Background/Purpose
Mental toughness is a well-defined attribute consistently associated with high levels of performance. Specifically, mental toughness has been characterized as the ability to deal with stress and adversity in a way that performance does not suffer. The purpose of this study was to gather baseline data on the mental toughness of college students and student-athletes.
Method
Participants (n = 75) were selected university students and a matched sample of Division 1 student-athletes. Each responded to the 30-item Mental Toughness Scale (Goldberg, 2006). The instrument contains five subscales – Reboundability, Ability to Handle Pressure, Concentration, Confidence, and Motivation – which are summed to yield an overall Mental Toughness Score. The maximum score for each subscale is 6 to produce an over all maximum score of 30.
Analysis/Results
A one-way MANOVA was utilized to determine if significant differences were observed between the athletes and non-athletes on the five subscales. Significant differences were found between athletes and non-athletes, Wilks lambda = .69, F(5, 68) = 6.09, p = .000. Analyses of variances were conducted as follow-up tests to the MANOVA. The ANOVA for Pressure, F(1, 72) = 13.21, p = .001, Concentration, F(1, 72) = 17.12, p = .000, Confidence, F(1, 72) = 11.49, p = .001, and Motivation, F(1, 72) = 10.57, p = .002 were each significant. For each significant subscale, the athletes scored higher when compared to students.
Conclusions
Not surprisingly, student-athletes demonstrated higher levels of mental toughness. Further research will investigate the effectiveness of mental toughness training for both student-athletes and students.