Importance of perceived teammate support as a predictor of student-athletes’ positive emotions and subjective well-being

Abstract

Student-athletes may have high stress, and the level of their subjective well-being could be low due to the dual role of being a student and an athlete. In the field of sport psychology, social support has received focal attention to identifying its impact on individuals’ subjective well-being. However, there is a lack of research that focuses on teammate support and subjective well-being. Thus, this study examined how the perception of teammate support influences subjective well-being through positive emotions based on the environmental psychology model and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. This study collected 313 responses from university student-athletes in Singapore and conducted a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling analysis. Results showed that perceived teammate support had a positive influence on subjective well-being through positive emotion. Also, there was a direct effect of perceived teammate support on subjective well-being. The results support the critical role of perceived teammate support in enhancing the student-athletes’ subjective well-being. The findings of this study are beneficial for coaches and student-leaders to design strategies to improve the subjective well-being of student-athletes.