SELF-EFFICACY AND MENTAL

TOUGHNESS OF PHILIPPINE NATIONAL

ATHLETES: A BASIS FOR ENHANCED
MOTIVATIONAL PROGRAM

PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

2022
Volume: 6
Pages: 477-487
Document ID: 2022PEMJ452
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7486705
Manuscript Accepted: 2022-25-12
Psych Educ,2022, 6: 477-0, Document ID: PEMJ452, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7486705, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

Self–Efficacy and Mental Toughness of Philippine National Athletes: A Basis

for Enhanced Motivational Program
Kurt Christian Arcangel*
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.

Abstract
Self–efficacy and mental toughness are now establishing grounds in the field of sports psychology as
they are essential in helping athletes in facing different adversity and challenges in their life. A
descriptive–correlational method was used in this study to determine the level and relationship of
self–efficacy and mental toughness of the athletes. To identify the level of self–efficacy of Philippine
national athletes the researcher used the General Self–efficacy (GSE) Scale, and to measure their
mental toughness and its facets, the researcher used the Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ). The
findings of the study showed that the majority of the athletes have a very high level of self–efficacy.
A high level of mental toughness along with its components—rebound ability, ability to handle
pressure, concentration, confidence, and motivation—was found among the athletes. The findings
also showed that there is a relationship between self–efficacy and mental toughness. Based on the
results, an enhancement to the motivational program of the respondents was formulated to better the
importance of developing self-efficacy and mental toughness among the athletes as well as to monitor
progress and changes.

Keywords: self–efficacy, mental toughness, rebound ability, ability to handle pressure,

concentration, confidence, and motivation.

