Cognitive Tendencies Influencing Decision-Making in Young Footballers and the Role of Psychological Support

Effective decision-making is critical in high-performance sports like football and is heavily influenced by cognitive processes. This study applies Beck's Cognitive Theory to investigate the mechanisms through which automatic thoughts impact decision-making in young footballers, and how psychological support might alter this relationship. The primary objective was to test a model where dysfunctional attitudes mediate this process, and sports psychologist support acts as a moderator. A correlational survey was conducted with 636 actively licensed footballers (18-30 years old) from Turkey. Data were collected using the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), and the Scale of Effective Decision-Making in Sport (SEDMS). A moderated mediation model was employed to analyze the direct, indirect, and conditional effects of the variables. The findings revealed that dysfunctional attitudes partially mediated the negative relationship between automatic thoughts and effective decision-making (indirect effect = -0.043, 95% CI [-0.077, -0.012]), accounting for 16.8% of the total effect. Furthermore, sports psychologist support significantly moderated the direct pathway between automatic thoughts and decision-making (interaction β = 0.312, p = 0.002). Simple slope analysis showed that the detrimental impact of automatic thoughts on decision-making was substantially weaker for athletes who had received psychological support (β = -0.142) compared to those who had not (β = -0.353). Automatic thoughts impair footballers' decision-making, a process that is significantly explained by the activation of underlying dysfunctional attitudes. Professional psychological support serves as a critical cognitive buffer, enhancing athletes' cognitive resilience against these negative thought patterns. The findings provide an evidence-based justification for integrating sport psychologists into athletic programs to foster better on-field performance.