Developing and training mental toughness in sport: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and pre-test and post-test experiments

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy of interventions designed to train and develop mental toughness (MT) in sport.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.Data sourcesJournal articles, conference papers and doctoral theses indexed in Embase, Scopus, PubMed and SPORTDiscus from inception to 22 November 2019.Eligibility criteria for selecting studiesObservational and pre–post experimental designs on the efficacy of physical and/or psychological interventions designed to promote MT in athletes.ResultsA total of 12 studies, published between 2005 and 2019, were included in the review. A majority of the studies included a sample comprised exclusively of male athletes (54.55%), MT interventions were primarily psychological (83.33%) and most studies measured MT via self-report (75%). The Psychological Performance Inventory (25%), the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 (16.67%), and the Mental, Emotional and Bodily Toughness Inventory (16.67%) were the most popular inventories used to measure MT. Methodological quality assessments for controlled intervention studies (k=7), single group pre-test–post-test designs (k=4) and single-subject designs (k=1) indicated that the risk of bias was high in most (75%) of the studies. The meta-analysis involving k=10 studies revealed a large effect (d=0.80, 95% CI 0.30 to 1.28), with variability across studies estimated at 0.56.ConclusionAlthough the findings of this review suggest there are effective, empirically based interventions designed to train MT in sport, practitioners should be aware of the level of validity of intervention research before adopting any of the MT training programmes reported in the applied sport psychology literature.

The Effectiveness of the Psychological Intervention in Amateur Male Marathon Runners

“…The current study provides a PST framework that could help psychologists and trainers to enhance athletes' mental skills, with promising applications for amateur and professional runners. Furthermore, as non-control studies are widely used in meta-analysis of training effectiveness (Weston et al, 2014 ; Csapo and Alegre, 2015 ; Taylor et al, 2015 ; Hammami et al, 2018 ; Stamatis et al, 2020 ), our results may be used in future meta-analysis to estimate the effects of PST on athletes.…”

The Potential Benefits of Non-skills Training (Mental Toughness) for Elite Athletes: Coping With the Negative Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Moreover, the importance of Mental Toughness in optimizing performance is widely acknowledged within athletic settings (coaches, sports psychologists, athletes, etc.) (Goldberg, 1998;Stamatis et al, 2020). This perspective is commensurate with the delineation of Mental Toughness as an important factor in fostering adaptive responses to positively and negatively construed pressures, situations, and events (Cowden, 2017, Lin et al, 2017.…”

“…Noting these factors, while the body of research indicates that interventions can increase Mental Toughness and concomitantly have adaptive psychological benefits (i.e., facilitate coping), researchers and practitioners should carefully interrogate studies from which these conclusions derive before designing and administering interventions. Likewise, they should cautiously pilot interventions, carefully monitor and document outcomes (Stamatis et al, 2020).…”

Conductas violentas en primaria Nivel Básico, Medio Superior y Superior

“…Es posible que las clases de Educación Física permitan a los estudiantes ser más resilientes (San Román-Mata et al, (2020) o que la práctica de deportes les permita poseer una mayor fortaleza mental (Stamatis et al, 2020), ya que en el presente estudio se encontró que incluso aquellos que se habían lesionado durante las clases de Educación Física presentaron puntajes menores en las dimensiones de agresión verbal, estado de ira y estado de hostilidad que quienes no se habían lesionado durante las clases. Por lo tanto, es posible que quienes realizan actividad física estructurada puedan administrar mejor sus emociones y que este beneficio se mantenga a largo plazo (i.e., efecto crónico).…”