Sheldon Hanton

What is this thing called mental toughness? An investigation of elite sport performers

The literature on mental toughness is characterized by a general lack of conceptual clarity and consensus as to its definition, as well as a general failure to operationalize the construct in a consistent manner. This study addressed two fundamental issues surrounding mental toughness: how can it be defined? and what are the essential attributes required to be a mentally tough performer? Ten international performers participated in either a focus group or one-toone interviews, from which a definition of mental toughness and the attributes of the ideal mentally tough performer emerged. The resulting definition emphasized both general and specific dimensions, while the 12 attributes covered self-belief, desire/motivation, dealing with pressure and anxiety, focus (performance-related), focus (lifestyle-related), and pain/hardship factors.

Reflective practice and the origins of elite coaching knowledge

This study examines the origins of elite coaching knowledge and the use of this knowledge in the construction of progressions in mens artistic gymnastics. The focus of the current study was first to establish where these elite coaches learnt the skill of coaching, and second to identify the methods currently used by these elite coaches to increase their knowledge base. Sixteen elite mens artistic gymnastic coaches were interviewed using a semi-structured technique. Following inductive content analysis the findings of this investigation were contextualized within the framework of experiential learning, reflective practice and the existing coaching literature. Specifically, these coaches displayed a high level of individuality in terms of how they learnt the skill of coaching. These coaches identified that knowledge acquisition was facilitated mostly through interactive coaching clinics and mentorships that promoted critical inquiry and active experimentation. These experiences allowed the coaches to develop learning through reflective practice within the training environment. Subsequent investigations are recommended to identify how this knowledge is integrated into the coaching process and applied in the development of gymnastic skills.

Intensity and interpretation of anxiety symptoms in elite and non-elite sports performers

Abstract Previous research which has examined debilitative and facilitative dimensions of anxiety has tended to adopt a unidimensional anxiety framework and to investigate relationships with academic (cognitive) performance. The major purpose of this study was to employ a multidimensional anxiety framework and to examine ‘intensity’ (i.e. level) and ‘direction’ (i.e. interpretation of level as either debilitative of facilitative) of anxiety symptoms in the context of sports (motor) performance. The individual difference variable of skill level was investigated as a mediator of these responses. Elite (n = 97) and non-elite (n = 114) competitive swimmers completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 during the period preceding an important race. The findings showed that there was no difference between the two groups on the intensity of cognitive and somatic anxiety symptoms, but that elite performers interpreted both anxiety states as being more facilitative to performance than the non-elite performers. Furthermore, self-confidence was higher in the elite group. Further analyses investigated differences between those swimmers who reported their anxiety as debilitative and those who reported it as facilitative in the elite and non-elite groups. These showed that anxiety intensity levels were higher in the debilitated than the facilitated swimmers in the non-elite group, but no such differences were evident in the elite group. These findings provide further support for the distinction between intensity and direction of competitive state anxiety symptoms. They also emphasize the importance of skill level as an individual difference variable in the examination of the nature of the competitive anxiety response.

Stress in elite sport performers: A comparative study of competitive and organizational stressors

The purpose of this study was to compare the content and quantity of competitive and organizational stressors in elite athletes. Ten international performers were interviewed about sources of stress. Content analysis of the data involved categorizing the demands associated primarily and directly with competitive performance (#CS  =  21) under the post hoc dimension “performance issues”, and the demands associated primarily and directly with the sport organization (#OS  =  72) under one of the following four post hoc dimensions: “environmental issues”, “personal issues”, “leadership issues” and “team issues”. Frequency analysis revealed that the participants mentioned the competitive stressors (Σ  =  95) less than the organizational stressors (Σ  =  215). Further analysis within these categories showed that the mean number of participants citing individual competitive stressors (M  =  4.52) was greater than the mean number of participants citing individual organizational stressors (M  =  2.99). The findings indicate that elite athletes experience and recall more demands associated primarily and directly with the sport organization than with competitive performance. Furthermore, this population appears more likely to mention similar competitive stressors but varied organizational stressors, probably because the former are inherent and endemic to elite sport, whereas the latter are essentially extraneous and widely distributed.

Pre-competitive feeling states and directional anxiety interpretations

In this study, we assessed differences in feeling states indicated by performers who reported being facilitated or debilitated by symptoms associated with competitive anxiety before competition. A sample of high-standard swimmers ( n = 190) completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, including both intensity and direction subscales, and an exploratory checklist of feeling state labels, which comprised positive and negative feeling state labels. Our findings supported the general hypothesis that ‘facilitators’ report significantly more positive feelings than ‘debilitators’, who report significantly more negative feelings. Descriptive frequency counts of the largest percentage differences between ‘facilitators’ and ‘debilitators’ resulted in the selection of the ‘confident’ feeling state label on the positive subscales, with it being identified most frequently by the ‘facilitators’. Furthermore, of the negative feelings, the groups indicated the label ‘anxious’ most frequently. This study has extended previous research into the notion of positive and negative anxiety and has revealed individual differences in the combination of feeling states experienced by performers during competition.

