Associations Between Parental Expectations and Competitive State Anxiety in Adolescent Tennis Players: Mediation by...

In youth competitive sports, excessive parental expectations are frequently identified as critical external stressors that can impair athlete well-being. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study aimed to investigate specific psychological needs that mediate the relationship between parental expectations and competitive state anxiety, particularly within the context of adolescent tennis players.

A sample of 420 adolescent tennis players participated in this study. Participants completed self-report questionnaires, including the Parental Expectations Questionnaire for parental expectations, the Chinese version of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale for basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and the Chinese version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 for competitive state anxiety. Data were analyzed using regression models and mediation analysis to test the hypothesized relationships.

Parental expectations significantly and positively predicted competitive state anxiety (B = 0.111, p < 0.01). Furthermore, high parental expectations were negatively associated with the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, specifically demonstrating a significant negative prediction of competence satisfaction (β = -0.18, p = 0.005). Mediation analysis revealed that the need for competence significantly and partially mediated the relationship between parental expectations and anxiety (B = 0.019, p < 0.001), whereas the indirect effects of autonomy and relatedness were non-significant.

Findings indicate that parental expectations function both as a direct stressor and a psychological burden that specifically undermines the athlete's sense of competence. These results highlight that in individual competitive sports, the erosion of self-efficacy is the primary psychological conduit linking parental pressure to pre-competitive distress.