Effect of boxers’ social support on mental fatigue: Chain mediating effects of coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Athletic fatigue is an inescapable issue in competitive sports. It belongs to a physiological response that is triggered when competitive athletes are trained to a critical point.

OBJECTIVE:

The study aims to explore the relationships involving boxers’ social support, mental fatigue, coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience.

METHODS:

1050 boxers were selected in several provinces across China and investigated on the basis of the Social Support Questionnaire for Athletes, Mental Fatigue Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, and Leadership Scale for Sport.

RESULTS:

Boxers’ social support was negatively correlated with mental fatigue and psychological resilience, while it was positively correlated with coach leadership behaviors. Apart from direct effects on mental fatigue, other impacts are imposed by boxers’ social support via mediating effects such as coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience. The total effect value was -0.18, the direct effect value was -0.08, and the indirect effect value was -0.12; furthermore, coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience play a mediating role, accounting for 65.57% of the total.

CONCLUSION:

In order to alleviate the stress from intense competitive training and abate mental fatigue, competitive athletes may be encouraged in subsequent training to seek all-sided social support for social interpersonal relationships. While clarifying the mechanism how the external environment affects individuals, this paper explains the principle of social support on athletes’ psychological fatigue and identifies mutual influences between coaches and athletes.

Keywords

Internal mechanism investigation mental fatigue social support training environment

1 Introduction

Athletic fatigue is an inescapable issue pertaining competitive sports, and belongs to a physiological response that is triggered when competitive athletes are trained to a critical point [1]. However, a series of adverse reactions will be incurred if prompt refreshment does not come after exercise fatigue [2]. Declining psychological bearing capacity [3], mood disorder, and mental disorders are major carriers in this regard [4]. More serious cases lie in sleep disorders and declining training achievements [5]. Even a bit of discomfort may cause inner collapse of an athlete.

According to scholars, fatigue and refreshment should be prevalent, while competition behind training is determined by fatigue and refreshment that athletes encounter [6]. Since the introduction of technology, athletic training methods were reformed, ascending global strength in competitive sports. Athletes and coaches are consequently stricken by the unprecedented pressure. Hence, sports mental fatigue stems from a number of sports trainings that bitterly cross bottom lines of athletes in terms of physiology [7]. As a confrontational sport, boxing was born with sports mental fatigue caused by repeated exertion, high intensity, long exercise time, and excessive load [8]. Boxers exposed to high-pressure training for a long time are prone to suffer the long-standing negative stress; under internal discomfort and emotional fluctuations [9] (causes of severe physical and psychological trauma [10]), together with the external environment of strangeness and helplessness, athletes easily present adverse reactions such as resistance [11, 12] and depression [13, 14]. In turn, negative impacts are cast upon athletes and members of the training team [15], followed by declination and slight environmental disorder. Therefore, it is necessary and conducive to carry out profound discussion, for the purpose of a warm external environment, a good training cycle, and the healthy development of adult athletes.

Current research is mainly focused on such aspects as boxing athlete’s social support, competitive state and industrial development. Notwithstanding, an individual engaged in competition and training is prone to be whipped by emotional disorders, due to scarcity of concentration on psychological resilience and characteristics of social support. Thus, instability and volatility in performance is triggered, which imposes serious detriments to the healthy development of an athlete. For the sake of joint safeguard and assistance in the healthy development of athletes, it is therefore urgent to examine the psychological characteristics from the perspective of social support, psychological concerns, and coaching. This also represents a major concern across today’s international scholars. It is of great significance to re-examine the development of athletes from the perspective of psychological characteristics [16 –18]. Regarding deficiencies in current research based on the method of regulation and single mediation, the relationships between variables, rather than the fourth variables, are elaborated therein due to a different demographic. Thus, the penetration into the fourth variables is of necessity to observe the internal formation mechanism, and avoid impacts imposed by individual variables and factors like internal control upon the outcome of the variables and mechanism. In order to explore the mechanism between leadership behavior and psychological fatigue [19, 20], it is recommended to tentatively scrutinize and investigate the variables concerning psychological resilience and human resource management of coaches, distinguish the internal associations of adjacent variables, and further seek references and empirical results in this regard.

The mental fatigue of competitive athletes is an important issue that greatly challenges the development of sports training in the new era. It has become a significant mission for scholars in the field of sports science to explore the inducing mechanisms of mental fatigue in athletes, monitoring means, and intervention measures.

Sports fatigue was put forward by Edwards in 1982. When the body energy substance drops to a critical point, the excitability will collapse suddenly, thus causing an abrupt drop in the output power of the body. Before the cells are damaged, fatigue occurs and plays a protective role by forcibly stopping the movement [21].