Introduction is increasing worldwide, there is little research on the

Nowadays, several athletes face different kinds of
difficulties in their lives, such as motivation, lack of
financial support, and pressure due to high
expectations that lead them to be distracted in the
game, resulting in not achieving their goal to win in a
competition. Moreover, According to Cayubit et al.
(2018), athletes engage in different sets of adversity
compared to non–athletes; because of that, athletes
tend to have changes in cognition, behavior, and
emotion. This kind of challenge limits the beliefs and
capabilities of an athlete to perform well in a
competition. To add, athletes have specific challenges
as a result of their active position, including lengthy
time commitments, the loss of the star status' that
many had enjoyed as high school athletes, injuries,
confrontations with their coaches, physical trainings,
pressure, stress and loss in competition. Also, athletes
must also cope with greater academic obligations in
addition to these pressures. Furthermore, several
studies have shown that athletes who are under a lot of
pressure are more prone to engage in negative health
practices and have psychological issues, such as low
self-efficacy and low mental toughness. Many athletes
report physical health issues as well as mental health
issues, such as lack of sleep, constant tension,
exhaustion, headaches, and digestive issues
(Humphrey, 2010). As a result, this issues and
problems leads the researcher to conduct this study.
Although the number of people participating in sports
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
people who participate in this kind of activity. The
majority of research on sports has focused on
demographics (Hoffman and Fogard, 2012),
physiological demands (Holt, Lee, Kim, and Klein,
2016), and changes in diet and Physical activity during
individuals' lifetimes (Birkenhead et al., 2019).
However, there is very little research on the
psychological components of athletes, examining how
their mental toughness and self-efficacy are
accomplished, and even less research on high-level
athletes. In line with this, the researcher discovers that
a more psychology-focused study is needed to
understand better the athletes' level of self-efficacy and
mental toughness. Mental toughness is a potentially
valuable and enlightening way to consider these
psychological challenges. Mental toughness is a
psychological notion that has been demonstrated to be
a significant factor in sports. Mental toughness is
defined by Gucciardi et al. (2015) as "a personal
capacity to consistently produce high levels of
subjective (e.g., personal goals or strivings) or
objective performance (e.g., sales, race time, GPA)
despite everyday challenges and stressors as well as
significant adversities" (p.28). While mental toughness
has received little attention in quantitative studies
related to athletes, previous research has found it to be
an important factor for success in some sports like
mixed martial arts (Chen and Cheesman, 2019),
football (soccer) (Wieser and Thiel, 2014), tennis,
hockey, football, cricket, rugby league, and endurance
athletes (Zeiger, 2018).
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Research Article
Moreover, despite the growing interest in mental
toughness, no link has been established between these
mental toughness measures and athletic self-efficacy.
Self–efficacy, on the other hand, is a belief in one's
self. It is a capability of an individual to perform even
under pressure, challenges and stress. Thus, the higher
the self– efficacy of an athlete, the more they can use
the adaptive coping strategies that they have than
athletes with low self–efficacy (Nwankwo et al.,
2012). Hence, athletes with low self–efficacy tend not
to perform well under certain circumstances because
they have trouble using their adaptive coping
strategies. It has long been assumed that athletes who
perform well are mentally tougher than those who do
not.
For that reason, clearly, the Philippine national athletes
can level the game from skills, facilities, and training
from competing nations on the international stage, just
like in the ASEAN Games and SEA Games. Even in
the Olympics bagging medals, just what Filipino
observed in the last SEA Games 2019, the Philippines
won as the overall champion of the competition with
387 medals, one of the compelling reasons was that
Filipino athletes are devoted most of their time to
training and exercises. In addition, proper
implementations of the existing law, such as Republic
Act 10699, also known as the "National Athletes,
Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act." That promotes
excellence in sports by looking at the welfare of the
national athletes and coaches competing for the
country's honor by giving them the proper benefits and
recognition.
Hence, the researcher has confidence that if the
Philippines wants to stay with a winning attitude, we
should build a solid program that focuses on the two
concepts that will help the athletes easily cope with or
handle situational pressures to achieve the goal. First is
their "belief in oneself" or what we called self –
efficacy as defined by Bandura (2016); it is the belief
in an individual's outcome expectations. They believe
in oneself has a huge impact on having a high
performance. It diminishes adversity like doubt,
pressure, and anxiety, leading to low performance.
Furthermore, the second is mental toughness;
according to Dr. Alan Goldberg (199), it is the ability
to cope with or handle pressure. An essential
psychological attribute that an effective athlete is the
capability of an individual to believe in oneself and the
ability to bounce back from adversities. Winning
athletes have these skills that consistently help them
rise against obstacles that they can face in and outside
the game.
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
Consequently, based on the existing quantitative data,
it appears that athletes' mental toughness has a
significant impact on their performance but several or
minimal in their self-efficacy (Jones, 2019). Also,
