderation: at higher levels of CR, the negative PSS–AB association was stronger, but so was the positive ATHB–AB association, whereas the MT–AB association did not differ significantly across CR levels. Thus, CR should not be interpreted as having a uniformly buffering role. These findings may inform future multicomponent support approaches aimed at strengthening PSS and MT and identifying and addressing ATHB, while applying CR-related training cautiously and with attention to the specific pathway involved. The effectiveness and boundary conditions of such approaches require longitudinal or experimental testing.