Exercise-induced fatigue (EF) is a reduction in maximal voluntary muscle force that results from intense and prolonged exercise [22]. EF is a complex phenomenon influenced by both peripheral and central factors, only that the peripheral changes in muscle is not the sole cause. The inability of the central nervous system to drive skeletal muscle effectively also plays a role in the occurrence of EF, which is known as “central fatigue” [23, 24].

As an essential concept in sociological research, social support has been constantly discussed across the academic community since introduced into China in the 1970 s [20]. Social support belongs to the external support acquired from such units as individuals, groups and organizations [25]. It refers to the interchange of resources that occurs within a specified social group [26] and reflects the social civilization development and relational linkage [27].

In addition to sufficiency in physical fitness and tactics, good emotion control ability, strong fortitude, and control ability are also qualifications that a boxer should be endowed with [28]. The long-term exposure in closed training enables the boxer to frequently contact with surrounding friends, teammates, parents, and coaches, rather than social groups around him or her. How social support is given by people around is one of the major influencing factors for the psychological quality of the boxer [29].

As demonstrated in previous studies, social support for athletes is so negatively correlated with mental fatigue that the latter could be predicted effectively for athletes [30]. In the event of the poor group cohesion and less social support, athletes are prone to psychological vulnerability, mental fatigue, and a short-term recession in athletic performance [31]. Teammate support and public expectation make all the difference to the best performance of an athlete. The social support given by others to athletes determines the long-term growth of psychological resilience [32]. In today’s China, the academic research on social support for competitive athletes are mainly targeted at retired athletes and those players engaged in basketball, table tennis and volleyball. In contrast, few studies examine boxers. A hot issue in sports psychology goes as social support could, to some extent, predict mental fatigue of athletes. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed in this paper which, based on existing studies, further explore the relationship between social support for boxers and mental fatigue, and discloses the inducing mechanism in this regard:

H1: Boxers’ social support imposes effects upon mental fatigue

Psychological resilience is the psychological quality of athletes under stress, that is, persistence in self-confidence, concentration and motivation. It refers to a set involving values, attitudes, emotions, and cognition [33]. Scholars contend that athlete psychological resilience reflects the positively-related psychological states such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, perfectionism, concentration, motivation, and sense of control [34].

First, social support may cast influences upon psychological resilience. While analyzing the relationship between social support/psychological resilience and suicidal ideation, Han Li concluded that social support positively correlates with and predicts psychological resilience [35]. Social support has a positive effect on psychological resilience: the grasp of social support and self-dignity by individuals at higher levels projects stronger psychological resilience and bigger probabilities of positive responses to danger and frustration. Judging from above, social support could positively predict psychological resilience [36]. Second, psychological resilience may impose impacts upon mental fatigue [37]. The results of Wang’s study show that psychological resilience is positively correlated with positive emotions, while negatively with mental fatigue on a significant basis [38]. In terms of kinesiology, few studies focus on the relationship among psychological resilience, social support, and mental fatigue for athletes, although most research is based on coaches’ supportive behaviors, inducing factors, and assessment methods [39]. Therefore, based on previous studies, this paper further expands and scrutinizes the role of boxers’ psychological resilience in the relationship between social support and mental fatigue. The hypothesis is put forward as follows:

H2: Psychological resilience plays a mediating role in effects of boxers’ social support on mental fatigue

On the other hand, coach leadership behaviors may be one of main influencing factors to mental fatigue. Coach leadership behaviors, divided into authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire, refer to various behaviors of coaches during their verbal or behavioral influences upon athletes [40].

As a major influencing factor of athlete’s mental fatigue, coach leadership behaviors are correlated with psychological needs, psychological resilience, positive and negative emotions, and athletic performance of athletes [41]. The relationship between coach leadership behaviors and mental fatigue/psychological resilience is discussed less in China; it was found in existing research that variables related to the three perspectives of coaches’ empowerment, service, and vision (e.g. respect to subordinates, approachability, pioneering, devotion) are all dimensions to be constructed for coaches’ leadership behaviors [42]. In case of insufficient parental companionship and interaction with families and friends, the athletes will receive lower social support, and become prone to psychological inferiority and silence. Thus, they will be encountered with poor communication, and psychological gap and cognitive bias in respect of excellent athletes. In turn, they are more likely to face up failure in daily training and competitive games, suffering symptoms like mental fatigue and anxiety [43]. Scholars in China and beyond pay little attention to coach leadership behaviors, mental fatigue, and social support, only that most of them probe into single linear variables with scarcity in scrutiny about the relationship involving the three variables [44]. Therefore, the following hypothesis is put forward in this paper which attempts to further penetrate into the relationship between coach leadership behaviors and social support/mental fatigue.