more successful athletes are thought to be mentally
tougher than those who are less successful (Gould,
Weiss, & Weinberg, 2011). There has been no
research focused on the variations in mental toughness
between athletes' self-efficacy. Examining these roles
would aid coaches in identifying traits in their players
that would provide consistency and will also enhance
the athletes' motivation. Subsequently, the researcher
noticed that finding a link between mental toughness
and self-efficacy would validate the need for coaches
and athletes to devote time to improving mental skills
and motivation. Despite the obvious links between
mental toughness and athletes' self- efficacy, there are
scarce studies on the subject. The association between
the variables is prominent but minimal that requires
further investigation. In the present published
literature, there is no quantitative research specifically
correlating mental toughness with athletes' self-
efficacy.
The literature, data, and lack of study related to the
topic of this study led the researcher to aim to identify
the level of self–efficacy and mental toughness of the
Philippine National Athletes, as the related studies and
literature shows that these variables were essential
factors in achieving a high-level performance in the
game. In summary, although there are available related
studies and literature about this topic, there is still a
clear gap in the literature that addresses the association
of self–efficacy and mental toughness because many
were focusing on either self–efficacy or mental
toughness only that inspiring the researcher even more.
Therefore, the researcher was motivated to conduct
this study to provide more information about the
relationship between self–efficacy and mental
toughness of Philippine national athletes. Furthermore,
it will also help the sports community identify the
proper program needed to implement for the
Philippine national athletes. The self–efficacy level
was measured using General Self–Efficacy (GSE)
Scale, while the level of mental toughness was
measured utilizing the Mental Toughness
Questionnaire (MTQ).
Research Questions
The study aims to determine the level of self–efficacy
and mental toughness of Philippine National Athletes.
Specifically, it sought to answer the following:
1. What is the level of self–efficacy of the
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Research Article
respondents?
2. What is the level of the mental toughness of the
respondents in terms of the following dimensions:
2.1. rebound ability;
2.2. ability to handle pressure;
2.3. concentration;
2.4. confidence; and
2.5. motivation?
3. Is there any relationship between the self-efficacy
and mental toughness of the respondents?
4. Based on the findings, what self-efficacy and mental
toughness program can be proposed?
Literature Review
Self–Efficacy among Athletes
Self-concept plays a vital role in influencing one's
behavior that makes significance in the field of
psychology. Self-concept is the knowledgeable
information a person has from himself interpreted by
the environment one b Self–efficacy refers to an
individual's conviction in his or her ability to influence
the outcome of a circumstance (Bandura, 2016). It is
now associated with sports. Through the application of
psychology in sports, athletes can improve their
performance, learn and execute tasks correctly, and
more easily acquire the skills required for a particular
sporting event. This is accomplished through the use
of various techniques such as mental training, self-
efficacy, and self-confidence (Tugsbaatar, 2019).
These psychosocial abilities are well– known
strategies that enable athletes to maintain a high level
of competition performance (Sivrikaya, 2019).
Furthermore, Athletes can maintain a high self–
efficacy by recalling their previous successes; through
this, they can still compete in the competition with
high-level performance. This kind of mindset of an
athlete also helps them stay calm, be productive as
they would have been, and perform at their best
(Valiante & Morris, 2013). According to Sitzmann and
Yeo (2013), an individual's past experiences or
performances have a stronger effect on self – the
efficacy of an individual rather than the individual who
does not have any experience at all. Mastery of
experience is one of the factors that keep self–efficacy
on a higher level. Every time that an individual
experience the same experience, because of the
different errors and failures that an individual
experience, an individual also learns different
techniques or skills to make a specific experience
easier and more manageable.
According to Barreta et al. (2017), high and low-risk
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
performances are predicted by the self–efficacy that an
individual already has. If an individual has already
experienced a specific situation, there might be a
chance that this person may change the behavior that
was elicited the first time that the situation happened
because he/she already knows what needs to be
improved to achieve better or higher-level
performance. Experiences and performance increase
the self-efficacy of an individual (Garcia – Angulo,
2020) through different situations.
Individual's belief has the ability to overcome different
circumstances that can increase self – efficacy
especially when an individual has already experienced
the situation. People learn a different set of skills in
different situations, therefore mastery of experiences is
possible because individuals learn approaches that can
magnify their strengths. Further, self–efficacy leads to
subjective performance (Nicholls, et al. 2010). Thus,
some athletes also define their self–efficacy based on
how other people influence them. If an athlete is well
motivated by their caches, mentors, or co – athletes, it
can give them direct access to intrinsic motivation that
can lead to a better self–efficacy.
In a study conducted by Halper and Vancouver (2016),
they suggest that self–efficacy can boost persistence
when an athlete is aware of the current performance
he/she has. In addition, being determined to master a
