I am pleased to report that our latest paper, a qualitative examination of the perceptions of elite high-altitude mountaineers, is now published online and available to view. You can use the following link or cut and paste into your browser to access the paper https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2159676X.2018.1494622. Particular thanks are due to the journal editors and staff working for QRSEH (Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health) for such an efficient approach to getting our paper published and accessible in a timely fashion.

Some good news to report is that members of MTOUGH have been involved with a couple of research papers (one quantitative, one qualitative) that have been accepted for publication. The first was a collaboration led by Dr Richard Cowden (Vanderbilt University) which examined mental toughness and self-forgiveness in tennis players. Many thanks are due to Richard for his kind invitation to participate in this project. The second paper is an extension of previous research that we conducted with elite high-altitude mountaineers. We (Crust, Swann, & Allen-Collinson, 2016) previously examined mental toughness and decision-making within an elite sample, primarily with regards to the choice to either continue or turn-around at crucial moments during summit attempts. The new paper is more concerned with the behaviours of mentally tough mountaineers across entire expeditions and as such provides a more comprehensive understanding of mental toughness in the context of a very dangerous and risky pursuit. The papers (listed below) are in press and should be available soon. I hope they are of interest.

Cowden, R., Crust, L., Joynt, S., Hook, J, and Worthington Jr., E. (in press). How Do Mentally Tough Athletes Overcome Self-Directed Anger, Shame, and Criticism? A Self-Forgiveness Mediation Analysis. International Journal of Sport Psychology.

Crust, L., Swann, C, and Allen-Collinson, J. (in press). Mentally Tough Behaviour in Extreme Environments: Preceptions of Elite High-Altitude Mountaineers. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health.

Later this week (from June 15th) there will be a post advertised on https://jobs.lincoln.ac.uk for a Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Lincoln. It is envisaged that the successful candidate will also become a member of MTOUGH and contribute to our scholarly activity.

All interested individuals should wait for the post to be formally advertised and follow instructions as appropriate. Please do not respond to this blog or email me in person about the position. At this stage I just thought it would be useful to alert interested individuals about the upcoming vacancy.

Kind regards,

Lee.

The MTOUGH team comprises of researchers at the University of Lincoln, but it could not survive without the many external collaborators that we have had the pleasure to work with over the years. We regularly publish work with national and international researchers and it is these collaborations, that for me at least, helps to advance knowledge and brings innovation. The pooling of ideas can often move things forward more effectively than trying to go it alone (in my experience). Recently I was pleased to be asked to contribute to a mental toughness project that was being directed by Dr Richard Cowden. Richard is based in South Africa and has already made some very useful contributions to the mental toughness knowledge-base. I am pleased to say that Richard has agreed to become one of our external collaborators as we have plans for further research projects in the near future. In the meantime, Richard has kindly added his thoughts on mental toughness; in particular the “superman/ women” image that is often ascribed to represent the mentally tough athlete.

“A defining characteristic of mentally tough athletes is their ability to overcome adversity. As attractive as this may be, mental toughness has at times been likened to an impenetrable suit of psychological armour that protects against any or all negative experiences (internal or external). If this were mental toughness, it’s likely that most of us would never attain it.

Fortunately (for all of us), research on the ‘softer side’ of mental toughness suggests otherwise. Studies have shown that mentally tough athletes aren’t impervious to the emotional experiences associated with competitive sports participation. Consider instances of competitive performance failure (e.g., match losses). An argument might be made that mentally tough athletes embrace (as opposed to disengage from) the difficulty of accepting weaknesses and their role in such outcomes, creating opportunities to grow by learning from their shortcomings.

From this perspective, mental toughness entails a willingness to work through the discomfort that accompanies one’s negative experiences, rather than responding in ways that shield against them. This should not be equated to dwelling negatively on the past or engaging in self-punitive responses. Instead, mentally tough athletes use this process constructively to identify areas in which improvements can be made, thereby renewing their motivation to achieve. In contrast to some of the common perceptions of mental toughness, this softer side has relevance to the meanings that we ascribe to it, how sport psychologists, coaches, and parents communicate what mental toughness is to young, developing athletes, and how we go about developing it.” Dr Richard Cowden.

Some good news to start 2018. Further to her successful viva defence in 2017, Trish Jackman was recently awarded a doctoral degree for a thesis entitled “The relationship between mental toughness and the psychological states underlying excellent performance in sport”. Building on existing work by the MTough Research Group examining the relationship between mental toughness and dispositional flow (frequency of flow experiences) in university athletes (Crust & Swann, 2013), the first study in Trish’s PhD further examined this relationship in sport using mediation analysis. The results indicated further support for the significant and positive relationship found previously between mental toughness and dispositional flow and showed that mental toughness was a significant direct and indirect predictor (i.e., via the conditions of flow) of the characteristics of flow. To build on this initial understanding, the second study explored perceptions of factors related to dispositional flow in athletes with higher and lower mental toughness and dispositional flow. The findings suggested differences in perceptions of the immediacy, sustainment and restoration of flow states between subgroups, with confidence, concentration, coping mechanisms, locus of control, goal orientation, perfectionism and optimism identified as key themes. To move towards developing a more robust approach to investigate the relationship between mental toughness and flow, the third study compared the effectiveness of qualitative and qualitative methods to capture “experience-near” data on flow states in sport. An important finding in this study was that athletes reported two psychological states when performing towards the upper range of their ability: flow and “clutch” (see Swann, Crust & Vella, 2017). Furthermore, the findings suggested that the quantitative measures captured flow and clutch states. In light of these findings, the fourth and final study qualitatively explored the relationship between mental toughness and the processes underlying the occurrence of flow and clutch states. The findings of this study suggested that mental toughness was more closely linked to clutch states rather flow. Trish is now a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Lincoln and is currently involved in projects on the psychological states underlying excellent performance in sport and psychological wellbeing in sport, exercise and occupational settings.