H3: Coach leadership behaviors play a mediating role in the effects of boxers’ social support on mental fatigue

Psychological resilience is impacted by coach leadership behaviors. As an extension based on athletes’ psychological needs, coaches’ leadership style significantly plays a mediating role in psychological resilience [45]. It casts effects by influencing the central path of psychological resilience via athletes’ psychological needs and acts on emotional expression and athletic behaviors of athletes [46]. Authoritarian leadership behavior imposes adverse psychological effects on athletes, resulting in problems such as inferiority and psychological depression. Thus, a drastic reduction in psychological resilience is incurred. Likewise, athletes under laissez-faire leadership tend to present arrogance, pride, and other indulgent behaviors. Given that few studies in China have been performed with respect to the relationship between coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience, other variables are to be applied into further research. Therefore, the following hypothesis is posed in this paper to further investigate the relationship among coach leadership behavior, psychological resilience, social support, and mental fatigue.

H4: Coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience play a chain mediating role in the relationship between boxers’ social support and mental fatigue

This paper attempts to investigate and analyze the internal mechanism concerning the effects of boxers’ social support upon psychological fatigue. In turn, the internal mechanism of athlete’s psychological fatigue could be further discussed, and thus, the effects of uncontrollable variables outside the field are eliminated. Undoubtedly, the benefits to improvement in the competitiveness of athletes are generated; next, it plays an important role in the control over daily training assignments designed by coaches. That is, it explores the mediating effects of psychological resilience in social support and fatigue mechanisms, while clarifying the significance and role of inter-variables; moreover, investigation into leadership behaviors could be examined and distinguished via the main role of coaches. Changes in original coaching styles, in essence, make all the difference to subsequent training insomuch that management of monotony and strictness could be avoided. In one word, the mood of athletes is impacted therefrom; with regard to coach leadership styles and psychological resilience of athletes, the intermediate mechanism of the interaction between the two is an important issue in the current internal adjustment mechanism of training. As a major topic that cannot be ignored, it also provides an important mechanism to clarify psychological characteristics and emotional fluctuations. Therefore, attempts to scrutinize and solve research problems play a role of great significance and value to boxers in terms of mental health and performance stability.

This paper aims to explore the impact of boxers’ social support on mental fatigue, and discuss the internal mechanism in this regard. Furthermore, it holistically examines coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience in dimensions of partial mediating effects and chain mediating effects on the relationship between boxers’ social support and mental fatigue. The hypothetical model is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Hypothetical model.

2 Participants and methodology

2.1 Research process

This research was selected by topic group. The first step comprised group discussion and expert teleconference concerning topic selection, initial topic construction, content conception, research subjects and survey time. In order to avoid monotonous questionnaires, the domestic experts on physical exercise psychology were invited to discuss selection of demographic variables, while staff were dispatched by general administration of sport to check and set up restrictions on items and time periods. Both lack of information and problem-based errors came to the fore, mainly involving psychology, emotion, sleep, and interpersonal relationships between athletes and coaches in daily training. Given that local competent departments provide assistance in the administration, the participants were invited to the leaders of sport bureaus in the fourth step, so as to keep data away from omission of participant information; the fifth step consisted of the collection and collation of data. In this step, questionnaire information was eliminated and discriminated to prevent intake of useless and wrong information, and clean the overall data quality. SPSS software was employed for descriptive analysis and process package was used to test the mediating effect. English teachers polished the notes and amendments thereof.

2.2 Participants

For this study, athletes were selected from some provincial boxing teams in China, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Jiangxi. Random sampling on WeChat was adopted in combination with snowball measurement. The questionnaire should be filled in between 120s-600s to effectively collect data. The questionnaire would be threatened by challenges without contributions from the director and staff at the Boxing Management Center of General Administration of Sport of China. The questionnaire complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and respects personal privacy and free will of individuals. The data were collected twice through centralized tests in 2021: middle April and late May. The designed questionnaire was acknowledged and agreed by the boxing team of the State General Administration of Sport. Before the test, consent of participants was obtained, and explanations about the questionnaire were provided to participants in company with reminders on anonymous filling. Given the voluntary participation in this study, all participants were allowed to refuse answering or withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. The records of this study were kept confidential and used for scientific research. The questionnaire was completed within 3 to 8 minutes, and the data were collected electronically. In total 1050 copies of the questionnaire were distributed electronically, and 924 valid ones were collected with an effective rate at 88.0%. In these valid copies, 658 were completed by male (71.21%) and 266 by female athletes (28.78%), all of whom were aged between 15 and 28.

2.3 Research questionnaires

2.3.1 Social Support Questionnaire for Athletes (SSQA)

The Social Support Questionnaire for Athletes (SSQA) developed by Du Wenya was adopted [47]. The questionnaire comprises 24 items in five dimensions: coach support, family support, peer support, organizational support, and government public opinion support. The questionnaire is coupled with Likert 5-point Scale-“utterly inconsistent, inconsistent, unsure, consistent and utterly consistent”. Each dimension respectively shows Cronbach’s coefficient between 0.7 and 0.93. This questionnaire has overall Cronbach’s α at 0.931.