Self-confidence and anxiety interpretation: A qualitative investigation

Abstract Objectives: To examine performers’ retrospective explanations for the relationship between self-confidence, competitive anxiety intensity, and symptom interpretation toward performance. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 elite performers to determine how self-confidence levels influenced the perceived effects of pre-competitive anxiety intensity and identify the confidence management strategies used to protect symptom interpretation. Results: Two causal networks were identified, showing self-confidence to influence the relationship between competitive anxiety intensity and symptom interpretation. In the absence of self-confidence, increases in competitive anxiety intensity were perceived as outside of the performers’ control and debilitating to performance. Under conditions of high self-confidence, increases in symptoms were reported to lead to positive perceptions of control and facilitative interpretations. To protect against debilitating interpretations of competitive anxiety, performers reported the use of cognitive confidence management strategies including mental rehearsal, thought stopping, and positive self-talk. Conclusions: The findings highlight self-confidence as an essential quality for elite athletes to possess in order to protect against potentially debilitating thoughts and feelings experienced in competitive situations.

Competitive anxiety responses in the week leading up to competition: the role of intensity, direction and frequency dimensions.

This article was published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise on 23 January 2003 (online), available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1469-0292(02)00042-0

The relationship between psychological skills usage and competitive anxiety responses

Abstract Objectives. To investigate equivocal findings within the literature addressing the relationship between competitive anxiety responses and psychological skills. Intensity (i.e. level) and direction (i.e. interpretation of intensity as facilitative or debilitative) dimensions of competitive state anxiety and self-confidence were examined in performers with different levels of psychological skills usage. Design. Cross-sectional design assessing psychological constructs during competition. The independent variable was psychological skill usage (“high” and “low” groups) and dependent variables were competitive anxiety responses. Method. Non-elite competitive swimmers ( N =114) completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) which examined both intensity and direction dimensions prior to racing. Following the event these participants completed the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) which measures psychological skills usage. Based on the TOPS scores the swimmers were dichotomised using post-hoc median-split into high and low usage groups for certain psychological skills. Results. MANOVAs revealed significant differences in the CSAI-2 scores between the high and low usage groups for the skills of relaxation, self-talk and imagery. ANOVAs indicated significant differences on all CSAI-2 subscales for relaxation groups, and differences on cognitive intensity, somatic direction and self-confidence for self-talk groups, and self-confidence for the imagery groups. Conclusions. Non-elite swimmers, in contrast with previous research examining elite swimmers (Hanton, S. & Jones, G. (1999a). The acquisition and development of cognitive skills and strategies: I. Making the butterflies fly in formation. The Sport Psychologist , 13 , 1–21), primarily use relaxation strategies to reduce and interpret their anxiety intensity levels as facilitative, relying minimally on other psychological skills.

Choking in sport: a review

Choking under pressure is a pejorative colloquial term (Clark, Tofler, & Lardon, 2005) used to describe a sub-optimal sporting performance under stressful conditions. In order to prevent its occurrence and enable performers to achieve their potential under pressure, a full understanding of the phenomenon is necessary. By reviewing critically the contemporary research, the aim of the paper is to examine the suggested mechanisms and potential moderators of choking in sport, and consider the interventions designed to alleviate it. In addition, the conceptual and methodological concerns that exist within the choking literature will be presented, and directions for future research that address such concerns will be recommended.

Competition stress in sport performers: Stressors experienced in the competition environment

Abstract We examined the performance and organizational stressors encountered by elite and non-elite athletes within the competition environment. Twelve sport performers (6 elite, 6 non-elite) were interviewed about both performance and organizational-related demands experienced when preparing for competition. The framework presented identifies five performance (i.e. preparation, injury, expectations, self-presentation, and rivalry) and five organizational (i.e. factors intrinsic to the sport, roles in the sport organization, sport relationships and interpersonal demands, athletic career and performance development issues, and organizational structure and climate of the sport) stress sources. A similar quantity of performance (#PS) and organizational (#OS) stressors were encountered by elite performers (#PS = 127; #OS = 72) as by non-elite athletes (#PS = 123; #OS = 74), with some demands being common and others unique to each group. Although the findings suggest that, prior to competing, sport performers encounter more stressors pertinent to performance than those emanating from the organization, these observations highlight that all the demands faced by athletes should be considered when preparing and implementing interventions to manage competition stress.