Attributional style, psychological consequences, and resilience in high school baseball players under perceived failure

This study examined the effects of high school baseball players’ attributional style on resilience through the mediating role of psychological consequences, based on Weiner's Attribution Model. A total of 382 athletes registered with the Korea Baseball Softball Association participated in the survey, and data from 370 valid responses were analyzed. The hypothesized mediation model was tested after preliminary descriptive, validity, and correlation analyses. The results showed that locus of causality (β = .106, p < .05) and internal control (β = .251, p < .001) had significant positive effects on resilience. Among the psychological consequences, pride (β = .365, p < .001) and expectancy (β = .324, p < .001) positively predicted resilience, whereas shame negatively predicted resilience (β = −.197, p < .001). In addition, pride significantly mediated the relationship between locus of causality and resilience (indirect effect β = −.095). Specifically, attributing failure to more external causes was associated with higher pride, which in turn was linked to greater resilience. These findings suggest that internal attribution may promote resilience by fostering responsibility and perceived control, but may also lower pride following failure. Therefore, attribution-based interventions may be useful for helping athletes maintain self-worth while encouraging adaptive responsibility for failure in competitive sport settings.