The relationship among career self-efficacy, negative emotion regulation expectancies, coping, and emotional experience of college student athletes

College student athletes have the roles of both a student and an athlete. As a result of the pressure to excel in both academics and sports, they experience greater career anxiety than ordinary students. This anxiety not only impacts their academic performance and athletic training but also affects their subsequent career behaviors. Through the perspective of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study examined the association between career self-efficacy, negative mood regulation expectancies, coping, and emotional experience among college student athletes. The study recruited college and university student athletes in Taiwan as research participants and collected data via questionnaire surveys. Each participant completed four scales that measured their career self-efficacy, negative mood regulation expectancies, coping, and emotional experience. In total, 494 valid questionnaires were returned. The data obtained were statistically analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that coping and negative mood regulation expectancies had positive effects on emotional experience. Career self-efficacy had an indirect effect on emotional experience through the moderation of negative mood regulation expectancies and coping. Implications for theory and practice are presented.