Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2003, 96,455-462. ©Perceptual and Motor Skills 2003

A COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS OF MENTAL TOUGHNESS IN NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL TEAMS 1

JIM GOLBY AND MICHAEL SHEARD

University of Teesside

DAVID LAVALLEE

University of Strathclyde

Summary.-This study examined the relations between demographic characteris-tics of rugby players and selected aspects of psychological performance in rugby league football. Mental toughness was assessed using Psychological Performance Inventory and Hardiness on the Personal Views Survey 111-R. Participants (N = 70) were interna-tional rugby league footballers representing four teams (Wales, France, Ireland, En-gland) in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Participants completed the question-naires in training camp. Welsh-nationality players had a significantly higher mean score on two of the hardiness subscales. Hardiness measures displayed the greatest and most frequently statistically significant differences. The findings concur with previous work indicating superior hardiness is related to improved performance in sports.

Officials, players, and spectators in the game of rugby league football have become increasingly concerned about the widening gaps in perfor-mance, for example, between the teams of the northern hemisphere and their stronger opponents from the southern hemisphere. Since previous research has not identified significant differences in physical and tactical preparation (Brewer & Davis, 1995), regardless of physical attributes, the tougher athlete often prevails, and the difference between success and failure is often more easily, and perhaps more appropriately, attributable to psychological factors.

The assessment of an athlete's psychological skills is of both theoretical and applied interest to sport psychologists. The evaluation of the mental strengths of the performers, particularly those at an elite level, represents the first stage in developing and improving a player's mental skills (Butler & Hardy, 1992). Comprehensive reviews (Greenspan & Feltz, 1989; Burton, 1990; Mace, 1990; Murphy, 1994; Vealey, 1994; Weinberg, 1994) have shown that psychological training can be effective in enhancing athletes' per-formance and positively influencing cognitive and affective states. Mental skills and psychological attributes have repeatedly been associated with supe-rior performance in athletes. Recent examples of their efficacy include goal setting (Wanlin, Hrycaiko, Martin, & Mahon, 1997; Filby, Maynard, & Gray-

1Please address correspondence to Jim Golby, University of Teesside, School of Social Sciences & Law, Middlesbrough TSl 3BA, England or e-mail (j.golby@tees.ac.uk).

456 J. GOLBY, ET AL.

don, 1999), imagery and mental rehearsal (Martin, Moritz, & Hall, 1999; Abma, Fry, Li, & Relyea, 2002), and self-confidence (Manzo, 2002).

In particular, stress management, visualisation, and confidence are three mental skills consistently rated as most important for inclusion in a psycho-logical training programme (Gould, Murphy, Tammen, & May, 1991). Com-prising these and similarly related mental skills are the concepts of mental toughness (Loehr, 1986) and hardiness (Kobasa, 1979).

Limited evidence to date is available on cultural variations in psycholog-ical attributes within sport. In cross-cultural psychology, culture is viewed as an antecedent to behaviour (Phinney, 1999), and whilst connections among people and the transfer of information is leading to increased hybridisation (Hermans & Kempen, 1998), it is still of interest to the sport psychologist to examine the potential effects of different environments on mental toughness. To date, differences have been reported in psychological skills between la-crosse players from five English-speaking countries (Heishman & Bunker, 1989) and American and Chinese collegiate athletes (Cox & Liu, 1993). Heish-man and Bunker (1989) reported on the psychological skills of the World Champion Australian lacrosse players.

Given the dominance enjoyed by Australia in a variety of international sports, including cricket, hockey, rugby union, and rugby league football, it was of particular interest to identify any psychological factors that may under-pin some aspects of this dominance. It is worth noting that registration of players for international teams other than Australia in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup permitted players who currently play or had learnt to play rugby league football in Australia. Therefore, it was possible to investi-gate in this study the potential cultural differences in mental toughness and hardiness between elite rugby league football teams competing in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. A subsidiary aim of the study was to explore the relationship of the measure of mental toughness to another measure of men-tal skill to examine the construct validity of mental toughness.

METHOD

Participants Seventy international rugby league footballers, ages 18 to 35 years (M

25.5 yr., 5D=3.2), took part and represented four teams: Wales (n = 15), France (n=21), Ireland (n=13), and England (n=21). Materials

Mental toughness was assessed by questionnaire using the Psychological Performance Inventory, as developed by Loehr (1986). The inventory assess-es a player's mental toughness in the categories of Self-confidence, Negative Energy, Attention Control, Visualisation and Imagery Control, Motivation,

RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL, MENTAL TOUGHNESS 457

Positive Energy, and Attitude Control. The inventory contains 42 Likert-type items (six items per subscale) designed to measure separately the seven mental toughness attributes identified above and to provide a total score. Subscale scores range from 6 to 30 and total scores from 42 to 210. In each case, a high score reflected a positive or desirable mental toughness attri-bute.

