Masculine gender role mediates sex and mindfulness skills in predicting student athletes’ sport-related anxiety and dispositional flow

Background and Study Aim. Reduced sport-related anxiety, increased dispositional flow, and greater use of mindfulness skills appear to be essential psychological components for success in student athletes. Decades of sport psychology research have identified gender differences in psychological characteristics associated with sport performance in athletes, with little attention paid to the socialized contributions of sex. The aim of this study was to determine whether gender role better explains the relationships between sex and psychological sport outcomes. Material and Methods. The current study examined Division III student athletes (N = 100; 60% female; 46% White/European American). They ranged in age from 18 years to 23 years (M = 19.4, SD = 1.17, range = 18.0 - 23.0), with 1 to 6 years of experience in collegiate athletics (M = 2.45, SD = 1.44, range = 1-6). Participants completed self-report measures of gender role, mindfulness, sport-related anxiety, and dispositional flow. Results. While female athletes reported greater sport-related anxiety and less dispositional flow than male athletes, masculine gender role mediated the relationship between sex and sport-related anxiety, and sex and dispositional flow. Further, masculine gender role mediated the relationships between two mindfulness skills (acting with awareness and acceptance without judgment), and sport-related anxiety and dispositional flow. Feminine gender role did not serve a mediating function between variables. Conclusions. These findings suggest that socialization of sex, rather than sex assigned at birth, better explains gender differences reported in the literature. Future research needs to include measures of both sex and gender role to adequately examine gender differences.