{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T06:01:28Z","timestamp":1785132088158,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785110400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n Athletic performance reflects the interplay of physical, psychological, and nutritional factors. Although the individual roles of mental and dietary factors are increasingly recognized, their combined relationship with performance within a defined sports organization has rarely been examined.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Objective<\/jats:title>\n \n This cross-sectional study examined the associations of psychological factors (motivation, anxiety, mental resilience, self-confidence) and self-reported nutritional practices with self-perceived athletic performance among athletes affiliated with a sports organization in Rizhao, Shandong, China (\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f100).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n A descriptive, cross-sectional, analytical design was used. One hundred actively competing athletes completed self-report instruments comprising an adapted Athletic Mental Energy Scale and selected Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2R) subscales (motivation, cognitive and somatic anxiety, mental resilience, self-confidence; 5-point Likert scaling), a nutritional practices questionnaire (pre-competition nutrition, hydration, meal regularity, supplement use), and a self-perceived performance rating (0\u201310). Data were analyzed in SPSS (v26) using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression controlling for age, sport type, and competitive level, and a moderation analysis; statistical significance was set at\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.05.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Intrinsic motivation showed the strongest positive association with self-perceived performance (\n r<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.68,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001), followed by self-reported pre-competition nutrition (\n r<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.62) and mental resilience (\n r<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.59), whereas cognitive anxiety was negatively associated (\n r<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f\u22120.51). In multiple regression, the model explained 61% of the variance (\n R<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n \u202f=\u202f0.61;\n F<\/jats:italic>\n (6,93)\u202f=\u202f24.3,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001), with intrinsic motivation (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.42), mental resilience (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.31), and pre-competition nutrition (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.28) as the strongest independent predictors and cognitive anxiety as a significant negative predictor (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f\u22120.19); supplement use was not significant (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.09). Nutritional adherence significantly moderated the stress\u2013performance association (interaction\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f\u22120.23,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.014), such that higher adherence was associated with a smaller decline in performance at higher stress levels.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n Within this organization, psychological factors and nutritional practices were jointly associated with self-perceived athletic performance. Integrated support combining motivational and mental-skills strategies with structured nutritional guidance appears important for athlete development, although the cross-sectional, self-report design precludes causal inference.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1901744","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T05:39:37Z","timestamp":1785130777000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The role of psychological factors and food in improving athletic performance: an analytical study of a specific sports organization\u2019s society"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Ping","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Competitive Sports, Shandong Sport University","place":["Rizhao, Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xu","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sports Department, Rizhao Polytechnic University","place":["Rizhao, Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1333","DOI":"10.1007\/s40279-016-0492-2","article-title":"The mental health of elite athletes: a narrative systematic review","volume":"46","author":"Rice","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sports Med"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0330862","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0330862","article-title":"The complex interplay between psychological factors and sports performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"20","author":"Ayranci","year":"2025","journal-title":"PLoS 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