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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1569973
This article is part of the Research Topic Mental Health in Recreational and Elite Sports View all 4 articles
Mental Fatigue and Return to Well-Being in Athletes: Roles of Cognitive Reappraisal, Gender, and Alcohol Consumption
Provisionally accepted
Mehmet Kara 1
Emre Bulent Ogras 1
Laurentiu-Gabriel Talaghir 2
Iconomescu Teodora Mihaela 2
Huseyin Gumus 1,3*- 1 Faculty of Sports Science, Mersin University, Mersin, Mersin, Türkiye
- 2 Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Dunarea de Jos University, Galați, Romania
- 3 Mersin University, Mersin, Türkiye
This study aimed to investigate the impact of mental fatigue awareness on psychological recovery processes in athletes. It also examines the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal and the moderating effects of gender and alcohol use. A sample of 639 active athletes from diverse regions of Turkey participated in the online study. Data were collected through the Sport Psychological Recovery Scale, the Emotion Regulation Scale for Athletes, and the Mental Fatigue Awareness Scale in Athletes. The findings indicate that mental fatigue awareness has a direct, negative effect on recovery (β = -0.2526, p < .001). Also, cognitive reappraisal partially mediates this relationship (β = -0.236, p < .001). Gender was identified as a significant moderator, with women exhibiting a stronger negative impact of mental fatigue awareness on their recovery processes compared to men. However, the moderating effect of alcohol consumption was not statistically significant. The study contributes to the understanding of the interplay between mental fatigue awareness and recovery in athletes, highlighting the influence of cognitive and emotional regulation and the importance of gender as a moderating variable. Future research should employ longitudinal designs and larger samples to explore these relationships in greater depth.Material and Methods
Keywords: mental fatigue1, cognitive reappraisal2, Recovery3, gender4, alcohol use5
Received: 02 Feb 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kara, Ogras, Talaghir, Teodora Mihaela and Gumus. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Huseyin Gumus, Mersin University, Mersin, Türkiye
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