Hardiness was assessed, also by questionnaire, using the Personal Views Survey III-R (Maddi & Khoshaba, 2001). The survey assesses a player's har-diness in the categories of Commitment, Control, and Challenge. The survey is an 18-item Likert-type inventory that yields scores for the three hardiness components identified above and a total score (cf. Maddi & Hess, 1992). In each case, a high score (total norms range from 19 to 49, with an average of 38-41) indicated a positive or desirable hardiness component. Studies have shown the Personal Views Survey III-R to have acceptable internal consis-tency (.70 to .75 for Commitment, .61 to .84 for Control, .60 to .71 for Chal-lenge, and .80 to .88 for Total hardiness).

To date, little research has been published using the Psychological Per-formance Inventory; however, it was deemed to be the most appropriate questionnaire, as other measures constructed in a similar manner, e.g., Psy-chological Skills Inventory for Sport (Mahoney, Gabriel, & Perkins, 1987) have already shown inadequate psychometric standards (Murphy & Tam-men, 1998). Also, since the Psychological Performance Inventory has not been used extensively, and it has not been validated against any other per-sonality measures, it would be important at this time to compare it to anoth-er, frequently used inventory. The language of transmission of the question-naires was English. A translator was available when testing the French squad. Procedure

Permission from the organising committee of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, cooperation of coaches, and consent of players were obtained prior to the administration of the inventories. All quarter-finalists in the competition were targeted. Four teams responded, thus representing a con-venient sample. In all cases, the players were assured that participation was voluntary and that results were confidential. Participants were naive to the specific research hypotheses and were requested to be completely honest. The questionnaires in counterbalanced order were completed during training camp. Analysis of Data

Data were analysed using multivariate analysis of variance, with follow-up univariate analyses of variance to clarify the source and nature of signifi-cant differences. When necessary, post hoc comparisons were made using the

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Dunn-Sidak method, as outlined by Keppel (1991), which accounted for the inflated type I error rate. For the multivariate analysis of variance, team rep-resented in the tournament (team), player's nationality (nationality), country where the player presently plays rugby league football (present), and country where the player learnt to play rugby league football (learnt) served as the independent variables. The 10 scores on Mental toughness and Hardiness subscales served as the multivariate dependent variables. Alpha was set at .05.

REsuLTS Means and standard deviations of all variables are presented in Table 1.

Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted on each of the four factors

TABLE 1 MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS oN SuBSCALES FoR MENTAL TouGHNEss AND HARDINEss

Factor 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Team

Wales M 26.0 21.7 23.6 22.5 25.4 24.9 24.5 168.6 14.6 14.7 12.0 41.3 SD 3.6 3.8 4.1 6.4 3.5 4.1 3.7 23.4 1.8 2.1 2.9 5.3

France M 25.1 20.7 23.5 23.2 25.7 25.0 24.8 168.0 13.1 13.1 12.9 39.1 SD 3.0 2.1 2.8 4.0 3.2 2.7 2.8 14.9 2.2 1.8 2.0 4.4

Ireland M 27.5 21.9 24.3 23.2 25.5 24.8 24.5 176.3 13.2 13.2 10.1 36.5 SD 1.9 2.1 2.8 3.9 1.8 1.9 2.2 9.7 2.2 2.8 2.9 6.9

England M 26.8 22.2 24.0 23.0 25.4 25.8 25.9 173.0 13.9 14.4 12.1 40.4 SD 3.0 2.8 4.1 5.8 3.9 2.7 2.6 19.8 2.2 1.9 1.6 3.7

Nationality Welsh M 28.0 23.1 24.6 24.4 27.6 27.1 27.0 181.9 15.6 15.6 13.3 44.4

SD 2.2 3.5 4.3 5.2 2.1 1.6 1.8 13.9 1.7 1.5 2.2 3.8 French M 25.0 20.6 23.4 23.2 25.5 24.8 24.5 166.9 13.0 13.0 12.8 38.8

