Psychology of Sport and Exercise最新文献

{"title":"Exploring mental health and service access among HBCU Student-Athletes: A mixed-methods study","authors":"Joonyoung Lee ,&nbsp;De’Suan Dixon ,&nbsp;Aaron Goodson ,&nbsp;Duncan Simpson","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103066","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examined the mental health status and barriers to services among student-athletes (SAs) at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) using a convergent mixed-methods design. We collected quantitative data from 205 SAs (<em>M</em>age = 22.36 ± 3.54) across six HBCUs located in the southeastern United States, and qualitative data were obtained through interviews with 19 SAs. Descriptive statistics, correlations, <em>t</em>-tests, and logistic regression were conducted for the quantitative strand, while reflexive thematic analysis was used for the qualitative strand. The two strands were then integrated to identify convergence, divergence, and/or expansion patterns. Quantitative results showed that 59 % (<em>n</em> = 121) of SAs were at risk for clinical depression, and 51 % (<em>n</em> = 104) experienced mild to severe anxiety. Prior mental health service experience was linked to significantly lower depression and anxiety (<em>ds</em> = 0.37–0.57, <em>ps</em> &lt; 0.001), with reductions of 46 % (OR = 0.54) and 54 % (OR = 0.46), respectively. Qualitative findings revealed three core themes: (1) Culturally grounded but inconsistent social support, (2) Stigma and institutional uncertainty limiting trust, and (3) Systemic underfunding and resource disparities reinforcing structural barriers to care. Integrated results showed that cultural belonging and social support partially buffer mental health risks, but stigma, gender norms, and systemic underfunding continue to restrict equitable access to care for HBCU SAs. These results necessitate the creation of interprofessional psychological support teams and culturally responsive, multilevel interventions to reduce mental health disparities among HBCU SAs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103066"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145953498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating bidirectional within- and between-person associations between daily anxiety and physical activity participation","authors":"John B. Garcia ,&nbsp;Zachary Yukio Kerr ,&nbsp;Emily M. Kyaw ,&nbsp;Jimikaye B. Courtney","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103027","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103027","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>This study investigated the bidirectional within- and between-person associations between daily PA participation and anxiety.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A convenience sample of overweight/obese adults (N = 91; Mean age: 30.7 ± 6.5) were recruited from a university in the southeastern U.S. Participants completed a 21-day intensive longitudinal study, wearing the activPAL4 continuously and completing two daily surveys. Participants reported momentary anxiety using three items from the PROMIS during the morning and evening surveys, and self-reported leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and strength training during the evening survey. Multi-level dynamic structural equation models with Bayesian estimation examined the within- and between-person associations between anxiety and PA (device-measured MVPA, leisure-time MVPA, strength training).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>When examining associations between daily PA and evening anxiety, a between-person association indicated that participants with higher average leisure-time MVPA reported lower average evening anxiety (<em>b</em> = -1.60, 95 % Credibility Interval [CrI]: 2.63, −0.54). When examining associations between morning anxiety and PA, a between-person association indicated that greater average morning anxiety was associated with less time spent in leisure-time MVPA (IRR = 0.87, 95 % CrI: 0.79, 0.96). There were no significant within-person associations between daily PA and evening anxiety or morning anxiety and PA. <strong>Conclusions</strong>: Although the findings do not support a bidirectional association between anxiety and PA, they suggest that greater average time spent in leisure-time MVPA may reduce average anxiety and may support greater leisure-time MVPA engagement. Our results highlight the potential for leisure-time MVPA to serve as an adjunctive therapy alongside traditional treatment approaches to support lower overall anxiety levels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103027"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145515310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A randomized controlled trial of school-based exercise on procrastination in high school students: The mediating role of adolescence time management disposition","authors":"Guangxin Li ,&nbsp;Yueming Zhao ,&nbsp;Zhanjia Zhang ,&nbsp;Huanhuan Wei ,&nbsp;Kuo Xu ,&nbsp;Xin Zhang ,&nbsp;Shilun Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103056","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103056","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study explored the effects of different physical training programs on the procrastination behavior and time management ability in male high school students, while investigating the mediating role of time management disposition, to establish school-based exercise interventions for improving adolescent procrastination behavior and time management ability.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Seventy-seven 11th-grade male students were randomly assigned to four groups: traditional training (Group I), strength training (Group II), HIIT training (Group III), and strength + HIIT training (Group IV). At the points before and after the intervention, the General Procrastination Scale (GPS) and Adolescence Time Management Disposition Scale (ATMD) were measured as indicators of the procrastination behavior and time management ability of students in senior high school, and the intervention effects of 12-week different schemes were compared.