The Effect of Coach’s Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors on Athlete Engagement: Mediation of Mental Toughness

The theory of interaction of the individual and environment is conducive to explore the effect of coach’s paternalistic leadership behaviors on athlete engagement and its mechanism of action. A questionnaire answered by 257 young athletes can test the relationship between coach’s paternalistic leadership behavior, athlete engagement and mental toughness. The results show that the benevolent leadership behavior has a positive influence on athlete engagement; virtue leadership behavior has a positive influence on athlete engagement; authoritarian leadership behavior has no effect on athlete engagement; mental toughness has a completely intermediary role between benevolent leadership behavior and athlete engagement, and it has a partial intermediary role between virtue leadership behavior and athlete engagement. Benevolent leadership behavior and virtue leadership have a direct positive influence on athlete engagement, which also improve athlete engagement by influencing the athletes’ mental toughness.