SD 3.0 2.1 2.9 4.1 3.2 2.5 2.5 14.3 2.2 1.7 2.1 4.2 English M 26.5 21.9 23.6 23.1 25.3 25.4 25.6 171.4 13.7 14.1 11.1 38.9

SD 3.1 2.5 3.8 5.4 3.7 3.0 3.0 19.5 2.0 2.3 2.5 5.4 Australian M 27.1 21.4 25.1 20.8 26.4 25.9 25.0 171.6 13.9 13 .7 12.3 39.8

SD 2.8 4.0 2.8 5.8 1.9 4.1 3.9 19.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 5.4 Present Play

England M 26.6 21.8 12.8 23.0 25.7 25.6 25.6 172.2 14.0 14.2 11.7 39.8 SD 3.0 2.9 3.8 5.6 3.4 3.0 3.1 19.3 1.8 2.3 2.7 5.4

France M 25.0 20.8 23.3 23.0 25.6 24.8 24.6 167.0 13.0 13.2 12.7 38.8 SD 3.0 2.1 2.8 4.0 3.3 2.6 2.7 14.6 2.2 1.8 1.8 4.2

Australia M 28.0 22.8 26.0 22.8 26.4 26.8 26.2 179.0 14.2 13.6 11.4 39.2 SD 2.0 3.0 2.6 4.9 1.9 3.0 1.6 12.3 4.0 2.3 2.4 6.6

Learnt Play England M 26.6 22.0 23.7 23.2 25.6 25.6 25.8 172.5 13.9 14.3 11.4 39.7

SD 3.0 2.6 3.9 5.3 3.5 2.9 2.8 18.7 2.1 2.3 2.6 5.6 France M 25.0 20.6 23.4 23.2 25.5 24.8 24.5 166.9 13.0 13.0 12.8 38.8

SD 3.0 2.1 2.9 4.1 3.2 2.5 2.5 14.3 2.2 1.7 2.1 4.2 Australia M 27.4 22.0 25.2 21.7 26.8 26.2 25.4 174.8 14.2 13.7 12.2 40.1

SD 2.8 4.2 2.6 6.1 2.2 3.9 3.8 20.4 2.3 2.1 2.0 5.2 Note.-1: Self-confidence, 2: Negative energy, 3: Attention control, 4: Visualization/imagery control, 5: Motivation, 6: Positive energy, 7: Attitude control, 8: Total mental toughness, 9: Commitment, 10: Control, 11: Challenge, 12: Total hardiness

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of interest, resulting in an overall significant effect for team (Wilks A-=0.48; F30,168 = 1.57, p < .05). The multivariate analysis of variance tests for national-ity (Wilks A=0.52; F30,168 =1.40, p>.05), present (Wilks A=0.67; F20•116 = 1.30, p > .05), and learnt (Wilks A= 0.65; F20,116 = 1.42, p > .05) yielded nonsig-nificant overall effects. Follow-up analyses of variance were carried out sepa-rately for each psychological variable. The results of these analyses are dis-played in Table 2.

TABLE 2 SuMMARY oF UNIVARIATE F RATios CALCULATED UsiNG TYPE III SuMs

OF SQUARES (GENERAL LINEAR MoDEL)

Factor lt 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Team 2.0 1.2 0.2 0.1 0.5 0.8 1.5 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.9* 2.5 Nationality 2.4 1.8 0.6 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.5 1.3 2.8* 2.9* 3.3 2.7 Present Play 3.2 1.5 1.2 0.0 0.1 1.1 1.0 1.1 2.5 1.8 1.2 0.3 Learnt Play 3.0 1.9 0.9 0.3 0.5 1.0 1.3 0.9 1.2 2.7 2.2 0.3 tSee Table 1, Footnote for scale names. *p < .05. Alpha corrected using the Dunn-Sidak meth-od.

Analysis of variance on Commitment (the tendency to involve oneself in whatever one is doing) gave a significant effect for players' nationality (F3•66 = 2.80, p<.05). Post hoc comparisons showed that Welsh players scored signif-icantly higher on Commitment than French (p = .04) players. Analysis of vari-ance on Control (the disposition to feel and act as if one is influential) re-sulted in a significant effect for players' nationality (F3,66 = 2.86, p < .05). Post hoc comparisons indicated that Welsh players scored significantly higher on Control than French players (p= .04). Analysis of variance on Challenge (the perception of a situation as an opportunity and not as a threat) resulted in a significant effect for team represented in the tournament (F3 •66 = 3 .94, p < .05). On post hoc comparisons players from France (p = .007) scored signifi-cantly higher on Challenge than those from Ireland.

