What drives preservice mathematics teachers' participation in teaching skills competitions? An integrated model of planned behavior and social support

Teaching skills competitions provide a practice-oriented context for preservice teachers' professional learning, yet quantitative evidence on factors associated with preservice mathematics teachers' participation in such competitions remains limited. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examined attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and four sources of social support, with mentor, peer, family, and school support conceptualized as contextual antecedents of attitude. Data were collected through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 363 preservice mathematics teachers from 10 universities in China between November 2025 and March 2026 and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were positively associated with participation intention, while perceived behavioral control and participation intention were positively associated with self-reported participation-related behavior. Mentor support and school support were positively associated with attitude, whereas the paths from peer support and family support to attitude were not statistically significant. Significant statistical indirect associations via participation intention were observed for attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in relation to self-reported participation-related behavior. Some empirical overlap was observed among the social-support dimensions, indicating that source-specific findings should be regarded as provisional and interpreted cautiously. Overall, the study provides context-specific evidence for the applicability of TPB to participation in a practice-oriented mathematics teacher education activity and suggests the potential relevance of mentoring and institutional support.