International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2012, 7992

Mental toughness in sport: a review and prospect

Yu-Kai Changa*, Lin Chib and Chih-Shiung Huanga
a
Graduate Institute of Coaching Science, National Taiwan Sport University, No.250, Wenhua 1st Rd.,
Guishan Shiang, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan; bPhysical Eduction Center, Ta Hwa Institute of
Technology, No.1, Dahua Rd., Qionglin Shiang Hsinchu County 307, Taiwan

(Received 31 October 2010; nal version received 20 June 2011)

Numerous studies have indicated that mental toughness plays a signicant role in successful
sports performance. However, most early research into the effects of mental toughness was
merely descriptive, and only recently were the theoretical and systematic bases of mental
toughness structures and concepts signicantly established. Additionally, previous studies
were based on a variety of measurements and research designs focusing on mental
toughness structures and concepts, resulting in a number of non-identical points of view. In
order to further understand the development of contemporary mental tenacity research, the
purpose of this manuscript is to review those studies examining the relationship between
mental toughness and sports performance, as well as focusing on the following four specic
sections including the early views on mental toughness, contemporary mental toughness
research applying qualitative approaches, contemporary mental toughness research using
quantitative approaches, and research on mental toughness and other mental variables.
Conclusion and future research recommendations in these areas are also covered.
Keywords: hardiness; mental toughness; optimism; pain; psychological skill

*Corresponding author. Email: yukaichangnew@gmail.com

ISSN 1612-197X print/ISSN 1557-251X online
2012 International Society of Sport Psychology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2012.661202
http://www.tandfonline.com

80

Y.-K. Chang et al.

(sport)

Weinberg Gould (2003)

50%Orlick Partington (1988)
235
(mental) (physical) (technical)
(mental readiness)

Gould, Hodge, Peterson, Petlichkoff (1987)

(positive attitude)/
82%
(mental toughness) Gould, Dieffenbach, Moffett
(2002) 32
(73%)
* : 250 Tel: +886-3-328-33201*2404. Email: yukaichangnew@
gmail.com

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

81

(/
/)

(Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock,

2008) (peak performance) (Bull,
Shambrook, James, & Brooks, 2005; Crust, 2007; Jones, Hanton, & Connaughton, 2002,
2007)

(Crust, 2007; Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2009a)

Jones et al. (2002)

Cattell, Blewett, Beloff (1955)

(personality trait)Cattell (1957)
16
(selfreliant) (realistic responsible) (emotional sensitivity)
Cattell
(Horsburgh, Schermer, Veselka, & Vernon, 2009; Kroll, 1967; Tutko &
Richards, 1971; Werner & Gottheil, 1966)
Loehr
(Loehr, 1982, 1986, 1995)
50%
(ow of positive
energy)
(Jones et al., 2002;
Loehr, 1982)
Loehr (1995)
(Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2009b)Loehr (1982)

Gould et al. (1987) Loehr

Loehr (1995)Gould et al. (1987)

(Crust, 2007)

82

Y.-K. Chang et al.

(general mental toughness)

Fourie Potgieter (2001) 31131
160
12

(goal directedness)
(psychological hardiness)
(perseverance)
Jones et al. (2002, 2007)
(Crust, 2007)Jones et al. (2002) (
) (personalconstruct theory, PCT ) (focus group)

(natural) (developed) (psychological edge)

() (cope)

(attribute)
12

(focus)/

Jones et al. (2002)

() ()
() Jones et al. (2007)
(framework)

()

(Bull, Albinson, & Shambrook, 1996; Gould et al., 1987)

1330/
/

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

83

Jones et al. (2002) 12

Jones et al. (2007) 30
(Gucciardi et al., 2009a)
Connaughton, Wadey, Hanton, Jones
(2008) Jones et al. (2002)

(multi-dimensional
mechanism) (fashion)
(perception)
(
) (
)

(specic mental toughness)

(Bull et al., 2005; Gucciardi et al., 2008;

Thelwell, Weston, & Greenlees, 2005)Gucciardi et al. (2009a)

Bull et al. (2005) 12 (English cricketers)

(developmental factors) (dedication and commitment)

(mental toughness pyramid)

(global themes) (environmental inuence)

(tough character) (selfreection) (resilient condence)

(tough attitude)

(belief in making the difference)

(tough
thinking)
(robust self-condence)
/

(external pressure)
Bull et al. (2005)

(Gucciardi et al.,
2009a)
Thelwell et al. (2005) Jones et al. (2002)
6

84

Y.-K. Chang et al.

Jones et al. (2002)

() (always)
Jones et al. (2002) (generally)

Jones et al. (2002) 12 Thelwell et al. (2005)

43

Jones et al. (2002)

()
Gucciardi (2008, 2009a) (personal construct psychology, PCP) (Australia football)
Gucciardi et al. (2009a) 11

(collection)
Gucciardi et al. (2008) (characteristics) (behaviors) (situations) 11

(resilience)
(emotional intelligence)
(sport intelligence)

(Gucciardi et al., 2008) (Gucciardi et al., 2009a)

Loehr (Loehr, 1982, 1986, 1995)

Loehr (1982)
(Psychological Performance Inventory, PPI)Loehr (1986) PPI
PPI 5
(Likets 5-point scale) (1 = 5 = )42
6
63042210Cronbachs 0.42
0.82PPI (Gould et al., 2002) (Loehr, 1995)
PPI (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002; Fourie
& Potgieter, 2001; Jones et al., 2002)

