Mental Toughness Across Sport Types: A Comparative Study of Individual and Team University Athletes

Abstract

Mental toughness (MT) is widely recognized as a critical psychological construct influencing athletic performance across different sport types. This study aimed to compare MT levels between individual and team sport athletes participating in a university-level intercollegiate sports event hosted by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia. A cross-sectional design was employed with a purposive sample of 68 university athletes (34 individual sport, 34 team sport) who completed the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ), assessing confidence, constancy, and control. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent-samples t-test. Results showed no statistically significant difference in overall MT between individual and team athletes t (66) = –0.537, p = 0.593), with a negligible effect size (Cohen’s d = –0.13). Subscale analyses similarly revealed no significant differences across confidence, constancy, and control. These findings suggest that sport type alone may not account for variations in MT among university athletes. The study emphasizes the importance of universal psychological training interventions to enhance resilience across sport categories.