The mediating role of personality traits in the relationship between challenge threat appraisal and pro-antisocial behaviors

Abstract

Background Modern football performance is a multifaceted phenomenon where cognitive-emotional appraisals directly influence on-field interpersonal behaviors. This study adopts a holistic approach to examine how challenge and threat appraisals affect professional football players' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Specifically, it investigates the mediating role of extraversion and neuroticism in transforming these cognitive perceptions into competitive social actions, aiming to provide actionable insights for coaches to optimize players' behavioral performance during high-pressure match scenarios.Methods The research sample consisted of 601 professional football players who were actively engaged in the football disciplines, including 279 women (%46.4 Mage = 21.37, SD = 3.38) and 322 men (%53.6 Mage = 21.35, SD = 2.72). Data were collected using the Challenge and Threat in Sport Scale, the Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale, and the Big Five Personality Inventory (extraversion and neuroticism subscales). After testing normality assumptions, path analysis was performed using R software to assess both direct and indirect effects within a competitive soccer context.Results Path analysis revealed that challenge appraisal is a significant positive predictor of prosocial behavior and a negative predictor of antisocial behavior. While threat appraisal directly increased antisocial tendencies potentially compromising tactical discipline it only influenced prosocial behavior indirectly through personality traits. Specifically, extraversion significantly mediated the link between challenge appraisal and prosocial actions, while neuroticism mediated the impact of threat appraisal on prosocial outcomes. The model accounted for a modest proportion of variance in both prosocial (9.6%) and antisocial (5.8%) behaviors, suggesting that personality traits and cognitive appraisals are meaningfully associated with social behaviors in sport contexts.Conclusion These findings underscore that optimizing football performance requires more than physical or tactical training; it demands psychological resilience. Fostering a challenge-oriented mindset and leveraging personality-based resources can mitigate antisocial behaviors that lead to disciplinary issues and enhance prosocial interactions that strengthen team cohesion. For technical staff, these results suggest that psychological profiling and cognitive reframing interventions are essential tools for programming effective training sessions and improving player behavior during competition.