Intrinsic Religious Motivation and Athlete Motivation from a Positive Psychology Perspective: Serial Mediation via Well-Being and Self-Confidence

This study examined the serial mediating role of psychological well-being and self-confidence in the relationship between intrinsic religious motivation and athlete motivation. The study addresses a theoretical and empirical gap in the literature by explaining how religiosity-based spirituality is associated with motivational processes in athletes through a holistic serial mediation model encompassing multiple psychological mechanisms. A cross-sectional correlational survey design was employed. The sample consisted of 401 athletes (118 female, 283 male; M_age = 22.98 ± 4.8) actively competing in various sports disciplines across different regions of Turkey, each with a minimum of five years of licensed athletic experience. Data were collected using the Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale, the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Self-Confidence Scale, and the Intrinsic Motivation Scale. Serial mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes’s PROCESS macro (Model 6) with 5000 bootstrap resamples. The results indicated that intrinsic religious motivation was positively associated with psychological well-being (β = 0.221, p < 0.001) and self-confidence (β = 0.229, p < 0.001). Psychological well-being was positively associated with both self-confidence (β = 0.252, p < 0.001) and motivation (β = 0.307, p < 0.001), while self-confidence was positively associated with motivation (β = 0.141, p = 0.005). The total effect on motivation was significant (c = 0.171, p < 0.001); however, the direct effect became non-significant when mediators were included (c′ = 0.063, p = 0.194), revealing an indirect-only mediation pattern. All three specific indirect effects were significant: through psychological well-being (B = 0.060), through self-confidence (B = 0.029), and through the serial pathway (B = 0.007). These findings suggest that intrinsic religious motivation is associated with athlete motivation not directly but via the indirect pathways through psychological well-being and self-confidence.