Abstract
This study has assessed the psychometric proprieties of the Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI) within the context of Brazilian sports. About 12 professionals participated in the process of adapting and translating the scale to Brazilian Portuguese. Subjects were 575 athletes (23.54 ± 5.79 years old; 58% males) who answered the MTI and the 10-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). Data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach's alpha (α), composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), Spearman correlation, and model invariance tests. Results from CFA showed adequate fit for the original 8-item structure of the scale [Chi-square (χ2) = 27.041; p = 0.078; normalized chi-square (χ2/df) = 1.50; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.988; Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.981; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.03 [0.00–0.05]; standardized root mean residual (SRMR) = 0.030] assessing mental toughness (MT) as a single factor and the scale presented satisfactory internal consistency (CR = 0.81; α = 0.82). MT was correlated with resilience (r = 0.607), age (r = 0.276), and time of experience in the sport (r = 0.215). The MTI has also shown partial measurement invariance for sex and complete invariance across sport types. It was concluded that the MTI is a suitable tool for assessing MT in the present sample of Brazilian athletes; this instrument has potential practical application for researchers and sports psychologists who seek to develop the well-being and performance of athletes.
Highlights
For an athlete to consistently achieve good results, physical factors must be trained as psychological aspects are essential for success
mental toughness (MT) plays an important role for an athlete to consistently perform at high levels despite the stress, Brazilian Mental Toughness Inventory challenges, and everyday adversities that are deemed necessary to be developed by athletes who seek to achieve their best results (Weinberg, 2013)
Items have presented satisfactory content validity coefficient (CVC) for language clarity (0.93) and practical pertinence (1.00) for a total CVC of 0.97 for the scale as a whole. These results suggest that the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI) can be accurately interpreted by respondents and has practical relevance for the context of sports
Summary
For an athlete to consistently achieve good results, physical factors must be trained as psychological aspects are essential for success Different mental resources such as context knowledge, emotion regulation, attention regulation, self-efficacy, and optimism are important for an athlete to be prepared for the demands and challenges that are part of competitive sports (Gucciardi et al, 2015). MT plays an important role for an athlete to consistently perform at high levels despite the stress, Brazilian Mental Toughness Inventory challenges, and everyday adversities that are deemed necessary to be developed by athletes who seek to achieve their best results (Weinberg, 2013). In this sense, assessing the MT of athletes is crucial, since it encompasses aspects considered to be essential for success (Gould et al, 1987; Jones et al, 2002; Anthony et al, 2020)
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