Mental Toughness in Sports: A Comparative Study

The present study aimed to examine the mental toughness of sports participants who studied in school and college level. Mental toughness is often regarded as one of the most crucial psychological attributes underpinning the success of athletes. It has usually been classified as a critical success factor due to the role it plays in fostering adaptive responses to positively and negatively construed pressures, situations, and events. The subjects, school and college- level students participating in games [N-40], were administered the Mental Toughness Questionnaire (Dr Alan Goldberg, 1995) to find their level of mental toughness. An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare scores between school and college students. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant at p<.05, and the results showed that College students (M= 21.70, SD= 1.89) scored significantly higher than School students (M= 19.35, SD= 4.15). These findings suggested that the college group performed better on the measured variable than the school group.