Esports, mental toughness, & resilience: Psychological predictors of performance may fall short

IF 3.9 2区心理学 Q2 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

Psychology of Sport and Exercise Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-05 DOI:10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.103016

Matthew G. Young , Dylan R. Poulus , Joshua M. Adie

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This cross-sectional study examined whether mental toughness and resilience were associated with competitive achievement among 480 high-level esports players (M age = 22.88, SD = 3.94) across seven popular titles, including Multiplayer Online Battle Arena and First-Person Shooter games. Participants, drawn from the top 40 % of competitive ranks, completed the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 18 and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10. Ordinal logistic regression was used to estimate associations and potential moderation by gender and game type. Neither mental toughness (β = −0.001, p = .928) nor resilience (β = −0.024, p = .159) was significantly associated with achievement level, and no moderating effects were detected. Model fit was low (McFadden's pseudo-R² = .004 for the direct model; .005 for the interaction model), indicating negligible explanatory value. These null findings suggest that traditional sports psychology measures may not capture the psychological attributes most relevant to digital competition. The results highlight the need to develop and validate esports-specific constructs and tools that reflect the unique cognitive, social, and tactical demands of competitive gaming. Future research should explore alternative variables, longitudinal designs, and mixed-methods approaches to better understand the psychological determinants of esports performance.

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电子竞技，心理韧性，和弹性：表现的心理预测可能不足。

这项横断面研究调查了480名高水平电子竞技玩家（M年龄= 22.88,SD = 3.94）在7款流行游戏（包括多人在线竞技和第一人称射击游戏）中的心理韧性和韧性是否与竞技成就有关。参与者从竞争队伍的前40%中挑选出来，完成了心理韧性问卷18和康纳-戴维森弹性量表10。使用有序逻辑回归来估计性别和游戏类型的关联和潜在调节。心理韧性（β = -0.001, p = .928）和心理韧性（β = -0.024, p = .159）与学业成就水平均无显著相关，且无调节效应。模型拟合较低（直接模型的McFadden伪r2 = 0.004）；005为相互作用模型)，说明解释价值可以忽略不计。这些无效的发现表明，传统的体育心理学测量可能无法捕捉到与数字竞争最相关的心理属性。研究结果强调了开发和验证电子竞技特定结构和工具的必要性，这些结构和工具反映了竞技游戏独特的认知、社交和战术需求。未来的研究应该探索替代变量、纵向设计和混合方法，以更好地理解电子竞技表现的心理决定因素。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Psychology of Sport and Exercise 医学-心理学

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

5.90%

发文量

172

审稿时长

69 days

期刊介绍： Psychology of Sport and Exercise is an international forum for scholarly reports in the psychology of sport and exercise, broadly defined. The journal is open to the use of diverse methodological approaches. Manuscripts that will be considered for publication will present results from high quality empirical research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, commentaries concerning already published PSE papers or topics of general interest for PSE readers, protocol papers for trials, and reports of professional practice (which will need to demonstrate academic rigour and go beyond mere description). The CONSORT guidelines consort-statement need to be followed for protocol papers for trials; authors should present a flow diagramme and attach with their cover letter the CONSORT checklist. For meta-analysis, the PRISMA prisma-statement guidelines should be followed; authors should present a flow diagramme and attach with their cover letter the PRISMA checklist. For systematic reviews it is recommended that the PRISMA guidelines are followed, although it is not compulsory. Authors interested in submitting replications of published studies need to contact the Editors-in-Chief before they start their replication. We are not interested in manuscripts that aim to test the psychometric properties of an existing scale from English to another language, unless new validation methods are used which address previously unanswered research questions.