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e‑ISSN 2148-905X Open Access · CC BY 4.0
Vol. 13 · Issue 3 · 2026 Sep 15, 2026 Research Article

The Mediating Role of Gratitude in the Relationship Between Life Satisfaction and Positive Future Expectations in Athletes

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Hasan Bugra Ekinci Corresponding Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Erzincan, Türkiye hasan.ekinci@erzincan.edu.tr Turkey
Pages289-305 PublishedSep 15, 2026 LicenseOpen Access
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VOL 13 · ISS 3 · 2026 Sportive Perspective: Journal of Sports and Educational Sciences View issue

Abstract

Due to structural uncertainties such as athletic careers, performance fluctuations, injury risk, and inevitable career transitions, athletes’ current subjective well-being and cognitive assessments of the future have become a psychologically critical area of development. This study aims to examine the mediating role of gratitude in the relationship between life satisfaction and positive future expectations among athletes. The sample of the study consists of 229 athletes (age X̄=21.86; 149 men, 80 women) who are actively involved in sports in the Erzincan province of Turkey’s Eastern Anatolia Region. Data were collected using the Life Satisfaction Scale, Gratitude Scale, and Positive Future Expectations Scale. The hypotheses were tested using Hayes’ (2018) SPSS process macro (Model 4) with a bootstrapping method based on 5000 resamples. The findings showed that life satisfaction significantly and positively predicted positive future expectations both directly and indirectly through gratitude (indirect effect=.060; 95% CI [.018, .117]). The results reveal that gratitude functions as a fundamental psychological mechanism that transforms athletes’ current life evaluations into more optimistic cognitive representations of the future. These findings, framed within fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory, emphasize the contribution of positive psychological states to the construction of long-term cognitive and motivational resources. The study offers important implications for the development of gratitude-based interventions aimed at supporting athletes’ psychological resilience and future-oriented cognitive structures in sports psychology applications.

Keywords

#Athlete #broaden-build theory #positive future expectations #positive psychology #sports psychology

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