The correlation between sports participation and psychological well-being is well-documented, revealing a complex interplay influenced by competition level and cultural context. This is particularly relevant in Korea, where the university sports culture significantly impacts student life. This study evaluates how competitive versus non-competitive sports affect Korean university students' psychological well-being using a quantitative approach with SmartPLS 4 for multi-group analysis. Findings reveal that competitive sports significantly enhance mental toughness and stress management through structured coping mechanisms and robust social support, improving coping strategy effectiveness by 34 % compared to non-competitive sports. Conversely, participants in non-competitive sports experience greater general well-being with a 40 % higher use of informal support. These insights suggest that university sports programs could benefit from targeted interventions incorporating specific coping strategies and social support frameworks tailored to the competitive context. This research underscores the need for precise stress management techniques and resilience-building exercises in sports curricula to optimize psychological well-being across different sports environments in Korean universities.
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.