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>After the intervention, Groups II, III, and IV showed significant reductions in GPS scores, while Group I (traditional training) showed an increase. ATMD scores improved significantly in Groups II, III, and IV, with Group IV demonstrating the largest gains. Similar patterns were observed across ATMD subscales, particularly for sense of time value. Mediation analysis indicated that ATMD partially mediated the effect of physical training on procrastination (ab = 0.547, 95 % CI [0.11, 1.16]), accounting for 25 % of the total effect.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Structured physical training—particularly combined strength + HIIT—effectively reduced procrastination and enhanced time management in adolescents, with time management disposition serving as a partial mediator. These findings highlight the potential of targeted exercise programs to improve procrastination and time management in educational settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103056"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145829555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The association between trait mindfulness and mental fatigue-related neurocognitive function and endurance performance in athletes","authors":"Jui-Ti Nien ,&nbsp;Yan-Fei Weng ,&nbsp;Chueh-Yin Chen ,&nbsp;Yun-Rui Yang ,&nbsp;Wei-Chiun Wu ,&nbsp;Yu-Hsiang Nien ,&nbsp;Yu-Kai Chang","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103037","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103037","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>The present study aims to examine whether trait mindfulness in athletes is associated with impairments in neurocognitive function and endurance performance resulting from mental fatigue.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Ninety athletes aged 18–25 years were recruited and categorized into higher trait mindfulness (HM, <em>n</em> = 27), intermediate trait mindfulness (IM, <em>n</em> = 35), and lower trait mindfulness (LM, <em>n</em> = 28). Participants completed the two sessions using a counterbalanced design, in which the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT) was administered for mental fatigue session (MF; incongruent SCWT) and a control session (CON; congruent SCWT). Following SCWT, behavioral and neuroelectric outcomes of neurocognitive function were measured using Flanker task with electroencephalography recording. Endurance performance outcomes were measured using the graded exercise test (GXT). Task motivation and mood states were assessed as secondary outcome.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>HM showed higher accuracy on incongruent Flanker trials following the SCWT than LM. The HM and IM showed similar time to exhaustion in GXT between MF and CON, whereas LM showed shorter time to exhaustion and increased negative mood states in the MF.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These findings suggest that higher trait mindfulness is associated with better inhibitory control following a prior cognitive task, and less susceptible to mental fatigue-related impairments in endurance performance and mood among athletes, highlighting the value of trait mindfulness under mental fatigue.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103037"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145571864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Memory of affective responses to physical activity (study 1) and a pilot intervention to reduce negative memory bias (study 2) in adults with overweight or obesity","authors":"Kathryn E. Demos-McDermott ,&nbsp;Katrina M. Oselinsky ,&nbsp;Shira I. Dunsiger ,&nbsp;David M. Williams ,&nbsp;Rena R. Wing ,&nbsp;Jessica L. Unick","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103028","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103028","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Automatic, affective processing of exercise can influence exercise behavior. Study 1 compared regular exercisers (≥150 min/wk) and non-exercisers (&lt;30 min/wk) on affective responses, memory of these responses, and anticipated response to future exercise. Study 2 pilot-tested a brief intervention for non-exercisers to improve exercise-related affect and memory bias (i.e., discrepancy between remembered and experienced affect).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>59 weight-loss seeking individuals with overweight/obesity (Age = 47.1 ± 10.3 years; BMI = 32.1 ± 3.3 kg/m²; 79.7 % Female; 91.5 % White) completed two sessions of moderate-intensity walking for 30 min. Participants reported anticipated affect prior to exercise and affective response before, during, and after exercise. On days 1, 3, and 7 following the exercise session, remembered affect was assessed to determine possible memory bias. In Study 2, the non-exercisers were randomly assigned to an affect-based intervention (n = 15) or comparator condition (n = 15) and completed a third exercise session.