{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T05:03:01Z","timestamp":1789448581078,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789430400000},"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. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Integrating Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines how self-determined motivation (autonomy, competence, relatedness) shapes continuance intention among pickleball participants, with leisure specialization conceptualized as a domain-specific operationalization of perceived behavioral control (PBC). The mediating role of leisure specialization and the moderating effect of gender on the underlying motivational pathways are tested. Drawing on cross-sectional data from 789 Chinese tournament participants, structural equation modeling (SEM) reveals that all three dimensions of self-determined motivation exert significant positive effects on leisure specialization, which in turn partially mediates the relationship between self-determined motivation and continuance intention. Gender, however, does not significantly moderate the pathways linking motivational dimensions to leisure specialization, suggesting that the core motivational mechanism operates comparably across male and female participants. The findings provide empirical support for the pathway of \u201cpsychological need satisfaction \u2192 behavioral control (leisure specialization) \u2192 sustained participation,\u201d and suggest that pickleball's low-skill-threshold design and mixed-gender format may help attenuate traditional gender-role barriers to sport participation. By validating this context-specific operationalization of PBC, the study extends integrated SDT-TPB research and offers practical insights for promoting sustained participation in emerging low-threshold sports.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1806235","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T04:27:27Z","timestamp":1789446447000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The mechanism linking self-determined motivation to pickleball continuance intention: mediating role of leisure specialization and gender heterogeneity"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yajun","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Chuzhou University","place":["Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhidong","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Chuzhou University","place":["Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soohyun","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sport and Healthcare, Namseoul University","place":["Cheonan, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xin","family":"Lyu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education and Sports, Soochow University","place":["Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kailin","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sport Convergence, Namseoul University","place":["Cheonan, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1016\/0749-5978(91)90020-T","article-title":"The theory of planned behavior","volume":"50","author":"Ajzen","year":"1991","journal-title":"Organ. 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