Mental toughness in elite and sub-elite female soccer players

Abstract

Mental toughness (MT) is seen as an important psychological factor in the athletic success of elite athletes. Research on the subject has usually concerned male athletes. Our purpose was to investigate whether there are differences in mental toughness between female players who compete in an elite league and those who play at lower levels. In total, 298 female soccer players (M = 20.7 years, SD = 3.7 years) from three levels of Norwegian soccer responded to the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire. The MT Constancy subscale was removed from analysis due to an unacceptable Cronbach alpha (0.57). The results revealed that elite league players had significantly higher MT Global scores than those in lower leagues. The elite players had higher scores than the third league players on the MT Confidence subscale. For MT Control, the elite league players had a significantly higher score than the second league players, but the elite players did not differ significantly from the third league players on this subscale. These results partially confirm a relationship between mental toughness and playing level among female soccer players.