On the basis of the Pearson product-moment correlations, there was a significant positive relation between total scores on the Psychological Perfor-mance Inventory and total scores on the Personal Views Survey III-R (r = .45, p < .01). It is worth noting that the Hardiness subscale Challenge ap-peared, generally, not to be related to other subscales.

DISCUSSION

The main aim of this study was to investigate the potential national dif-ferences in mental toughness and hardiness between elite rugby league foot-ball teams competing in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Analysis yield-ing significant differences emerged for scores on the mental skills of Commit-ment, Control, and Challenge. Welsh players reported comparatively higher

460 J. GOLBY, ET AL.

mean Commitment and Control scores than the other nationalities. The dif-ferences on both hardiness subscales were significant in the comparison with French players. Given the attributes of a person who scores high on Com-mitment (Maddi & Khoshaba, 2001, see above), this finding suggests that Welsh players demonstrated an active involvement in progressing as far as possible through the tournament. That Welsh players also scored high on Control indicates that, though their efforts on the rugby pitch, they felt able to influence the outcome of matches positively. It has been suggested that sports people high in Commitment and Control interpret stressful circum-stances, such as highly competitive matches, in less stressful ways because they tend to view them as desirable and controllable (Maddi & Hess, 1992). The present study provides some support for this.

The team representing France reported comparatively higher Challenge scores than the other teams, with significantly different means from the team representing Ireland. A psychological profile high in the hardiness subscale of Challenge indicates a predisposition to view potentially difficult situations as opportunities for personal growth and not as a threat (Maddi & Khosha-ba, 2001). In the context of this present study, the French team was not expected to progress beyond the quarter-final of the competition. It would appear, therefore, that their high mean Challenge score reflected their ability to view their impending match positively as an opportunity to defeat a sup-posedly better team or, at the very least, to learn from the experience irre-spective of the result. Conversely, the low mean Challenge score of the Ire-land team suggests that these players, in anticipation of a potentially difficult situation, viewed their prospects less positively.

No other significant differences were observed between teams. Despite Welsh superiority in mean scores of Total mental toughness and Total hardi-ness, these differences did not reach significance. Interestingly, all groups consistently had lower mean scores on Negative Energy Control and visuali-sation and imagery control than on other measured dependent variables. It appears that, even at international level, players are relatively weaker in con-trol of Negative Energy and Visualisation and Imagery Control. Given the reported efficacy of these psychological skills on elite performance (Loehr, 1986; Martin, et al., 1999; Abma, et al., 2002), this is surprising. With the exception of the Ireland team, all other independent variables in this present study reported average or above average mean scores for Total hardiness compared to norms. This finding supports previous research investigating consistent high-level psychological skills of elite athletes (e.g., Vealey, 1994).

A subsidiary aim of the study was to explore the relation of the mental toughness inventory to another contemporary measure of mental skill to ex-amine the construct validity of mental toughness. Analysis suggests a strong

RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL, MENTAL TOUGHNESS 461

relation between scores on the Psychological Performance Inventory and on the Personal Views Survey III-R. It seems that both inventories may be mea-suring related but distinct attributes of mental skill.

The present use of the Personal Views Survey III-R for cross-cultural comparisons is unique. While some significant differences were observed across the broad range of measures, scores were comparatively compatible. However, the scores recorded by participants were indicative of high mental toughness compared with reported norms. This could be explained by a nat-ural filtering process, whereby only players exhibiting high mental toughness and hardiness emerge to represent their country. Two alternative explana- · tions present themselves. First, psychological differences with greater explan-atory prowess lie elsewhere and, second, the measures used possess insuffi-cient discriminative power.

The decision to include two forms of assessment reflects the nature of this emerging area of study. It is interesting to note that all significant differ-ences were located on the Personal Views Survey III-R Hardiness scores. This may be a reflection of the more robust psychometric properties of the scale. Thus, researchers may pursue different psychological variables to ex-plain differences in performance. Also, a refinement of existing measures may be indicated and consideration given to studies de-signed specifically to demonstrate how mental toughness training relates to performance. This may include specific work on the particular variables of Negative Energy Control and Visualisation and Imagery Control.

Researchers should broaden samples to include a comparison of present data with rugby league footballers selected for the Australia and New Zea-land international teams as the present study, Heishman and Bunker (1989), and Cox and Liu (1993) have already demonstrated a relation between na-tionality and mental skills.

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Accepted January 9, 2003.