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.