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In Study 1, negative memory bias was present in both exercisers and non-exercisers, but was greater among non-exercisers (p = 0.04). For both groups, remembered affect more closely resembled post-exercise affect (versus ‘during’; p = 0.001). Exercisers anticipated feeling better during exercise compared to non-exercisers (p = 0.002), with a similar trend for anticipated ‘post-exercise’ affect (p = 0.073). In Study 2, non-exercisers receiving the affect-based intervention demonstrated significantly less memory bias (p = 0.04) and more positive affect post-exercise (p = 0.05). <strong>Conclusions</strong>: Both exercisers and non-exercisers experienced negative memory bias toward prior exercise, which was greater in non-exercisers. A pilot intervention to reduce negative memory bias and improve exercise-related affect among non-exercisers showed promise, warranting further study of these novel intervention targets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103028"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145515355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A multi-disciplinary team perspective of understanding and supporting athlete mental health and illness in elite sport","authors":"Erin Prior,&nbsp;Anthony Papathomas,&nbsp;Daniel Rhind","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103055","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103055","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A multi-disciplinary approach is considered best practice when supporting athlete mental health and illness within elite sport. However, research is yet to explore how multi-disciplinary teams operate in this area. This study explores how multi-disciplinary team staff understand mental health and illness and how they negotiate the interpersonal dynamics and tensions of a multi-disciplinary approach to supporting athletes. We conducted five focus groups with a total of 19 participants across a range of professions, including: sport psychologists (n = 6); coaches (n = 4); physiotherapists (n = 2); performance lifestyle advisors (n = 2); clinical psychologists (n = 2); player care managers (n = 2); and a doctor (n = 1). Eight hours of data were collected, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. We constructed three primary themes: 1) an (over)medicalised understanding of athlete mental health concerns; 2) division within multi-disciplinary teams; and 3) tensions when negotiating confidentiality. Staff showed an over-medicalised understanding of mental health and illness and expressed uncertainty in recognising and supporting sub-clinical mental health concerns. Participants spoke of the divide between coaching staff and science and medicine staff and suggested diverging priorities surrounding mental health and performance. Negotiating confidentiality was a challenge for multi-disciplinary teams, with mental health information guarded by some staff, leaving other staff feeling isolated. However, it was acknowledged that some mental health information must be withheld from coaches due to mental illness stigma. Guidance regarding sub-clinical concerns and the handling of confidential mental health information within multi-disciplinary teams should be developed to encourage effective collaboration within sporting organisations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103055"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145783986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mindfulness during exercise and its effects on affective responses: a systematic review and meta-analysis with implications for exercise behavior","authors":"Jiao Liu ,&nbsp;Wen-Jing Liu ,&nbsp;Yue Qiu ,&nbsp;Zhi-Xiong Mao","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103054","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103054","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Affective experiences play a central role in sustaining exercise participation, and mindfulness-based approaches have been proposed to enhance these experiences by promoting greater awareness and acceptance during physical activity. This review synthesized current evidence on mindfulness-based exercise interventions that intentionally integrated mindfulness into movement (e.g., walking, running) to examine their effects on affective responses and exercise behavior. Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria for the systematic review, and 13 contributed to the meta-analysis. A three-level random-effects model showed a significant positive effect of mindfulness-based exercise interventions on affective responses (<em>g</em> = 0.41, 95 % CI [0.19, 0.63], <em>p</em> &lt; .001). Moderator analyses indicated that baseline PA level significantly influenced outcomes, with greater benefits for highly active (<em>b</em> = 0.51, <em>p</em> &lt; .001) and unspecified samples (<em>b</em> = 0.80, <em>p</em> &lt; .001), whereas other moderators—including exercise intensity, duration, frequency, setting, control group type, and affect type—were not significant. Despite consistent positive effects on affective responses, the overall certainty of evidence was limited by methodological heterogeneity, small and homogeneous samples, and inconsistent operationalization of mindfulness. Most studies lacked preparatory training, manipulation checks, or control of individual differences such as trait mindfulness and prior meditation experience, constraining interpretability and generalizability. Moreover, few studies examined behavioral outcomes, leaving the mindfulness–affect–behavior pathway largely untested. Future research should employ more rigorous, theoretically grounded, and longitudinal designs to clarify how mindfulness shapes affective and behavioral adaptations to exercise.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103054"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145752386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The explore-exploit trade-off in sports and exercise: a primer on empirical and computational approaches","authors":"Katja Rewitz ,&nbsp;Nicolas W. Schuck ,&nbsp;Wanja Wolff","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103036","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103036","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sports and exercise require constant on-the-fly decision-making from professional athletes and recreational exercisers alike. In the final minutes of a game, a team may for instance face the choice of sticking with their current strategy, or surprising the opponents with a new approach. Such decisions can be framed in terms of an exploration-exploitation trade-off: the need to balance exploiting a certain outcome with the potentials and risks that come with trying out something new. The explore-exploit