The Relationship between Mental Toughness and Source of Sport Confidence of Elite Male and Female Athletes in Individual and Team Discipline

The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between mental toughness and self-confidence resources of elite male and female athletes in individual and team discipline.

The current study was a descriptive – correlational one. The participants of the study were the total number of individual and team athletes in Tehran province who had at least 5 years of sports experience, and participated in national competitions no less than one time. For this reason, the statistical sample was 145 elite athletes (15 to 40 years old) with average age of (26/84 ± 5/755) in different sport disciplines using available sampling (62 males, 83 females). To measure mental toughness and its component Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) of Sheard, Golby et al. has been applied, and Vealey’s Sources of Sport-Confidence Questionnaire (SSCQ) has been used to measure the sources of sport confidence. The collected data has been analyzed by means of Spearman's ranking correlation coefficient.

The results of the study revealed a positive and significant relationship between mental toughness and all three components of sources of sport confidence (p