The Relationship Among Perceived Pre - competition Coaching Behavior, Parental Support and Competition Anxiety of Physical Education Students: A Case Study of Higher Education Institutions in Chongqing

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to examine the effects of perceived pre-competition coaching behaviors on competition anxiety and pre-competition state among physical education students, to explore the mediating roles of perceived competence and guidance transformation ability in the relationships among coaching behaviors, parental support, competition anxiety, and pre-competition state, and to investigate the moderating effect of parental support styles and the synergistic effect of support consistency between coaches and parents on athletes’ psychological responses. This quantitative and qualitative study employed 346 physical education students aged 18–22 from higher education institutions in Chongqing as research participants, used validated scales including the Coaching Behavior Perception Scale, Parental Support Scale, Perceived Competence Scale, Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2), guidance transformation ability scale, and pre-competition state scale as research instruments, collected quantitative data through three-time-point tracking surveys and qualitative data via semi-structured interviews with 28 typical cases, and analyzed data using SPSS 26.0, AMOS 24.0 for statistical tests and structural equation modeling, and NVivo 12 for grounded theory coding. Major Findings: (1) On the direct effects of pre-competition coaching behaviors, it was found that supportive coaching behaviors significantly reduce cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety and improve pre-competition state, while non-supportive behaviors significantly increase anxiety and impair psychological readiness; (2) on the mediating mechanisms, it was found that perceived competence mediates the links between coaching behaviors, parental support and competition anxiety, and guidance transformation ability mediates the relationship between coaching behaviors and anxiety regulation outcomes; and (3) on the moderating and synergistic effects, it was found that companionate parental support strengthens the positive impacts of supportive coaching, and consistent coach-parent support produces a significant synergistic reinforcement effect on lowering anxiety and optimizing pre-competition state.