What is it about?
Quite often, examining the direct link between athlete self-report mental toughness and coach ratings of athletes mentally tough behaviour in competition is ignored. The current study further tests this relationship and explores self-regulated training behaviours as a potential mediator.
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Why is it important?
The link between athlete self-report mental toughness and behavioural outcomes of athletes in pressurised environments (with few exceptions) has been generally ignored in recent research. Making such links (i.e., self-report questionnaires to informant related observations) further help to validate self-report questionnaires. The current study does indeed show a positive relationship between self-report mental toughness and mentally tough behaviour. Further, this relationship is partially explained by how well the athlete controls (or self-regulates) their own training.
Perspectives
At an early stage of an athletes career, the training environment is a strong antecedent for mental toughness development. However, as the athlete develops across their career, the competition gets tougher. Therefore, the athlete has to train harder. It is in these situations that mental toughness (e.g., the ability to maintain high levels of training) becomes important. Further, athletes who are able to maintain high levels of training demonstrate higher levels of mentally tough behaviour under pressurised environments. In essence, the link between mental toughness and mentally tough behaviour is partially explained by how well the athlete trains.
Stuart Beattie
Bangor University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The mediating role of training behaviors on self-reported mental toughness and mentally tough behavior in swimming., Sport Exercise and Performance Psychology, November 2018, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/spy0000146.
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