The Effect of Imagery Ability on Mental Toughness and Sportive Confidence Level in Athletes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the imagery abilities of the athletes on their mental toughness and sportive confidence levels. 627 individual and team sports athletes that were active sports and licensed participated in the study in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. In the study, the sports imagery scale developed by Hall et al., (1998) adapted to Turkish by Kızıldağ (2007) was used with the aim of determining the types of imagery of athletes, Mental toughness scale in sports developed by Sheard et al. (2009) adapted to Turkish by Altıntaş and Koruç (2016) was used to determine the level of mental toughness in the sports events and Sportive continuous self-confidence scale developed by Vealey (1986) and adapted to Turkish by Yıldırım (2013) was used to determine athletes' sportive confidence. In collecting data, face to face survey method was preferred. The Pearson Correlation and Linear Regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data obtained through the SPSS package program. According to the results of the analysis, it was found that there were significant relationships between the imagery ability in athletes and the lower dimensions of mental toughness and sportive confidence. According to this result, it was shown that the ability of imagery in athletes is an important factor in their mental toughness and sportive confidence levels.