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

85

Loehr (1982) ()
PPI (Golby, Sheard, &
van Wersch, 2007; Middleton et al., 2004; Murphy & Tammen, 1998)Middleton
et al. (2004) 263 PPI (psychometric analysis)
PPI (poor model t)
(key correlation) PPI

Clough et al. (2002) Loehr (1995) PPI

48 (Mental Toughness 48 Inventory,
MT48) 4Cs (4Cs model) C (commitment)
(control) (challenge) 3CsKobasa (1979) (hardiness) (dispositional construct) C (condence)

MT48 5 (1 = 5 = )MT48
0.90.730.710.710.8
MT48 18 (Mental Toughness 18 Inventory, MT18) (Levy, Polman, Clough, Marchant, & Earle, 2006)MT48
Clough et al. (2002)
(Connaughton, Hanton, Jones, & Wadey,
2008)
Sheard, Golby, van Wersch (2009) 1142 16 63
(Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire, SMTQ)SMTQ 53
18 (constancy)
4 (1 = 4= )
Schmid-Leiman 14
(general mental toughness)
12% 38%
0.79 0.76 0.72 SMTQ

(2004)
(
)
(Trait Mental Toughness Inventory for Sport)
(Pre-competition State Mental Touchiness Inventory)
5 (1 = 3 = 5 = )36
(36.69%) (8.23%)
(4.08%) 49%
(Cronbachs 0.81 0.95 ) (
)
5 (1 = 3 = 5 = ) 22
(42.42%) (4.79%)
(4.28%) 51.49% (Cronbachs 0.77
0.91) ()

86

Y.-K. Chang et al.

Gucciardi et al. (2009b)

(Australia Football Mental Toughness Inventory,

AfMTI)AfMTI 4181530
607 (1 = 7 = )
(social desirability) (dispositional resilience) (ow)
AfMTI 24
(thrive through challenge) (sport awareness)
(toughness attitude) (desire success)AfMTI (
0.70 0.89 )

(Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982; Maddi, 2004) (stress-hardy personality) Fourie Potgieter
(2001) Clough et al. (2002) 4Cs
Clough C

Golby Sheard (2004) (rugby)

115 (
) PPI 18 (18-item Personal Views
Survey III-R, PVSIII-R) PPI () PVSIII-R

(19%46%) (9%
6%)

PPI
(Golby et al., 2007; Middleton et al., 2004;
Murphy & Tammen, 1998)

Clough Earle (2002) MT48 (Clough et al., 2002)

23

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

87

30 (30% VO2 max) (50%

VO2 max) (70% VO2 max) 51525
(demand)

(moderate)

(Crust, 2008)Horsburgh et al. (2009) 152 (monozygotic) 67 (dizygotic) (twin methodology)

240
(Revised NEO Personality Inventory, NEO-PI-R) (Costa & McCrae, 1992) (extraversion) (neuroticism) (openness to experience)(agreeableness)
(conscientiousness) Clough
4Cs MT48 (Clough et al., 2002)

(additive genetic effect, 2 = 0.47 0.56) (nonshared environment

effects, e2 = 0.440.53)

() (2
= 0.360.52) (e2 = 0.44 0.64)
(r = -0.35 -0.64)

Nicholls

(Nicholls, Polman, Levy, & Backhouse, 2008, 2009)Nicholls et al. (2009)

677 15 58 (
) ()
MT48

(Jones et al., 2002)

(Horsburgh et al., 2009) (Connaughton, Wadey, et al., 2008;
Sheard & Golby, 2006)

88

Y.-K. Chang et al.

Nicholls et al. (2008)

(Bull et al., 2005; Jones et al., 2002, 2007; Thelwell et al., 2005)
(Gould et al.,
2002) (Nicholls & Polman, 2007) (Nicholls
et al., 2008) MT48
(Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport, CICS)
(Life Orientation Test)
(effort expenditure) (thought control) (logical analysis)
(approach coping strategies) (distancing)
(mental distraction) (resignation) (avoidance coping strategies)

(emotional control) (Clough et al.,

2002; Loehr, 1995) (choke)
(affect intensity)
(Larsen, Diener, & Cropanzano, 1987)Larsen

(personal meaning)
(Larsen et al., 1987; Larsen, Diener, & Emmons, 1986)

Crust (2009) 112

MT48 40 (Affect Intensity
Measure)

(coping appraisals) (threat appraisals) (home based adherence) (pain) (severity)

(susceptibility) (treatment efcacy)

Levy et al. (2006)

70 (Sport Injury Rehabilitation Beliefs, SIRBS)15 (Sport Inventory for Pain 15 item, SIP15) (Sport Injury Rehabilitation Adherence Survey,
SIRAS) MT18 (MT48 )

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

89

(Brewer et al., 2003)Levy et al. (2006)

Jones (Connaughton, Hanton et al., 2008; Connaughton, Wadey et al., 2008; Jones et al.,
2002, 2007)Clough (Clough & Earle, 2002; Clough et al., 2002; Crust & Clough,
2005; Levy et al., 2006) Bull (Bull et al., 2005)

Loehr PPI (Loehr, 1982, 1986,

1995)Clough et al. (2002) MT48 Sheard et al. (2009)
SMTQ (2004)
Gucciardi et al. (2009b) AfMTI

(
) ()

Nicholls et al .(2009)
(
)

(Bull et al., 2005; Gucciardi et al.,

2008; Thelwell et al., 2005)

(2004)

Horsburgh et al. (2009)

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Y.-K. Chang et al.

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(Connaughton, Wadey et al., 2008)

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