Objectives: Previous research highlights the strong correlation between certain personality traits and individual career adaptability levels, yet the role of competitive personality remains underexplored. This study aims to fill the gaps by assessing the relationship between competitive attitudes and career adaptability among Chinese college students. Methods: A multi-stage stratified random sampling approach was used to conduct a cross-sectional survey of 692 undergraduate students from a top university in China. The final sample comprised 22.11% females and 77.89% males, aged 18-24, with a mean age of 19.54 years (SD = 2.16). Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were utilized to examine the relationship between competitive attitudes and career adaptability. Results: Results showed that the average scores among college students were 10.068 for feelings for competition, 8.876 for beliefs about competition, and 7.802 for behavioral tendencies of competition. Significant gender differences were observed across all three dimensions (p < 0.01). In terms of career adaptability, the average scores for career concern, career control, career curiosity, and career confidence were 14.802, 15.601, 15.678, and 15.828, respectively, with no significant gender differences. Feelings for the competition had significantly negative impacts on career control and career curiosity (with coefficients of -0.149 and -0.110, respectively). Conversely, beliefs about competition had significant positive effects on career concern, control, curiosity, and confidence (with coefficients of 0.223, 0.200, 0.207, and 0.162, respectively). Conclusions: The findings suggest that feelings for competition hinder the development of career adaptability, whereas beliefs about competition contribute positively to enhancing career adaptability.