Objectives Research has shown that mindfulness in athletes is associated with positive outcomes. We therefore assessed the effect of mindfulness training on increasing mental toughness (MT) and psychological well-being (PWB). Methods This was a parallel-group, pre-and post-test, randomised controlled pilot trial. Forty-five female athletes from Iranian universities in Tehran were randomly assigned into experimental ( n = 23) and control groups ( n = 22). Forty-two completed the trial. The mindfulness training group received the Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment programme for 7 weeks. All subjects completed the Mindfulness Inventory for Sport (MIS), Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire and PWB Scale. Data were analysed using mixed analysis of variance. Results Mindfulness training increased mindfulness in the experimental group ( p < 0.01). In turn, increased mindfulness led to increased MT and PWB at 2-month follow-up ( p < 0.05). Conclusions Given that mindfulness training may increase the MT and PWB of athletes, these techniques should be considered for inclusion in sports coaching.

Background: Mindfulness-based interventions are well-established in the field of psychotherapy, and such interventions have also gained increased attention in the field of sport psychology, either to cope with psychological pressure or to improve an athlete’s performance. The goal of the present study was to examine whether a Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment (MAC) program could increase self-compassion and grit among elite female athletes compared to an active control condition. To this end, we performed a randomized trial among female adult athletes. Methods: Forty female adult athletes (Mage = 22.22, SD = 2.40) were randomly assigned either to the Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment group (n = 20; 7 group sessions, 60 min each) or the active control group (n = 20; 7 group sessions, 60 min each). At baseline, seven weeks later at the end of the study and again four weeks later at follow-up, participants completed a series of self-rating questionnaires on mindfulness, self-compassion and grit. Results: Dimensions of mindfulness, self-compassion and grit improved over time, but more so in the Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment condition compared to the active control condition. Improvements remained stable from the study end to follow-up. Conclusions: While the active control condition improved dimensions of mindfulness, self-compassion and grit among female adult athletes, improvements were much stronger in the Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment condition. Importantly, improvements in the Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment condition remained stable over a time lapse of four weeks at follow-up after study completion, suggesting that the Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment intervention appeared to improve cognitive–emotional learning processes.

Introduction: One of the most significant negative emotions is competitive anxiety, which is one of the main causes of athletes' performance decline.. Aim:The present study aimed to examine the relationship between emotion-regulation strategies and competitive anxiety in elite Taekwondo athletes. Method:The research method was descriptive-correlational. For the purpose of the study, one hundred and twenty taekwondo athletes were selected via random sampling method from among the Iranian population of Taekwondo athletes' participating in South Korean Ambassador Cup. They completed three questionnaires including Emotion regulation questionnaire (EQR), Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT) and Revised Competitive State Anxiety-2 (CSAI-2R). The data were collected and analyzed by Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and ANOVA tests. Results:The results showed a significant relationship between emotion-regulation strategies and competitive anxiety. Moreover, reappraisal strategy negatively and suppression strategy positively predicted dimension of competitive anxiety variance, but this prediction reversed with Self-Confidence. In addition, the data indicated that the men use significantly more reappraisal and less suppression strategies than female. Conclusion:According to these results, it seems that emotion-regulation strategies have effective role in dimensions of competitive anxiety, and the level of Taekwondo Athletes' anxiety is correlated with these strategies.

Introduction: The present study aimed to examine a proposed model for the relationship between resilience and emotional reactions to failure, mediated by self-compassion and Emotion Regulation (ER) among martial artists. Materials and Methods: A total of 286 athletes (191 males & 95 females; Mean±SD age: 20.98±3.30 years) from different disciplines of martial arts (taekwondo, karate, Judo, & wushu) engaged in league championship participated in the study. Athletes completed the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). The proposed model was evaluated using structural equation modeling. Results: The obtained results revealed that resilience has direct and indirect effects on emotional reactions to failure. Furthermore, self-compassion and maladaptive ER play a partial negative mediating role between resilience and emotional reactions to failure. However, the mediating role of adaptive ER was not significant. Conclusion: The study data predicted negative emotional reactions to failure based on resilience, mediated by self-compassion and ER among martial artists; thus, these data indicate the necessity of paying attention to the development of resilience in martial artists. This method emphasizes self-compassion and the reduction of maladaptive ER for better recovery of failure and reduces its effects.