IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ben/tospsj/v10y2017i1p1-14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental Toughness and Success in Sport: A Review and Prospect

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Gregory Cowden

    (North-West University Institute of Psychology and Well-being, South Africa)

Abstract

Background : Mental toughness (MT) is often referred to as one of the most important psychological attributes underpinning the success of athletes. Although selected studies have examined this common supposition, research in this area has yet to be synthesized. Objective : The purpose of this study was to review the quantitative literature on MT, competitive standard, achievement level, and performance (competitive and non-competitive) in sport. Method : Searches using a specified key term were performed in 10 databases during August 2016. Following an initial screening of the unique records that were identified (N = 1025), 19 peer-reviewed articles met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the review. Results : The majority of MT-competitive standard studies (N = 10) found total (66.7%) or subcomponent (71.4%) MT differences, with mentally tougher athletes participating at higher levels of competition. Of the remaining studies (N = 9), most indicated (77.8%) mentally tougher athletes tend to achieve more or perform better. Conclusion : Collectively, the results point to mentally tougher athletes’ superior levels of success. The findings are discussed alongside the limitations associated with this part of the current MT in sport literature, with several important areas outlined for scholars to consider and pursue when conducting future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Gregory Cowden, 2017. "Mental Toughness and Success in Sport: A Review and Prospect," The Open Sports Sciences Journal, Bentham Open, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ben:tospsj:v:10:y:2017:i:1:p:1-14
    DOI: 10.2174/1875399X01710010001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://benthamopen.com/DOWNLOAD-PDF/TOSSJ-10-1/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOSSJ-10-1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2174/1875399X01710010001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Song Gu & Sheng Bi & Zhixun Guan & Xuemo Fang & Xulu Jiang, 2022. "Relationships among Sports Group Cohesion, Passion, and Mental Toughness in Chinese Team Sports Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Luiza Ossowska & Dariusz Kloskowski & Dorota Janiszewska, 2024. "The Rural Sport Event—The Atmosphere from the Participants’ Perspective," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-16, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ben:tospsj:v:10:y:2017:i:1:p:1-14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Rehana Raza (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.