Introduction: Research examining psychological factors in climbing performance has developed significantly since the inclusion of climbing as an Olympic sport. Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997, 2012) is a motivational framework that examines goal-pursuit strategies. It categorises individuals into chronic promotion focus (sensitive to the presence or absence of positive outcomes) and chronic prevention focus (sensitive to the presence or absence of negative outcomes).
Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the role of regulatory focus in the relationship between self-efficacy and creativity among climbers.
Methods: 99 climbers (40 females, 1 non-binary; age M = 34.28 years, SD = 11.36; climbing experience M = 12.25 years, SD = 7.71; 27.3% regular competitors) answered an online survey that measured chronic regulatory focus (Semin et al., 2005), climbing self-efficacy (Llewellyn et al., 2008), and general creativity (Epstein et al., 2008).
Results: Correlation analysis revealed that promotion focus positively and significantly correlated with self-efficacy and creativity, while prevention focus correlated negatively and significantly with creativity but had no association with self-efficacy. Mediation analysis showed that promotion focus completely mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and creativity, while prevention focus did not.
Conclusions: Findings indicate that one's motivational focus is related to creativity in climbing. More precisely, our findings suggest that promotion-focused climbers would be best equipped to engage in exploratory and innovative behaviours, critical for successful climbing performance. Whereas prevention-focused individuals seem to rather prioritise risk avoidance over creative thinking, a tendency that may hinder performance in climbing, given the inherent uncertain and dynamic characteristics of the sport of climbing.