Comparison of Mental Toughness Levels in Racquet Sports
Abstract
The aim of this study is to compare mental toughness levels in racket sports according to various variables. The sample of the study consisted of 415 volunteer athletes (206 females and 209 males). The Mental Toughness Inventory in Sports was used to collect the data. The scale used is a 4-point likert type. In addition, the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficients of the scale are control 0.66, continuity 0.71, and confidence 0.72. SPSS 21.0 package program was used to analysis of data. Skewness and kurtosis values were used to test the normality distribution of the data, then parametric tests were applied. Independent Groups T-Test and One-Way ANOVA were used to compare variables and Tukey Post Hoc test was used to test between which groups the difference existed. Data were evaluated at a 95% confidence interval and a significance level of 0.05. As a result of the research, no significant difference was found between the mental toughness level and gender variable (p>0,05). There were significant differences in all sub-dimensions between the groups according to the sport type variable, sport age variable, and the number of training days (p<0,05). As a result, it can be said that the mental toughness levels of athletes are affected by the variables of training day, sport age and sport type, and increasing the level of mental toughness is important for athlete performance.
Keywords
Mental Toughness, Racquet Sports, Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis
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