2.3.2 Mental Fatigue Scale for Athletes

The Mental Fatigue Scale for Athletes was adopted. It comprises 15 items in three dimensions: emotional/physical exhaustion, declining sense of self-achievement, and negative evaluation of sports. It was evaluated and scored with reference to Likert 5-point Scale-“never, seldom, sometimes, often, and always” [48]. Each dimension respectively shows Cronbach’s coefficient between 0.70 and 0.94. This questionnaire has overall Cronbach’s α at 0.922.

2.3.3 Psychological Resilience Scale

The Psychological Resilience Scale developed by Zhao et al. was adopted. It comprises 25 items in four dimensions: diligence, perseverance, emotional control, and positive cognition [49]. It was evaluated and scored with reference to Likert 5-point Scale-“very inconsistent, inconsistent, unsure, consistent and very consistent”. Each dimension respectively shows Cronbach’s coefficient between 0.70 and 0.82. This questionnaire has overall Cronbach’s α at 0.819.

2.3.4 Coach Leadership Behavior Scale

The Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS) developed by Zhou et al. was used. It comprises 33 items in 5 dimensions: training and tutoring behavior, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, caring behavior, and reward behavior. It was evaluated and scored with reference to Likert 5-point Scale-“very inconsistent, inconsistent, unsure, consistent, and very consistent”. Each dimension respectively shows Cronbach’s coefficient is between 0.70 and 0.822. This questionnaire has overall Cronbach’s α at 0.821 [50].

2.4 Data processing

The Bootstrap method was used to analyze the data in terms of mediating effects. The add-in of SPSS 25.0 was employed for measurement of the mediating model [51].

3 Results

3.1 Common method variance test

Since all research data were filled out electronically via WeChat, the common method bias may be thereby incurred. Therefore, the single-factor test was employed for further improvement in this science-based and rigorous study [52]. As summary was concluded on a single-factor basis in social support for athletes, mental fatigue, psychological resilience, and coach leadership behaviors, in total 13 factors were generated, in which the first factor explained the variance variation (25.10%, below the threshold 40%). Thus, the model shows goodness of fit with all normative indicators. That is, no serious common method bias is embedded in the data collection.

3.2 Descriptive analysis of variables

Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was used to analyze the interrelationship among the four variables. The coefficient matrix is shown in Table 1. Social support for athletes was negatively correlated with mental fatigue and psychological resilience, while positively with coach leadership behaviors; the negative correlation significantly lies between mental fatigue/coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience.

Table 1
Correlation coefficients

Mean Gender Age Social Support Mental Fatigue Psychological Resilience Coaches’ Behaviors Leadership

Gender 1.37±0.48 1

Age 20.68±4.54 –0.03 1

Social Support 20.94±2.44 –0.133* –0.074 1

Mental Fatigue 9.98±3.71 –0.084 0.056 –0.113 1

Psychological Resilience 10.18±3.86 –0.035 0.006 –0.174 –0.612** 1

Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors 19.86±3.77 –0.121* –0.079 0.393 –0.243 –0.08** 1

	Mean	Gender	Age	Social Support	Mental Fatigue	Psychological Resilience	Coaches’ Behaviors Leadership
Gender	1.37±0.48	1
Age	20.68±4.54	–0.03	1
Social Support	20.94±2.44	–0.133*	–0.074	1
Mental Fatigue	9.98±3.71	–0.084	0.056	–0.113**	1
Psychological Resilience	10.18±3.86	–0.035	0.006	–0.174**	–0.612**	1
Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors	19.86±3.77	–0.121*	–0.079	0.393**	–0.243**	–0.08**	1

Note: * p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01.

3.3 Model test

Based on the mediating effect test and its process proposed by Mo et al., PROCESS (the SPSS add-in) was used to test the mediating effects of coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience upon the relationship between boxers’ social support and mental fatigue [53]. As indicated from the results in Table 2, social support significantly presents negative prediction about coach leadership behaviors (β=-0.17, p < 0.001); when social support was used concomitantly with coach leadership behaviors to predict psychological resilience, social support presented positive prediction (β=0.13, p < 0.05; β=-0.08, p < 0.001); when social support, coach leadership behaviors, and psychological resilience were simultaneously applied to predict mental fatigue, social support showed negative prediction (β=-0.05, p < 0.05), disclosing the positive prediction unveiled by coach leadership behaviors (β=-0.24, p < 0.01) and psychological resilience (β=0.32, p < 0.001).

