Investigating The Relationship between Mental Toughness and Competitive Aggressiveness and Anger of Iranian Elite Track and Field Athletes

The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between mental toughness and competitive aggressiveness and anger of Iranian elite athletes.

The current study was a descriptive – correlational one. The participants of the study were the total number of track and field elite Iranian male and female athletes who were members of the national team in 2020. For this reason, the statistical sample was 100 elite athletes (18 to 30 years old) with an average age of (23.26 ± 4.120) in track and field discipline using available sampling (50 males, 50 females). To measure mental toughness and its component Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) of Sheard, Golby et al. has been applied, and Maxwell & Moores’s Competitive Aggressiveness and Anger Scale (CAAS) has been used to measure competitive aggressiveness and anger. The collected data has been analyzed by means of Spearman's ranking correlation coefficient.

The results of the correlation revealed a negative and significant relationship between the overall score of competitive aggressiveness and anger with the overall score of mental toughness and subscales of constancy and control as well as the overall score of mental toughness and aggressiveness subscale of competitive aggressiveness and anger (p < 0.05). In addition, the relationship between the overall score of competitive aggressiveness and anger with the control component of mental toughness is stronger than all relationships.

Overall, according to the findings it can be considered that track and field athletes with higher mental toughness experience lower competitive aggressiveness and anger.