Athletes with Disability: Does Emotional Regulation Affect Mental Toughness?

Abstract

This study aims to determine the contribution of emotional regulation to mental toughness among athletes with disabilities. The approach used in this research is quantitative. The sampling technique used in this study is saturated sampling. All members of the population became participants in this study. A total of 69 athletes with disabilities who are members of the East Java National Paralympic Committee in Indonesia took part in the XVI National Paralympic Week. Participants aged 14–56 years (mean 29.855; SD 12.008) were grouped into three research based disabilities categoriies based on IPC (International Paralympic Committee) namely physical impairment, intellectual impairment, and vision impairment. The instruments used were the IERQ4S (Indonesian Emotion Regulation Questionnaires for Sport) and the Mental Toughness Scale. JASP (Jeffyes’s Amazing Statistic Program) software was used to analyze the data using linear regression. The results of the study show that emotional regulation contributes 57.6% to the mental toughness of athletes with disabilities in Indonesia with p < .001 and r 0.759. Through the emotional regulation mechanism, athletes with disabilities are able to have mental toughness during training and competition. This study has highlighted the contribution that emotional regulation to mental toughness in athletes with disabilities. This study suggests that athletes with disabilities should be aware of the importance of emotional regulation if they want to be mentally tough. As a conclusion, in addition to physical exercise, sports mental training programs in the field of emotional regulation must be designed.