The Impact of Injury Experience on Psychological Stress and Exercise Adherence in Elite Cyclists

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of injury experience on psychological stress and exercise adherence among elite cyclists, and to verify the mediating effect of psychological stress in the relationship between injury experience and exercise adherence. Data were collected from 234 elite cyclists. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 for frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis, independent t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Additionally, the mediating effect was verified using bootstrapping with Hayes' PROCESS Macro (Model 4). The results are as follows. First, the group with injury experience showed significantly higher levels of psychological stress during both training and competition compared to the group without injury experience. Second, the group with injury experience showed significantly lower levels of exercise adherence compared to the group without injury experience. Third, psychological stress had a statistically significant negative effect on exercise adherence. Fourth, the mediating effect of psychological stress on the relationship between injury experience and exercise adherence was supported (Full Mediation). These findings suggest that injury experience indirectly decreases exercise adherence by increasing psychological stress, highlighting the importance of psychological management for injured athletes.