Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among empathy, self-esteem, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior as perceived by middle school students who had experience exercising with their parents. In addition, this study investigated the mediating effects of self-esteem on the relationships between empathy and both prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Methods: Participants were 288 middle school students (163 males, 125 females) who had experience exercising with their parents. Measures of empathy, self-esteem, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior were administered. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling with SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0. The mediating effects were tested using the bootstrapping method. Results: First, empathy had a positive effect on positive self-esteem. Second, empathy had a negative effect on negative self-esteem. Third, positive self-esteem did not significantly affect prosocial behavior. Fourth, positive self-esteem negatively affected antisocial behavior. Fifth, negative self-esteem did not significantly affect prosocial behavior. Sixth, negative self-esteem positively affected antisocial behavior. Seventh, empathy positively affected prosocial behavior. Eighth, empathy negatively affected antisocial behavior. Finally, the mediating effects of self-esteem in the relationships between empathy and both prosocial and antisocial behaviors were not statistically significant. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of parental involvement and shared exercise experiences in adolescents’ social and emotional development. The results provide meaningful insights for developing intervention programs that promote prosocial behavior and prevent antisocial behavior among adolescents.

Purpose: This study aimed to systematically identify research trends and characteristics related to sports burnout in the field of physical education and to provide foundational data for setting future research directions. Methods: Using the web crawling function of NetMiner 4, a total of 256 articles published in Korean physical education journals from 2015 through 2024 were collected. The optimal number of topics was identified as three, and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)-based dynamic topic modeling was applied to calculate topic proportions across five time intervals. Results: Topic 1, “Coaching Behavior and Psychological Experiences,” showed a steady upward trend, peaking in Period 5 (46.7%). Topic 2, “Emotional Labor in Sports Settings,” started high in Period 1 (45.2%), sharply declined in Period 2 (28.6%), and then plateaued. Topic 3, “Emotions and Resilience,” showed temporary increases in Periods 2 (32.6%) and 4 (32.8%), but then decreased in Period 5 (20.0%). Conclusion: The analysis revealed that burnout research has primarily focused on three themes: coaching behavior and psychological experiences, emotional labor in sports settings, and emotions and resilience. These findings underscore the need for further studies addressing role-specific characteristics in physical education settings, the emotional burdens involved, and the importance of psychological recovery.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of post-traumatic growth (PTG) on athletes’ intention to continuance in adult elite athletes with injury experience and the mediating effect of athlete engagement in the relation. Methods: From January to March 2025, Google Form links were distributed to university and business team athletes across the country, and 285 athletes with injury experiences participated in the questionnaire within the last three years. Analyses included frequency and reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapped mediation. Results: According to the results of the study, (1) post-traumatic growth had a positive (+) effect on athlete engagement, while (2) athletic engagement showed a positive (+) effect on athletes’ intention to continuance; and (3) the direct effect of PTG on athletes’ intention to continuance was not significant, whereas the indirect effect via engagement was significant, indicating full mediation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that positive cognitive changes after injury do not translate directly into athletes’ intention to continuance but are channeled through a psychological pathway of engagement. This shows that it is necessary to properly inject intervention that increases athlete engagement in order to derive positive cognitive changes after injury in the field as the ultimate behavioral change, athletes’ intention to continuance. Therefore, the researcher proposes that the role of active coaching, such as autonomy support coaching, step-by-step goal setting, mindfulness and resilience training, is important to improve athlete engagement in teams and rehabilitation sites, and that interventions that monitor and adjust the degree of athlete engagement in stages before, during, and after rehabilitation will play an effective role in the field.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the structural relationships among self-efficacy, competitive anxiety coping behaviors, flow, and resilience as perceived by aerobic gymnastics athletes. Methods: Data from 217 elite aerobic gymnasts in South Korea were used for the final analysis. Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0. (SEM). Results: First, self-efficacy positively affected resilience, competitive anxiety coping behaviors, and Sport Commitment. Second, competitive anxiety coping behaviors showed differentiated effects by domain: cognitive coping had a positive effect on cognitive flow, while behavioral coping had a positive effect on behavioral flow. Third, flow significantly enhanced resilience. Conclusion: The psychological capacities of aerobic gymnasts were enhanced through the activation of self-efficacy-based coping strategies and the facilitation of Sport Commitment experiences, which in turn improved their resilience. These findings provided practical implications for the development of psychological skills training and customized coaching strategies to strengthen both performance and psychological stability.

Purpose: This study aimed to move beyond static and list-based approaches to character strengths by exploring how elite athletes’ strengths are actually expressed in real contexts and by proposing an integrated model that explains how these strengths contribute to athlete flourishing. Methods: Following Patton’s (2014) complementary methods approach, this study employed literature review, expert consultation, and qualitative case analysis. A Delphi survey was conducted with six experts―including faculty in kinesiology and certified sport psychology consultants―to establish the validity of the analytical framework. Subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted with three elite athletes (basketball, golf, and taekwondo), using character-strength cards to facilitate reflection and narrative exploration. The collected data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis procedures. Results: Findings indicate that athletes’ character strengths function not as fixed psychological traits but as an integrative psychological system manifested through three key mechanisms: (1) Dimensionality: The same strength demonstrated different psychological meanings and qualitative depths depending on situational demands. (2) Contextuality: The function and value of a strength were reconstructed according to life transitions and environmental changes. (3) Multiplicity: Multiple strengths co-occurred in synergistic or conflicting interactions, forming a dynamic network. Integrating these findings, the manifestation of character strengths was conceptually modeled as Flourishing (F) = (M × D) ^ (C), where M represents Multiplicity, D represents Dimensionality, and C represents Contextuality. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that character strengths are not static lists or numerical indicators but fluid psychological resources that are continuously reconstructed within the athlete’s lived context. These findings highlight the relevance of strengths for athletes’ self-understanding, identity development, and psychological resilience. The study further suggests that future strength-based psychological interventions and career-transition programs should adopt structurally informed and context-sensitive approaches. Overall, this research expands the theoretical and practical horizons of character-strength scholarship in sport psychology.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the concept and components of university athletes’ intention to seek professional help, and to develop and validate an inventory measuring this construct. Methods: In Study I, data were collected from 139 university athletes through open-ended questionnaires. The responses were classified and categorized to identify the components of professional help-seeking intention. In Study II, to examine the internal validity of the inventory, descriptive statistical analyses of preliminary items, reliability analyses, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with 310 university athletes. In Study III, to examine the generalizability and additional validity of the developed inventory, confirmatory factor analysis and tests of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity were conducted with 257 university athletes. Results: First, five general domains of university athletes’ professional help-seeking intention were identified interpersonal relationship problems, athletic performance problems, physical problems, psychological problems, and academic and career problems. Second, through descriptive statistical analyses of preliminary items, reliability analyses, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a final inventory consisting of 25 items across five factors was developed. Third, the convergent and discriminant validity of the professional help-seeking intention inventory were established, and its predictive validity was partially supported. Conclusion: The inventory developed in this study may contribute to the development of help-seeking programs for university athletes and can be used as a preliminary assessment tool to identify athletes’ level of intention to seek professional help prior to counseling.