Examining Mental Toughness and Collegiate Performance in Individual Sports: A Descriptive-Correlational Study
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Mental toughness is widely recognized as a crucial psychological factor in competitive sports, yet its variation across athlete demographics and its link to performance remain inconclusive, particularly among collegiate athletes in Southeast Asia. This study examined differences in mental toughness and sports performance across demographic profiles and explored their relationship among individual-sport athletes. A descriptive correlational design was employed involving 64 College of Education student-athletes (34 men, 30 women) competing in taekwondo, swimming, athletics, darts, and chess at the 2024 University Intramurals of Mindanao State University–General Santos City, Philippines. Participants were selected through simple random sampling. Mental toughness was assessed using an adopted, expert-validated questionnaire measuring rebound ability, pressure handling, concentration, confidence, and motivation. Sports performance was based on institutional rank scores; anthropometric measures were not collected, as the study focused on psychological and competitive-performance variables. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA with Scheffé post-hoc test, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation at α = .05. Overall mental toughness was average (M = 3.34), with motivation rated high (M = 4.00), while sports performance was poor (M = 2.98). Mental toughness did not significantly differ across sex, sport, year level, or playing experience. Sports performance differed only by sport type (p = .005), with swimming lower than taekwondo and athletics. No significant relationship was found between mental toughness and sports performance (ρ = −.004, p = .978). These findings suggest that performance is influenced more by sport-specific and contextual factors than mental toughness alone, highlighting the need for targeted psychological skills training and sport-specific conditioning.
DOI: 10.23917/jhspe.18670
Institution: Mindanao State University – General Santos
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7202344449