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Mindfulness Promotes the Ability to Deliver Performance in Highly Demanding Situations

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Abstract

Trait mindfulness helps people handle distress and improves their satisfaction with life. The aim of the present paper is to examine whether trait mindfulness also promotes positive functioning (i.e., performance) in highly demanding situations, such as in elite sports. Mindfulness has been shown to improve athletes’ ability to perform well, i.e., to increase their performance-delivery. However, researchers are still speculating about the underlying mechanism. The present research examines whether trait mindfulness enhances the ability of elite athletes to trigger performance in demanding situations by generally reducing competition anxiety and diminishing its negative impact when it occurs. Participants were 133 elite athletes from 23 different sports. They completed measures of trait mindfulness, competition anxiety, and performance-delivery. Mediation, moderation, and moderated-mediation effects of mindfulness and competition anxiety on performance-delivery were tested. Our findings indicate that trait mindfulness is related to fewer performance worries and prevents the remaining worries from influencing athletes’ behavior, thereby helping them to perform better. Implications and directions for further research are discussed. Apart from benefits for psychological health, instructing people to become more mindful might be a promising approach to help them optimize their performance in demanding situations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Elite Sport Department, Swiss Federal Institute of Sports Magglingen, Alpenstrasse 18, CH-2532, Magglingen, Switzerland

    Philipp Röthlin, Stephan Horvath & Daniel Birrer

  2. University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Philipp Röthlin

  3. University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Martin grosse Holtforth

  4. Psychosomatic Competence Center, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland

    Martin grosse Holtforth

Authors
  1. Philipp Röthlin
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  2. Stephan Horvath
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  3. Daniel Birrer
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  4. Martin grosse Holtforth
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Correspondence to Philipp Röthlin.

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The research was conducted in accordance with APA ethical guidelines. All participants provided informed consent, and confidentiality and anonymity were assured.

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Röthlin, P., Horvath, S., Birrer, D. et al. Mindfulness Promotes the Ability to Deliver Performance in Highly Demanding Situations. Mindfulness 7, 727–733 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0512-1

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