Table 2
Regression coefficient equations for model variables

Regression Equation Overall Fit Index Significance of Regression Coefficient

Result variables Predictive variables R₂ Adjusted R₂ F ^∗ β ^∗ T ^∗

Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors Age 0.03 0.02 3.49 –0.01 –0.17

Gender –0.06 –1.15

Social Support –0.17 –3.15***

Psychological Resilience Age 0.28 0.27 31.48 0.02 0.3

Gender –0.08 –1.56

Social Support 0.13 2.61*

Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors –0.08 8.79***

Mental Fatigue Age 0.45 0.44 51.84 0.05 1.07

Gender –0.04 –1.01

Social Support –0.05 –1.23*

Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors –0.24 8.82

Psychological Resilience 0.32 6.40*

Regression Equation	Overall Fit Index	Significance of Regression Coefficient
Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors	Age	0.03	0.02	3.49	–0.01	–0.17
	Gender				–0.06	–1.15
	Social Support				–0.17	–3.15***
Psychological Resilience	Age	0.28	0.27	31.48	0.02	0.3
	Gender				–0.08	–1.56
	Social Support				0.13	2.61*
	Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors				–0.08	8.79***
Mental Fatigue	Age	0.45	0.44	51.84	0.05	1.07
	Gender				–0.04	–1.01
	Social Support				–0.05	–1.23*
	Coaches’ Leadership Behaviors				–0.24	8.82**
	Psychological Resilience				0.32	6.40***

Note: The variables in the model were standardized and brought into the regression equation. *p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.

3.4 Mediating effect test

The analysis results of mediating effects were shown in Table 3. Value 0 is excluded from the confidence interval (Bootstrap 95%) of the total effect generated by boxers’ social support and mental fatigue. In turn, it uncovers the significant direct effect of boxers’ social support on mental fatigue (normative effect value -0.08, 43.72% of the total effect). Thus, Hypothesis H1 was supported. Value 0 is excluded from the confidence interval (Bootstrap 95%) of the total indirect effect of coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience. Thus, these two variables were proved to cast significant mediating effects between social support and psychological resilience. The total mediating effect value was 1, consisting of three indirect effects: boxers’ social support ⇒ coach leadership behaviors ⇒ mental fatigue. The confidence interval did not contain value 0, indicating that coach leadership behaviors significantly played a mediating role between social support for athletes and mental fatigue (normative effect value -0.02, 10.93% of the total effect). In turn, Hypothesis H3 was supported. The mediating effect composed of “social support for athletes ⇒ psychological resilience ⇒ mental fatigue” showed its effect value 1, but its confidence interval did not contain value 0. Thus, psychological resilience was demonstrated to play a significant mediating role between social support for athletes and mental fatigue (normative effect value -0.06, 32.79% of the total effect). consequently, Hypothesis H2 was supported. The mediating effect comprising “social support for athletes ⇒ coach leadership behaviors ⇒ psychological resilience ⇒ mental fatigue” showed its effect value 1, but its confidence interval did not contain value 0. Thus, coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience were manifested to significantly impose chain mediating effects between social support for athletes and mental fatigue (normative effect value -0.05, 27.32% of the total effect). Therefore, Hypothesis H4 was supported. Given that social support for athletes significantly presented direct prediction about mental fatigue, coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience partially played a mediating role between social support for athletes and mental fatigue.

Table 3
Effect value test

Impact Path Effect LLCI Upper Limit ULCI Lower Limit Effect Size (%)

1. Social support for athletes ⇒ mental fatigue –0.08 –0.21 –0.05 43.72

2. Social support for athlete ⇒ coaches’ leadership behavior ⇒ mental fatigue –0.02 –0.16 –0.04 10.93

3. Social support for athletes⇒ psychological resilience ⇒ mental fatigue –0.06 0.01 0.05 32.79

4. Social support for athletes ⇒ coaches’ leadership behavior ⇒ psychological resilience ⇒ mental fatigue –0.05 –0.03 –0.01 27.32

5. Total indirect effect of social support for athletes’ social support on mental fatigue –0.12 0.03 0.21 65.57

6. The total effect of social support for athletes on mental fatigue –0.18 – – –

Impact Path	Effect	LLCI Upper Limit	ULCI Lower Limit	Effect Size (%)
1. Social support for athletes ⇒ mental fatigue	–0.08	–0.21	–0.05	43.72
2. Social support for athlete ⇒ coaches’ leadership behavior ⇒ mental fatigue	–0.02	–0.16	–0.04	10.93
3. Social support for athletes⇒ psychological resilience ⇒ mental fatigue	–0.06	0.01	0.05	32.79
4. Social support for athletes ⇒ coaches’ leadership behavior ⇒ psychological resilience ⇒ mental fatigue	–0.05	–0.03	–0.01	27.32
5. Total indirect effect of social support for athletes’ social support on mental fatigue	–0.12	0.03	0.21	65.57
6. The total effect of social support for athletes on mental fatigue	–0.18	–	–	–

Note: Boot standard error, LLCI upper limit and ULCI lower limit are the standard error of 95% confidence interval respectively, and all values are reserved to three decimal places.

