RELATIONSHIP OF MENTAL TOUGHNESS AND ANXIETY LEVELS OF ARCHERS WITH THE SUPPORT FROM PARENTS, FRIENDS, TEAM MATES AND COACH

 Dr. Sosamma John

 Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out the co-relation between the level of cognitive, somatic anxiety and mental toughness of archers participating both at the basic and advance levels with the support they receive from parents, friends, team mates and coach. The sample size taken was 38, i.e. 18 (female) and 20 (male). Participants were given 2questionnaires, Competitive State anxiety Inventory CSAI-2 and Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI)-36-item questionnaire. Their Cognitive, somatic anxiety and self-confidence was measured through the CSAI-2 rating scale; and through MTI, 12 components of mental toughness namely self-efficacy, personal bests, goal commitment, stress minimization, task specification, self belief about potential, perseverance, positive comparison, task value, task familiarity, positivity and mental self concept were measured. Through the same test the participants also rated the amount of support received in archery from their parents, friends, team mates and coach. Scores obtained in each trait were then co-related with the support received by each of the four support functions. The results showed a positive co-relation between the mental toughness component - self belief about potential (0.42) with parents, task specific attention (0.31) with friends and stress minimization (0.31) with team mates. The results were significant at 0.05 level, one-tail. The results indicated negative correlation between task value (-0.39) with friends and personal bests (-0.32) with Coach, which were found significant at 0.05 level, one-tail. On the other hand there was no significance between mental toughness components and the anxiety scale.

Keywords: Mental Toughness, Anxiety, Friends and Parents.