Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Well-Being of Turkish Physical Education and Sports Athlete–Students: The Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Burnout

The psychological well-being of athlete-students during higher education is important in their healthy growth and adaptation to college and social life, and emotional intelligence is one of the key factors linked with psychological well-being. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological well-being among Turkish athlete-students in higher education studying physical education and sports. A total of 226 athlete-students studying physical education and sports participated in this study. The results of our mediation analysis revealed that emotional intelligence was positively related to psychological well-being. Additionally, the results indicated that self-efficacy and burnout act as partial mediators between emotional intelligence and psychological well-being. As a result, academic administrators and instructors should promote strategies that help athlete-students to gain better emotional intelligence skills, which may also help these students to cope with burnout and increase their self-efficacy, thus increasing their psychological well-being.