The corresponding effect values were elaborated above. Judging from the analysis of effect values in Table 3, social support for athletes imposes effects on mental fatigue with the total effect value -0.18, the direct effect value -0.08, and the indirect effect value -0.12. Coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience played a mediating role, accounting for 65.57% of the total effect. The hypothetical model with path coefficient is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

Hypothetical model with path coefficient.

4 Discussion

4.1 Social support for athletes and mental fatigue

In this paper, it is assumed that social support for athletes significantly presents negative correlation with psychological fatigue, reference collection, and literature review. To find the relevant empirical results, supplement through questionnaire survey and distribution by team members, it was found in the data analysis that social support significantly presents negative correlation with psychological fatigue. Eventually, the study results echo the hypothesis.

Currently, there is a paucity of research on boxers’ social support and mental fatigue. Existing studies mainly focus on students to verify their response styles [54], gratitude and pro-social behaviors [55]. In contrast, the studies targeted at athletes are mainly concerned with their response styles and the inducing mechanism of influencing factors. This study, based on boxers and psychological characteristics of adolescents, further clarifies the relevance between social support for adolescent athletes and mental fatigue.

Previous relevant results show that social support for athletes significantly present its negative correlation with mental fatigue. In other words, the higher social support for athletes is less likely to stimulate mental fatigue [56].

As elicited from the regression analysis in this study, social support significantly displays the negative prediction about mental fatigue. That is, if a boxer is socially supported by coaches, teammates, parents and policies during daily training and competition, he or she will be more likely to suffer mental fatigue late or even relieve from it. This coincides with results of theoretical research on competitive psychology. Therefore, for the design of boxing training plans, training programs and periodic training programs, it is necessary to: 1) innovate training cycles and training methods based on the characteristics and laws of adolescent sports psychology; 2) proactively adopt training methods for mutual improvement in psychological health and competition strength, helping athletes develop trust, affection and cognitive outlook. In addition, coaches should: 1) create a relaxing and pleasant training environment based on the characteristics of the training cycle, 2) adapt arrangements to the training cycle of athletes, 3) set up feasible and challenging goals to imbue athletes with stronger aspiration and motivation for success, thus improving comprehensive quality and competition strength of an athlete in all respects. The concern of social support, superior to the traditional parenting mode and cultivation mode, may eliminate inner loneliness and psychological discomfort of athletes; also, it may further resolve discomfort and anxiety, anxiety, depression, and breakdown caused by internal emotional disorders.

From the perspective of psychological instructions, feedback and relief should be launched positively on a simultaneous basis, in order to provide boxers with correct guidance on responses to professional training, interpersonal relationships and social issues. Thus, athletes could be enabled to address various psychological stresses and setbacks arising from training, and in turn, achieve self-improvement professionally, emotionally, socially and mentally.

4.2 Coach leadership behaviors and mental fatigue of athletes

According to Hypothesis 2, the negative relationship significantly lies between coach leadership behaviors and athlete mental fatigue of athletes. Through the questionnaire survey and data analysis processing of the subject group, the internal specific relationships were comprehensively listed. Judging from the results, leadership behaviors could significantly but negatively predict sports fatigue. Hence, Hypothesis 2 is verified.

The research on the relationship between coach leadership behaviors and athlete mental fatigue of athletes has been previously carried out. Based on most experimental results, coach leadership behaviors may positively affect and intervene in occurrence of athlete’s mental fatigue. Thus, some references for scientific research are generated therefrom. As proposed in some research on badminton players, mindfulness-based practice is a recommended form of coach leadership behaviors to enhance athletes in external fatigue resistance and psychological resilience for the purpose of professional achievements. Meanwhile, other studies on management contended that leadership decision-making behaviors could positively influence job deviation behaviors of employees and enhance their psychological resilience. Based on the analysis above, the negative correlation between leadership behaviors and mental fatigue is verified. The effects of leadership behaviors on mental fatigue of athletes and employees are respectively discussed by scholars from respective research interests. That is, leadership behaviors were negatively correlated with mental fatigue of athletes. As manifested in results of this study, coach leadership behaviors significantly but negatively predict mental fatigue of athletes. Hence, it is established that the effects of coach leadership behaviors on athlete’s mental fatigue during training may partially stem from coach’s experience, positive probation of leadership behaviors, and athletes’ comprehension of social support. When designing training plans, therefore, boxing team coaches should take into account contingent psychological guidance in the event of athlete’s mental fatigue. Moreover, coaches are required to regularly provide psychological instructions and psychological resilience monitoring, and carry out psychological fatigue evaluation via questionnaires for the positive guidance and probation. In turn, the systematic training framework will be fully optimized for a scientific foundation to be laid for improved sports performance [57].

