The relationships among trait mindfulness, obsessive passion, and emotions in high school sport managers

Purpose: Mindfulness emerges as a possible means to alleviate obsessive passion. Nevertheless, its application in sport leadership context remains understudied, despite the significant levels of stress and turnover that are common in this profession. This study aims to investigate the relationships among trait mindfulness, obsessive passion, and specific positive (e.g., happiness), neutral (e.g., calmness), and negative (e.g., anger) emotions in high school sport managers. Method: In total, 358 high school sport managers (M_age = 48.47, SD = 8.93) working in 46 states in the United States completed the online questionnaires measuring the proposed variables. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were utilized to examine the hypotheses. Result: The results showed that trait mindfulness negatively predicted obsessive passion. Additionally, obsessive passion negatively predicted the feelings of happiness and calmness, while it positively predicted anger. The mediation analysis revealed that obsessive passion fully mediated the relationships between trait mindfulness and the three types of emotion. Conclusion: These findings are significant because they demonstrate the buffering role of trait mindfulness in obsessive passion. Furthermore, the study provides meaningful insights into sport managers’ emotional experiences, particularly by empirically examining the effect of obsessive passion on different emotions.