Mental Toughness and Loneliness Among Athletes

This study aimed to examine the relationship between mental toughness and loneliness levels among athletes engaged in archery. Specifically, it investigated how variables such as gender, age, training age, bow type, and international experience influence these psychological constructs. The research employed a causal-comparative design, with the population consisting of licensed Turkish archers. The sample included 221 athletes (110 females, 111 males) selected through simple random sampling during the 2018 Turkish Championships. Data were collected using the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (Sheard, Golby & Wersch, 2009; Turkish adaptation by Pehlivan, 2014) and the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1978; Turkish adaptation by Demir, 1989). Kruskal-Wallis H and Spearman correlation analyses were conducted. Findings indicated a moderate negative correlation between the trust sub-dimension of mental toughness and loneliness, and a moderate positive correlation between the control sub-dimension and loneliness.