Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Toughness (Personality trait)--Middle West; College athletes--Middle West--Psychology; Women swimmers--Middle West--Psychology; College sports--Middle West--Psychological aspects;

Abstract

Context: Mental toughness is considered to be one of the most important psychosocial skills an athlete can attain to be successful in sports competition. Mental toughness has also been acknowledged as one of the most popular terms used in sport psychology and is the least understood. The majority of mental toughness research focuses on how mental toughness should be defined, is developed, and the key aspects of mental toughness. Minimal research has examined whether an athlete’s mental toughness can change or improve due to the use of a mental skills training program. Objective: To determine if mental toughness can change over a short period of time with the utilization of a 42 day individualized electronic mental skills training program among a Division 1 collegiate women’s swimming team. Design: Single subject Quasi-Experimental design. Participants: A homogeneous sample of 18 Division 1 collegiate swimmers. Methods: All swimmers were invited to participate in the mental skills training program. Mental toughness was assessed using the MeBTough©. The mental skills training program was administered via the MeBTough© website. Following the 42 day mental skills training program, mental toughness was reassessed. Measures: Mean MeBTough© scores were compared from pre-test to post-test. Results: A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare mean mental toughness scores from pre-test to post-test after implementation of a mental skills training program. There was a significant increase (t (17) = -5.14, p ˂.001) from pre-test mental toughness scores (M = 407.2, SD = 57.18) to post-test mental toughness scores (M = 459.2, SD = 61.18). A similar paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare perceived confidence scores from pre-test to post-test after an implementation of a mental skills training program. There was a significant increase (t(17) = -3.432, p ˂.003) from pre-test perceived confidence scores (M = 6.72, SD = 1.601) to post-test perceived confidence scores (M = 7.78, SD = 1.39). Conclusion: In conclusion, the 6 week individualized mental skills training program used in this study appears to be beneficial. Participants seemed to enjoy the intervention, felt it was easy to navigate through the website, and felt the intervention improved mental toughness and confidence. For this study, the mental skills training program increased mental toughness in collegiate swimmers.

Year of Submission

2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

Department

Division of Athletic Training

First Advisor

Mickey Mack, Co-Chair

Second Advisor

Windee Weiss, Co-Chair

Date Original

2014

Object Description

1 PDF file (vii, 65 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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