The Mediating Role of Early Maladaptive Schemas in the Relationship Between Mental Toughness and Perceived Parental Attitudes in Athletes

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between perceived parental attitudes, early maladaptive schemas, and athletes’ mental toughness from a Schema Therapy perspective. The sample of the study consists of a total of 325 athletes licensed for at least two years, including 153 female and 172 males, aged between 18 and 30, engaged in individual or team sports. It is benefited from the demographic information form, “Young Schema Questionnaire— Short Form 3,” “Short-form Egna Minnen Barndoms Uppfostran—Child Form (S-EMBU-C),” and “Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire” for collecting the data. The results of the mediation analysis showed that the schemas of failure (R2=0.25, p < .001), and vulnerability to harm/illness (R2=0.109, p < .001) partially mediate the relationship between perceived parental rejection and mental toughness. When the Sobel test was examined, it was found that the vulnerability schema shows a full mediation effect in the relationship between perceived parental overprotection and mental toughness (z = −3.52, p < .001) and failure schema has a partial mediation effect in the relationship between perceived parental emotional warmth and mental toughness (z = 3.84, p < .001). In this respect, it can be expressed that perceived parental attitudes has an effect on the mental toughness of athletes through failure and vulnerability schemas.

Cite this article as: Çelik, E.N., & Karagözoğlu, C. (2025). The mediating role of early maladaptive schemas in the relationship between mental toughness and perceived parental attitudes in athletes. Research in Sports Science, 15, 0050, doi: 10.5152/rss.2025.25050.