The relationship between attention control, emotion regulation and mental toughness among competitive female cricketers.

Abstract

Background: Mental toughness is widely accepted as integral to consistent sporting performance. It has been proposed that attention control and emotion regulation contribute to mental toughness in several sporting populations, including elite cricketers. To date, there has not been any empirical attempt to test this proposed link among cricketers. Furthermore, no mental toughness research appears to have been conducted among female cricketers.

Objectives: To determine whether attention control and emotion regulation predict mental toughness among high-level female cricketers in South Africa.

Methods: High-level female cricketers (n=76) completed measures of attention control, emotion regulation and mental toughness. Descriptive statistics, reliability indexes and intercorrelations were calculated. A simple regression analysis was used to determine the contributions of attention control and emotion regulation in explaining the variance in the mental toughness of the participants.

Results: Only the emotion regulation strategy of cognitive reappraisal demonstrated a positive correlation with mental toughness. In the regression model, attention control and emotion regulation accounted for 25% of the variance in the participants' mental toughness scores (R ²=0.250, p<0.001). However, cognitive reappraisal was the only psychological process to individually account for a statistically significant proportion of the variance in the female cricketers' mental toughness scores (β=0.463, p<0.001).

Conclusion: While a combination of attention control and emotion regulation appears to positively impact mental toughness among high-level female cricketers in South Africa, cognitive reappraisal seems to exert the strongest influence. Consequently, cognitive behavioural interventions aimed at fostering cognitive reappraisal skills could be beneficial for improving mental toughness in this population.