The Relationship between Mental Toughness, Perceived Motivational Climate and Goal Orientation in Professional Athletes

In addition to physical fitness, psychological factors can have a great impact on athletic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental toughness, perceived motivational climate, and goal orientation among professional athletes. The research was a descriptive correlational study. The study population consisted of all professional athletes who participated in different sports teams of the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. For this purpose, 120 team athletes were selected by convenience manner, and the following scales were given to response: Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (Sheard, Golby & Wersch, 2009), Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire (Selfriz, Duda & Chi, 1992) and Goal Orientation in Exercise Measure questionnaires (Petherick & Markland, 2008). Data analysis was performed by structural equation modeling at a significance level of ≤0.05. The findings indicated that the relationship between mastery climate and ego/task orientation (PS=0/0001) was positive and significant and the relationship between performance climate and task orientation (P=0/043) was significant. Also, ego (P=0/014) and task orientation (P=0/012)  were positively associated with mental toughness. Based on the findings of the present research, sports psychologists and coaches are recommended to create a mastery climate and emphasis on athletes to base their perceptions of success on personal improvement and skill mastery. Also, these findings provide further evidence for the importance of developing goal orientations in the sport setting.