Mental Toughness and Resilience in Trail Runner’s Performance

Abstract

Our purpose with this study was to analyze trail runners’ psychological variables of mental toughness (MT) and resilience, and their associations with runners’ performances within a quantitative cross-sectional study. In total, we analyzed data from 307 Portuguese trail runners (60 female, 247 male), aged between 20 to 66 years ( M age = 41.98; SD = 7.74). The results showed that the measurement model, including the factors of MT, resilience, and performance variables, exhibited an adequate fit to the data: χ 2 = 150.01 (74); BS-p = .003; CFI= .953; TLI = .942; RMSEA = .058 90% (.045, .071) and SRMR= .042. Standardized direct effects revealed positive associations between these variables. More specifically: (a) MT was significantly associated with resilience; and (b) resilience was significantly associated with performance. The indirect regression paths showed that MT was positively associated with performance, with resilience considered a possible mediator ( β = .09 IC = .010, .168; p = .02). In total, considering direct and indirect effects, the model explained 21% of performance variance among trail runners.