An investigation into the nature of mental toughness in sport

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study investigated the components of mental toughness as reported in the sport psychologyliterature and by coaches and athletes. A questionnaire devised for this purpose by the researcher,was completed by 131 expert coaches from 30 different sport disciplines and by 160 elite levelathletes from 31 different sport disciplines. The information gathered from the literature, as wellas from the coaches' and athletes' written statements, was analysed by means of an inductivecontent analysis. Content analysis organises the data into increasingly more complex themes andcategories representing the components of mental toughness. From the literature analysis, eightcomponents of mental toughness were identified, these being: motivation level, arousal control,confidence maintenance, cognitive skill, competitive behaviour, planning skills, emotionalreadiness and team cohesion. The analysis of the statements provided by the coaches and athletesresulted in the identification of 12 components of mental toughness. These are, in descendingorder: motivation level, coping skills, confidence maintenance, cognitive skill, discipline andgoal-directedness, competitiveness, possession of prerequisite physical and mental requirements,team unity, preparation skills, psychological hardiness, religious convictions and ethics. Inaddition the coaches and athletes rated their mentioned characteristics. The coaches regardedconcentration as the most important characteristic while the athletes regarded perseverance asmost important. The coaches rated a coach and a sport psychologist respectively, to besignificantly more effective (p<0.05) in strengthening the characteristics of mental toughness thanathletes did. It is concluded that a definition of mental toughness should include the followingcomponents: motivation level, coping skills (including arousal control strategies), confidencemaintenance (including discipline and goal directedness), cognitive skill, competitive behaviour(including competitiveness and possession of the prerequisite physical and mental requirements),planning and preparation skills, psychological hardiness (including emotional readiness) and,finally, religious convictions and ethics. In team sports the definition of mental toughnesscontains an extra component, namely team cohesion and unity.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University