4.3 Coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience of athletes

According to Hypothesis 3, coach leadership behaviors significantly show negative correlation with psychological resilience of athletes. After athlete questionnaires are distributed to and collected from team members, the statistics are translated into data for processing. According to the results, leadership behaviors may significantly present negative prediction about psychological resilience of athletes. Thus, Hypothesis 3 is verified and consistent with the literature review.

The results showed that the positive correlation lies between coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience of athletes. This also coincides with the results of previous studies on the impact of independent support on psychological resilience. Furthermore, it is established that coach leadership behaviors impose positive traction on mental fatigue of volleyball players [58]. In this study, the leadership behaviors of boxing coaches are proved to play a significant role in developing psychological resilience of athletes, showing positively correlated with the latter. According to some scholars, psychological resilience of athletes is the key to the victory of competition. Without coach leadership behaviors, the decision-making, self-confidence, and long-standing concentration would not be manifested from individuals under stress [59]. As concluded in some studies, athletes with low psychological resilience are unable to overcome arduous training, let alone the high intensity of psychological resilience coming along. In contrast, strong psychological resilience bestows upon athletes a wide range of positive affections and positive emotions for adjustment to conquer adversity. This serves as training ideas and references for this study [60]. According to this study and previous research on the impact of coach leadership behaviors upon athlete psychological resilience, the coach is required to proactively adapt training plans to the initial state of athletes’ psychological resilience, and combine them with effective science-based psychological intervention schemes; also, the coach should carry out psychological resilience evaluation on a regular basis and take tailored intervention measures, in order to effectively develop stronger psychological resilience of athletes, and comprehensively push up their competition strength. Thus, a scientific foundation will be laid for better performance in competition.

4.4 Mediating role of psychological resilience and coach leadership behaviors

Based on the literature review and those hypotheses in previous research, Hypothesis 4 goes as psychological resilience and leadership behaviors are major intermediate variables that affect the independent variable (social support) and dependent variable (psychological fatigue). After group discussion and research on the questionnaire, the participants with low correlation coefficients from systematic errors are eliminated before questionnaire implementation and data processing. As indicated in the results of the latter, two mediation variables may also respectively cast significant influences (the chain mediation effect) upon each other. Therefore, Hypothesis 4 is verified.

Judging from the results of the study, boxers’ social support is negatively correlated with mental fatigue and psychological resilience. This echoes the previous research conclusion that social support acts as a booster to improve sports performance, relieve athletes from mental fatigue, develop their self-confidence and self-respect, and cope with stress [61]. According to the mediation effect analysis, boxers’ social support imposes direct effects upon mental fatigue, and even indirect ones via coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience. To be specific, three mediating effects are displayed.

In this study, the relationship between social support for athletes and mental fatigue is verified. That is, not only may social support directly affect mental fatigue, but also act on mental fatigue via mediators like coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience. Facing significant challenging competitions plus intensifying training, a boxer under high intensity of long-term training inevitably suffers declining self-efficacy and mental fatigue coming afterwards. Therefore, a number of experts on sports training have locked research targets at social support for athletes which are integrated into boxers’ training [62].

In previous research, the relationship between social support and such aspects as mental fatigue, burnout, coping styles, and mood were verified; moreover, further ascertainment was achieved in terms of the relationship between mental fatigue and following factors like emotional/physical exhaustion, declining achievement and negative sport evaluation. For athletes, lower social support and poorer sociability uncover internal anxiety, highly avoidance response, and ensuing mental fatigue [63]. In contrast, positive coach leadership behaviors may directly affect athlete mental fatigue. That is, the advent of athlete anxiety could be further impeded, as athlete satisfaction ascends via daily training to suppress occurrence of by mental fatigue [64]. Under high intensity of long-term competition training, boxers are psychologically exposed to disturbances. The extreme importance has been attached to science-based penetration into the relationship between personality traits and boxers’ characteristics in attack, given that such relationship is the main clue for further investigation into the inner psychological characteristics of boxers [65].

According to this study, coach leadership behaviors cast mediating effects, while chain mediating ones result from psychological resilience and coach leadership behaviors; based on the above, boxers’ social support could predict the underlying generation mechanism of mental fatigue.

The foregoing results echo those studies on comprehension of the relationship between mental fatigue and followings: social support, coach leadership behaviors, and communication with families and friends; also, they coincide with those of studies on coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience [66]. Thus, the further suggestion goes as both social support and coach leadership behaviors could predict mental fatigue. Coach leadership behaviors, a vital physiological relationship between team coaches and athletes, are correlated with athlete’s competition anxiety, athletic performance, personal value and team cohesion [67]. With its significant effects on psychological health, social support serves as a motivator for athletes to hold excitement. Particularly, support from families and subjective environment plays a major role in moderation [68]. The negative correlation is significantly nestled between psychological resilience and positive emotions, the same as between psychological resilience and mental fatigue of individual athletes [69 –74]. Based on social support, coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience, this paper further deepens the internal relevance between several variables, thus expanding research on psychology of competitive sports.

