The Mechanism Of Mindfulness Affecting Athlete Performance

Purpose:This paper explored the mechanism of how mindfulness impact athletic performance through quantitative research and qualitative research.The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between mindfulness,decentering,experience avoidance,cognitive fusion and athletic performance,and the role of decentering,experience avoidance and cognitive fusion in the influence of mindfulness on athletic performance,and to find the influencing factors of athletic performance in actual competition situations.Method:Totally,515 participants were recruited from different sports who over 12 years old in three cities:Guangzhou,Wuhan,Zhengzhou.Participants were asked to asses the AMQ,DSS,AAQ,CFQ,and VAS combined with objective performance,for three times over a year.The data of cross-sectional and longitudinal study were analyzed by process of SPSS and Mplus respectively.And this paper also discussed the actual performance of athletes in the competition situation by qualitative research,such as decentering,experience avoidance and cognitive fusion.Result:The cross-sectional study found that mindfulness,decentering,experience avoidance,cognitive fusion and athletic performance were correlated in two ways,and decentering,experience avoidance and cognitive fusion mediated the effects of mindfulness on athletic performance,while the parallel mediating effects of decentering and experience avoidance were significant.The longitudinal study found that decentering might predict mindfulness,and mindfulness might predict experience avoidance in a short time.Mindfulness might predict sport performance in a short time,and cognitive fusion might also predict sport performance in a short time.The athletes' athletic performance are more influenced by the athletes' evaluation of themselves and their perception of the situation.Conclusion: Sports performance was impacted by mindfulness,decentering,experienceavoidance and cognitive fusion.The intervention effects of decentering,experience avoidance and cognitive fusion on the influence of mindfulness on athletic performance were slightly different.