framework has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of decision-making across fields such as cognitive science, behavioral economics, and clinical psychology. However, its potential remains largely untapped in sports and exercise psychology, where it could provide valuable insights into decision-making processes, because in sports and exercise, decisions naturally occur in dynamic, uncertain environments with fluctuating rewards and inherent costs. We propose that integrating standardized computational decision-making paradigms to formally investigate the mechanisms underlying exploration-exploitation decisions in sport contexts is a promising approach for our field. Applying these paradigms can provide novel insights into how athletes and exercisers navigate high-stakes, dynamic environments, identifying the factors that shape exploration-exploitation strategies in athletic performance. These insights might enhance training methodologies, optimize decision-making under pressure, and deepen our understanding of human adaptability in complex environments. Furthermore, studying this trade-off in elite sports presents unique opportunities for basic research, offering a setting for examining the limits of human decision-making and the generalizability of cognitive models to peak performance settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103036"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145574987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A commentary on ‘The ecological dynamics of cognizant action in sport’ by Araújo et al. (2025)","authors":"Oliver R. Runswick","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103031","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103031","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the 25th anniversary issue of <em>Psychology of Sport and Exercise</em>, Araújo et al. (2025) offer a new theory of the ecological dynamics of cognizant action in sport. The approach builds on previous fundamental assumptions of ecological dynamics, where performance is conceptualised as the process of perceiving and acting, thereby avoiding the need for the brain as a mediator. The authors extend concepts of ecological dynamics with an increased focus on the intentionality of this process and the role of the performer's skill, suggesting that a skilled performer is someone who tends to consistently achieve the goal of a given task in a specific socio-cultural setting, and ‘performance’ is the process of perceiving and acting guided by intentionality that leads to a movement that achieves this skill under a given set of constraints. In this commentary, I aim to provide a concise summary of my understanding of what this theory of cognizant action adds to previous approaches, discuss the fundamental differences between this approach and others in the field, and how, despite these differences, it offers similar methodological implications. I offer some thoughts on how new technologies could be utilised to achieve these methodological goals and ultimately argue that theoretical debate and diverse perspectives may be a sign of a healthy field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103031"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145530992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Competitive sport experience is associated with reduced off-field aggression and distinct functional brain connectivity","authors":"Yujing Huang ,&nbsp;Zhuofei Lin ,&nbsp;Chenglin Zhou ,&nbsp;Yingying Wang ,&nbsp;Mengkai Luan","doi":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103051","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103051","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>While aggression has been widely studied in clinical and forensic contexts, its expression in healthy individuals, particularly athletes, is less well understood. Competitive sport experience may be linked to trait aggression through experience-related changes in large-scale brain networks, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study aimed to examine whether long-term engagement in competitive athletics is associated with intrinsic functional connectivity related to trait aggression, focusing on off-field behaviors.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We combined group- and individual-level analyses to examine neural correlates of trait aggression in 84 athletes and 106 non-athletes. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) was assessed using Network-Based Statistics (NBS) for group differences and Connectome-Based Predictive Modeling (CPM) to predict aggression traits from AQ-CV scores.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Athletes scored lower on total aggression and four of the five subscales. NBS identified a widespread subnetwork of stronger connectivity in athletes, spanning nine brain networks. CPM revealed that total and physical aggression were predicted by distributed RSFC patterns, primarily negative associations across prefrontal, motor, and subcortical regions. Self-directed aggression was predicted by a smaller, more selective network. Notably, four overlapping edges linked NBS and CPM findings, connecting group-level differences to individual aggression variability.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Our findings suggest that competitive sport experience is associated with distinct functional integration across brain systems involved in emotion regulation and motor control, which may underlie athletes’ reduced off-field aggression. This work provides novel insights into the neural basis of aggression in non-clinical populations and highlights the value of combining multilevel connectivity analyses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54536,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Sport and Exercise","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 103051"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145672991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}