Research on the influence of psychological fatigue of short track speed skaters on sports motivation

Objective To clarify the mediating effects of perceived social support and sense of career calling on the relationship between psychological fatigue and sports motivation in short track speed skaters. Methods Using a variety of research methods such as questionnaire survey and mathematical statistics, 817 short track speed skaters were selected as the research objects. The “Psychological Fatigue Scale,” “Sports Motivation Scale,” “Perceived Social Support Scale,” and “Sense of Career Calling Scale” were used for psychological measurement. SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS 4.2 macro program were used to test the mediating effect, chain mediating effect and Bootstrap analysis. Results In the correlation analysis, psychological fatigue was significantly negatively correlated with perceived social support ( r = −0.363, p < 0.01), sense of career calling ( r = −0.387, p < 0.01), and sports motivation ( r = −0.375, p < 0.01). Perceived social support was significantly positively correlated with sense of career calling ( r = 0.494, p < 0.01) and sports motivation ( r =0.505, p < 0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between sense of career calling and sports motivation ( r = 0.520, p < 0.01). Conclusion (1) Perceived social support and sense of career calling play a separate mediating role between psychological fatigue and sports motivation of short track speed skaters. (2) Perceived social support and sense of career calling play a chain mediating role between psychological fatigue and sports motivation of short track speed skaters. (3) Coaches should use strategies to improve perceived social support and sense of career calling of short track speed skaters, so as to improve the sports motivation of short track speed skaters and reduce their psychological fatigue.