Effects of coaches' leadership behaviors on athletes' sports performance: The mediating role of psychological preparation and sports anxiety.

Coaches' leadership behavior is a key element that affects athletes' psychological quality and competitive level. It is important to clarify the relationship between coaches' leadership behaviors and athletes' sports performance, which is significant to promote scientific and systematic training and improve sports performance for athletes. This study constructed a model of the relationship between leadership behaviors and sports performance, using a stratified sampling method to investigate athletes in Beijing Xiannongtan Sports School and Shichahai Sports School, and using regression analysis to empirically analyze the relevant results. The results showed that: authoritarian leadership behavior, democratic leadership behavior, training guidance behavior, social support behavior, and positive feedback behavior all had significant positive effects on athletic performance; psychological preparation had a significant mediating effect between coaches' leadership behavior and athletes' sports performance; sports anxiety had a significant mediating effect between democratic leadership behavior, social support behavior, and positive feedback behavior on athletic performance, while the mediating effect between authoritarian leadership behavior and training guidance behavior on sports performance was not significant. Based on this, it was concluded that different sports leadership behaviors and styles of coaches have different effects on improving athletes' sports performance, and therefore, coaches should adjust athletes' psychological preparation in time, reduce athletes' psychological anxiety, improve athletes' psychological quality, promote athletes' self-worth, and promote athletes' to get better sports performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]