Personality traits and psychobiosocial states among athletes: The mediating role of dispositional mindfulness

The aim of the current study was to ascertain the mediating role of dispositional mindfulness on the relationship between athletes’ personality traits and functional/dysfunctional psychobiosocial states associated with performance. Italian athletes (N = 221, 112 female, Mage = 29.29 ± 9.55) involved in individual (n = 124) or team sports (n = 97) completed questionnaires assessing personality traits, dispositional mindfulness in sport context, and psychobiosocial states. Path analysis was conducted to test the mediation effects of mindfulness (awareness, non-judgmental attitude and refocusing) on the relationship between personality traits (conscientiousness and emotional stability) and psychobiosocial (functional and dysfunctional) states using maximum likelihood estimator (ML) and bias-corrected bootstrap method based on 5000 resamples. Gender and sport types were entered as covariates in the model. Path analysis revealed a significant positive indirect effect of conscientiousness on functional psychobiosocial states via awareness and refocusing dimensions, meanwhile emotional stability showed a positive indirect effect via refocusing. Moreover, a significant negative indirect effect of emotional stability on dysfunctional psychobiosocial states via non-judgmental attitude emerged. Findings suggest that conscientious and emotionally stable athletes are more prone to be mindfully aware of the present moment, to refocus on it, and to adopt a non-judgmental attitude. In turn, they can experience a higher level of functional psychobiosocial states associated with sport performance. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.