Better leaders, safer spaces: Relationship between coaches’ identity leadership, psychological safety and athlete mental health in a Singaporean context

The social identity approach to leadership suggests that coaches can influence athletes’ performance and health through fostering a shared identity. However, little is known if this effect extends to holistic conceptualisations of athlete mental health, or to athletes in individual sports. Team identification and psychological safety are theorised mediators, although this has not been tested in non-Western samples, such as Singapore. Therefore, the present study investigated if perceived coach identity leadership influences various Singaporean athlete mental health outcomes in individual and team sports, and if team identification and psychological safety mediated the relationship. Results from a sample of 113 Singaporean national elite athletes partially confirmed the relationship between coaches’ identity leadership and athlete mental health. While sport type did not moderate the relationship, team identification and psychological safety were confirmed as serial mediators. Taken together, the results suggest that by practicing identity leadership, coaches can positively influence athlete mental health through creating a psychologically safe environment for athletes from individual and team sports.