The interplay between perfectionism, perceived stress, and self-confidence in competitive athletes: indirect pathways and total unique effects.
- 1Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
- 2Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Sport - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract
Background
Although perfectionistic strivings and concerns show distinct associations with athletes' psychological functioning, no study has estimated their total unique effects on perceived stress and self-confidence. Moreover, it remains untested whether perceived stress serves as a pathway linking perfectionism to athletes' self-confidence. We aimed to a) estimate the total unique effects of perfectionism on perceived stress and self-confidence, and b) test the indirect effects of both perfectionism dimensions on self-confidence via perceived stress.Participants and procedure
A total of 214 Polish athletes (98 female, 116 male; age range 14-30; M = 18.94, SD = 2.90) from individual and team sports, competing at diverse sport levels, completed online questionnaires assessing perfectionism, perceived stress, and self-confidence. Total unique effects were estimated and path analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling with bootstrapped confidence intervals.Results
Total unique effects of perfectionism were relatively large for perceived stress and small to medium for self-confidence. Perfectionistic concerns positively predicted perceived stress and negatively predicted self-confidence, whereas perfectionistic strivings showed no significant effect on stress and positively predicted confidence. The indirect effect of perfectionistic concerns on self-confidence via perceived stress was significant (B = -0.15, 95% CI [-0.289, -0.053]). Perfectionistic strivings showed no indirect effect (B = -0.01, 95% CI [-0.097, 0.053]).Conclusions
The findings suggest perceived stress as a potential pathway linking perfectionistic concerns to reduced self-confidence, contributing 21% of its total effect. Perfectionistic strivings appear to enhance confidence independently of perceived stress. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm the direction and stability of these pathways.
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BibTeX
@article{mazur2026interplay,
title = {{The interplay between perfectionism, perceived stress, and self-confidence in competitive athletes: indirect pathways and total unique effects.}},
author = {Weronika A Mazur and Wojciech Waleriańczyk and Julia Karbowska and Bogdan Zawadzki},
journal = {Current issues in personality psychology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.5114/cipp/222282},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42959561},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The interplay between perfectionism, perceived stress, and self-confidence in competitive athletes: indirect pathways and total unique effects.
AU - Weronika A Mazur
AU - Wojciech Waleriańczyk
AU - Julia Karbowska
AU - Bogdan Zawadzki
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/05
JO - Current issues in personality psychology
DO - 10.5114/cipp/222282
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42959561
AB - Background Although perfectionistic strivings and concerns show distinct associations with athletes' psychological functioning, no study has estimated their total unique effects on perceived stress and self-confidence. Moreover, it remains untested whether perceived stress serves as a pathway linking perfectionism to athletes' self-confidence. We aimed to a) estimate the total unique effects of perfectionism on perceived stress and self-confidence, and b) test the indirect effects of both perfectionism dimensions on self-confidence via perceived stress.Participants and procedure A total of 214 Polish athletes (98 female, 116 male; age range 14-30; M = 18.94, SD = 2.90) from individual and team sports, competing at diverse sport levels, completed online questionnaires assessing perfectionism, perceived stress, and self-confidence. Total unique effects were estimated and path analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling with bootstrapped confidence intervals.Results Total unique effects of perfectionism were relatively large for perceived stress and small to medium for self-confidence. Perfectionistic concerns positively predicted perceived stress and negatively predicted self-confidence, whereas perfectionistic strivings showed no significant effect on stress and positively predicted confidence. The indirect effect of perfectionistic concerns on self-confidence via perceived stress was significant (B = -0.15, 95% CI [-0.289, -0.053]). Perfectionistic strivings showed no indirect effect (B = -0.01, 95% CI [-0.097, 0.053]).Conclusions The findings suggest perceived stress as a potential pathway linking perfectionistic concerns to reduced self-confidence, contributing 21% of its total effect. Perfectionistic strivings appear to enhance confidence independently of perceived stress. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm the direction and stability of these pathways.
SN - 2353-4192
SN - 2353-561X
ER -