Purpose: The present study aimed to test the structural model of sports self-regulation based on psychological hardiness and perception of success, considering the mediating role of hope among athletes.

Methods: This research was descriptive-correlational, with a statistical population that included all male and female athletes in various sports disciplines in 2024, from which 200 participants were selected using simple random sampling. Data collection tools included the Psychological Hardiness Questionnaire by Kobasa and colleagues (1982), the Sports Self-Regulation Questionnaire by Ryan and Connell (1989), the Perception of Success Questionnaire by Roberts, Treasure, and Balague (1998), and the Hope Questionnaire by Snyder and colleagues (1991). Data analysis using SPSS-26 and SmartPLS-3 software.

Results: The findings revealed that psychological hardiness had a significant direct positive effect on sports self-regulation, while perception of success and hope did not have significant direct effects on sports self-regulation. Furthermore, psychological hardiness had a significant direct negative effect on hope, whereas perception of success had a significant direct positive effect on hope. The mediating role of hope in the relationships between psychological hardiness and perception of success with sports self-regulation was not confirmed. The proposed model demonstrated a good fit, and the predictor variables collectively explained 55.5% of the variance in sports self-regulation.

Conclusion: The findings emphasize the key and direct role of psychological hardiness in predicting sports self-regulation. Coaches and sport psychologists can take an effective step toward improving athletes' self-regulation and subsequent performance by designing intervention programs that strengthen the components of commitment, control, and challenge.