A122: Connections Between Mindfulness, Obsessive Passion, Cognitive StateAnxiety, and Obligatory Exercise

<bold>Background/Purpose:</bold> In the current trend of increasing youthfulness and age reduction in competitive sports, the issue of obligatory exercise among young athletes is becoming more severe. This not only affects the physical and mental health of athletes but also hampers their prospects in the world of sports. This study used a cross-sectional research design, employing convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods. While delving into the impact of mindfulness on the issue of obligatory exercise among young athletes, it revealed the mediating role of obsessive passion and cognitive state anxiety. <bold>Method:</bold> The researchers contacted athletes from four universities, youth training centers, and high-level clubs in different provinces of central and southern China. Among the respondents, (1) 69% of the participants were under the age of 23; (2) in the past year, about 70% of athletes participated in sports competitions only 1-3 times. The reason for this relatively high number is attributed to the official lifting of COVID-19 prevention and control measures in China on January 8, 2023, allowing sports competitions to resume. Prior to that date, sports competitions could not be held normally, and athletes were unable to participate in them. <bold>Results:</bold> This study progressed to scrutinize the structural model using AMOS v.23, aimed at substantiating the formulated hypotheses. Employing 5,000 bootstrap samples, the outcomes of CFA consistently aligned with established criteria (<italic>χ²/df</italic> = 2.755, <italic>GFI</italic> = 0.907, <italic>NFI</italic> = 0.940, <italic>TLI</italic> = 0.954, <italic>CFI</italic> = 0.961, <italic>RMSEA</italic> = 0.066), unequivocally indicating an alignment between the model and empirical data. The findings distinctively underscored the indirect effect of mindfulness on obligatory exercise, which was mediated through cognitive state anxiety and obsessive passion. This mediation yielded a robust estimate of -0.297 (<italic>SE</italic> = 0.041, <italic>CI</italic> = [-0.377, -0.213], <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). <bold>Conclusion:</bold> This study identified mindfulness can indirectly improve the obligatory exercise issues of young athletes by reducing obsessive passion and cognitive state anxiety, acting as two mediating variables. Therefore, this study recommends that athlete management organizations and coaches prioritize monitoring the mental health levels of athletes and integrate mindfulness training into their daily routines. The data collection for this study was primarily concentrated in the central and southern regions of China. To ensure the generalizability of research conclusions, subsequent studies may consider expanding the sampling range and implementing random sampling.