Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Pamukkale Spor Bilimleri Dergisi, cilt.17, sa.1, ss.1-20, 2026 (Scopus, TRDizin)
This study investigates the mediating role of psychological resilience in the effect of subjective vitality ontest anxiety among university student-athletes. Student-athletes often face increased psychological pressuredue to academic responsibilities and intensive training schedules, which can heighten test anxiety andhinder both academic and athletic performance. Subjective vitality, grounded in self-determination theory,refers to individuals’ sense of energy and aliveness, whereas psychological resilience represents the capacityto adapt to stress and recover from adversity. Both constructs are recognized as protective factors withineducational and sport psychology. The research employed a relational screening model with a causal-comparative framework. The sample consisted of 223 student-athletes enrolled in the Faculties of SportSciences at universities across Türkiye. Participants voluntarily completed standardized instrumentsassessing subjective vitality, psychological resilience, and test anxiety. Ethical approval was obtained fromthe Ethics Committee of Atatürk University. Data analyses were performed using IBM SPSS 27, AMOS, andthe PROCESS Macro with 5.000 bootstrap resamples to test the proposed mediation model. Findingsshowed that subjective vitality significantly predicted higher psychological resilience, while resilience hada significant negative effect on test anxiety. Although subjective vitality did not directly predict test anxiety,mediation analysis demonstrated that psychological resilience indirectly reduced its impact. Individualswith greater vitality displayed stronger resilience, contributing to lower levels of test anxiety. These resultshighlight the central role of psychological resilience in reducing test anxiety among student-athletes. Thestudy enriches current understanding and recommends integrating resilience-based interventions intostudent support programs. Future research should employ further longitudinal designs.