Psychological readiness and adaptation to performance stress in female athletes: the mediating role of sport confidence between athletic identity and mental toughness

Psychological readiness is increasingly recognized as a critical component of training adaptation, performance sustainability, and recovery processes in female athletes. Beyond physical capacity, internal psychological resources such as athletic identity, sport confidence, and mental toughness play a key role in athletes’ ability to tolerate performance-related stress, maintain emotional control, and adapt to demanding training and competition environments. However, the interrelationships among these constructs and their contribution to psychological readiness remain insufficiently examined in female athletic populations. In this study, psychological readiness is conceptualized as an adaptive psychological capacity reflected through athletic identity, sport confidence, and mental toughness. This cross-sectional correlational study included 449 female university athletes participating in individual and team sports. Data were collected using the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS), Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ), and Sport Confidence Inventory (SCI). Construct validity and reliability were confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = 0.95–0.99; RMSEA = 0.025–0.077; Cronbach’s α = 0.89–0.94). Relationships among variables were examined using Pearson correlation analysis and structural equation modeling to test direct and mediating effects. Athletes demonstrated high levels of athletic identity (M = 3.69), sport confidence (M = 3.73), and mental toughness (M = 3.57). All constructs were positively and strongly correlated (r = .67–0.70, p < .001). Structural equation modeling revealed that athletic identity significantly predicted both sport confidence and mental toughness (p < .001). Sport confidence also exerted a significant positive effect on mental toughness (p < .001). When included as a mediator, sport confidence partially reduced—but did not eliminate—the direct effect of athletic identity on mental toughness, indicating a pattern consistent with partial statistical mediation. Model fit indices indicated satisfactory model fit (CFI = 0.94–0.96; RMSEA = 0.05–0.06). Athletic identity contributes to mental toughness both directly and indirectly through sport confidence in female athletes. These findings suggest that identity- and confidence-based psychological resources play an important role in psychological readiness and adaptation to performance-related stress. From an applied sport science and rehabilitation perspective, monitoring athletic identity and sport confidence may support training adaptation, psychological readiness, and informed return-to-play decision-making in female athletes. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as associative rather than causal, and practical implications should be applied with appropriate caution.