Student-athlete Well-being and Achievement Study

We conducted a research study with student-athletes throughout their 2019-2020 competitive seasons. Here's what we found.

What did we do?

We recruited 298 student-athletes from 19 teams to complete 3 surveys throughout the 2019-2020 season.

What did we find?

  • Harmonious passion is adaptive

    • Harmonious passion for sport predicted more positive sport experiences, such as higher goal attainment, sport enjoyment, positive emotions, and academic satisfaction.

  • Perfectionism is pointless

    • Striving for perfection in sport, beyond striving for excellence, was unrelated to performance or experiences in sport throughout the season.

Why is this important?

  • This research showed the value of pursuing sport with high levels of harmonious passion, an intense motivation that is also a balanced part of one's life.

  • It also failed to show any benefit of being a perfectionist in sport.

Want to learn more?

  • The findings from this study have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including

    • Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology: The published version is available here, and a freely accessible pre-print version is available here.

    • Personality and Individual Differences: The published version is available here, and a freely accessible pre-print version is available here.