Effect of quality sleep on basketball three-point shooting outcomes: the mediating role of athletic mental energy in a cross-sectional study of collegiate athletes.

Introduction: Quality sleep is crucial for optimal sports performance, yet the psychological mechanisms underpinning the sleep-sports performance relationship require further examination. Methods: This cross-sectional study explored the effects of athletic mental energy (AME) and sleep quality on basketball three-point shooting outcomes with a particular emphasis on the mediating role of AME. One hundred and forty-five collegiate basketball athletes (71 males and 74 females; M age = 19.62 ± 1.35) with highly trained levels were recruited to evaluate sleep quality, AME, and basketball three-point shooting performance and percentage. Data were collected through validated questionnaires and a standardized three-point shooting test, and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping. Results: Sleep quality was positively associated with basketball three-point shooting performance (r = 0.22, p = 0.007) and shooting percentage (r = 0.22, p = 0.009). AME partially and fully mediated these associations (indirect effect = 0.18, p = 0.031, 95% bias-corrected CI [0.02-0.42] for shooting performance; indirect effect = 0.27, p = 0.019, 95% bias-corrected CI [0.04-0.60] for shooting percentage). Conclusions: The findings contribute to the literature on the relationship between sleep and competition-relevant sports performance and suggest AME as one of the potential psychological mechanisms underlying these associations. These results highlight the importance of considering athletes' sleep quality and AME in performance contexts, while further research is needed to strengthen and generalize these conclusions.