Unlike previous studies, this paper: 1) embraces multilateral interaction and discussion among variables to excavate their internal mechanism and operation mode; 2) probes into the relationship between variables. Therefore, it acts as a beneficial supplement to previous achievements from aspects of the logical relationship, variable effect, and occurrence mechanism.

5 Conclusion and recommendations

5.1 Conclusion

It is established in this study that boxers’ social support is negatively correlated with mental fatigue and psychological resilience, while positively with coach leadership behaviors. The significant but negative correlation between psychological resilience and two aspects (mental fatigue and coach leadership behaviors) is also verified herein. Coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience play a mediating role between boxers’ social support and mental fatigue. Hence, the significant role of boxers’ social support in negative prediction about coach leadership behaviors is ascertained. When mental fatigue is simultaneously predicted by means of social support, coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience, social support presents the negative prediction, while the positive one is provided on the basis of coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience.

The significant direct effects on mental fatigue emanate from boxers’ social support, accounting for 43.72% of the total effect. In turn, hypothesis H1 holds water; psychological resilience significantly plays a mediating role between boxers’ social support and mental fatigue, accounting for 32.79%. Thus, hypothesis H2 is taken for granted; coach leadership behaviors significantly play the same mediating role as H2, accounting for 10.93%. That is, hypothesis H3 is tenable.

In addition to direct influences upon mental fatigue of athletes, the effects are also imposed by social support along following three paths through mediation of coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience: the mediation path of coach leadership behaviors, the mediation path of psychological resilience, and the chain mediation path of coach leadership behaviors and psychological resilience.

By investigating the mechanism of social support and psychological fatigue, this paper clarifies the significance of social environment for individual growth, revealing the vital role of environmental support in individual growth. This is reflected in following aspects from the perspective of academic value and contributions: (1) The relationship between psychological fatigue and external social support is clarified, together with importance of environmental support theory and the profound academic theory that fatigue produces burnout. (2) It makes up for the generation mechanism of psychological fatigue and the academic one of external environmental interference, constituting the empirical results about interaction of the sports training environment. (3) The preliminary diagnosis of negative emotions and adverse reactions in athletes is provided. Scholars recommend practical action plans and intervention means, which provides references for follow-up research. (4) In terms of fatigue generation, it reveals the internal mechanism and extent of effects from coach leadership behaviors, social support, and athlete psychological resilience, analyzing the relevant relationship and effect mechanism behind it. Thus, it contributes to subsequent training and daily science-based management.

5.2 Recommendations

Based on previous research, this paper broadens the research on the inducing mechanism of competition psychology. It also serves as a valuable supplement to the prevention and intervention of mental fatigue for boxing athletes, providing empirical materials for the improvement and enrichment of related theories to sport psychology. Challenged by the long term of competition preparation and high stress, a boxer in the long-period closed training is invisibly subject to various stresses in terms of psychological cognition and psychological tolerance. Both cognition limitations and underdeveloped abilities of mental adjustment may seem as stimuli for athletes to improperly respond to psychological stresses. Thus, both mental fatigue and declining training performance are more likely to be incurred. Major factors to inhibit mental fatigue of athletes include family support, teammate companionship, coach’s attention, and policy endorsement.

5.3 Limitations

This paper is not without limitations. First, as a cross-sectional study, this paper is based on the electronic collection of data and is subject to doubts about logical deduction. In subsequent research, longitudinal data are to be applied in combination with strict control over procedures and processes of experiments. Second, many factors are involved in generation of mental fatigue from the perspective of psychological development. However, only the mediating role of coach leadership behaviors and athlete psychological resilience is verified in this paper. Therefore, the discussion on other prospective mediating variables is also recommended for follow-up research. Third, the horizontal base point data are used as one of the important materials for this empirical exploration. According to causal inference, the failure in application and promotion of results herein is incurred, due to the paucity of investigation and monitoring of the vertical period. In the future, research will be based on data collection to be broadened and deepened. By means of the cross-lagged test, multi-level model discussion, and relevant variables like mediators and moderators, the relationship and relevance among research variables are tested step by step. The cross-sectional study stands in the way of the inference regarding the causal relationship between variables. Therefore, both tracking ways and cross-lagged ways are recommended for further test-based experimental research.

Ethical considerations

The study was reviewed and approved by the local ethics committee (No. 2022-062). The participants provided oral informed consent to participate in this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors have no acknowledgments.

Funding

Doctoral Research Fund of Suzhou University in China (No.2023BSK053) and Major Program of Anhui Provincial University Research Project of China (No.2023AH040053).

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors on reasonable request.

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