specific situation is vital because this will become the
fuel for an athlete to jump to the next level of their
skills. Once an athlete masters a specific performance,
there are two possible things that can happen: either
they will be eager to learn more skills and improve
what they already know, or they will become
inconsistent and complacent about what they have
already achieved in life that can cause the extinction of
a specific skill or behavior. Once the specific skill or
behavior is gone because of extinction, an athlete will
need to go back to the basics but surely will not
experience the same hardship just like the first an
athlete does a specific task. There's also a chance that
because of this, an athlete may learn new behavior that
can push him/her toward eagerness and not
complacency. Enthusiasm is crucial to an athlete as
without this attitude he/she will not be able to go to the
next level of their career, even champion themselves
train harder every single day to enhance and improve
People's emotions can contribute to the outcome of the
situation. According to the study by Savardelavar and
Arvin (2012), winning athletes have experienced more
happiness r than failure before the competition. The
control of the emotions of an athlete has a big impact
on the way they will play the game because it can lead
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them to success or failure once they can handle
themselves surely, they can get the gold but if they
cannot handle their emotions properly, they will end
up losing the game. As of now, emotions have
established their place in the field of sports psychology
towards positive emotions that can affect the
performance of an individual. Many individuals do not
realize that emotions play a big part in an athlete they
work hand in hand with motivation, attention, focus,
problem–solving, and coping with adversity
McCarthy, 2011). However, anger is one of the factors
that affect the self–efficacy of an athlete but once an
athlete manages to control the anger that was
experienced, Anger will not be a problem to the athlete
especially when this kind of emotion appears again
during a performance (Mowlaie, et al. 2011).
In addition, self–efficacy has a vital role in mediating
the relationship between neuroticism and the
conscientiousness of an individual. Those athletes that
are exhibiting a high–risk behavior have also felt fear,
anxiety, pressure, and the like, but they tend to convert
this emotion into a more challenging behavior. with
this, they increase their self – efficacy especially when
they manage to complete the task that they are aiming
to do. Even though they felt those kinds of negative
emotions, this will not hinder this kind of athlete from
doing such high–risk behavior because this makes
them more excited and enthusiastic. The higher the
risk of specific behavior that they completed the higher
the possible increase in their self–efficacy (Merritt &
Tharp, 2013).
Optimism gives an athlete a better outcome in the
game, a positive attitude, and a mindset that leads to a
high–level performance (Ortín-Montero, et al. 2018).
Thus, being positive before the game is very vital. It
gives the athlete the right support and intrinsic
motivation. It helps them to think properly and
strategize on how they will play the game properly.
Moreover, a physically confident individual easily
develops self–efficacy even though he or she is just
starting to learn a specific skill or behavior, as long as
there is confidence in overcoming a particular event in
the individual’s life because they trust their motor
ability or skills. Having motor confidence can result in
having a proper mindset for an athlete. With this,
he/she can also focus on the other aspects that need
improvement like focus and having a clear mind.
Positivism is also crucial in developing and enhancing
self–efficacy of an individual. It helps a person to
conquer his/her fear, anxiety, and pressure that other
people bring. A positive athlete is already one step
ahead of his/her opponents because of the belief that
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
he/she can get the reward by being mentally prepared.
Mental preparation is critical in the life of an athlete
for the reason that most of his/her time is focused on
physical preparation. Once an athlete is both physical
and mentally prepared, there is a bigger chance of
achieving the wanted goal (Musculus, et al. 2018).
Furthermore, Nicholls et al. (2012) state that an athlete
who has good stress appraisal, coping, and emotion
results in a high level of performance satisfaction
because a positive mindset pushes an athlete to
become more productive and exert more effort or even
exceeds the limit.
Mental Toughness among Athletes
At the present, mental toughness is typically described
as the positive attitude of an individual that helps in
overcoming adversities. Furthermore, sports
enthusiasts define mental toughness as an attribute of
an athlete that endures hardship in a difficult situation
to succeed (Kumar, 2017). Cowden (2017) suggests
that mental toughness is the most important
psychological attribute that helps athletes to become
successful. Mental toughness has often been implied to
correspond with higher competitive standards,
achievement levels, and performance outcomes. In
addition, being a mentally tough athlete decreases the
chance of burnout, since mentally tough athletes have
the capacity to recover from setbacks. It also protects
athletes from different symptoms of burnout such as
feeling exhausted, lack of motivation to do a particular
training or exercise, getting overwhelmed by simple
tasks, having the mindset that everything one does is
just a waste of time, and feeling that everything done
makes no difference. As mentioned, these are the
different symptoms of burnout that can be avoided by
practicing or having a mentally tough mindset
(Madigan & Nicholls, 2017).
Mental toughness allows athletes to counteract the
possible harmful effect of controlling the coach’s
interpersonal style. In addition, there are athletes that
don’t have a high–level of mental toughness which
could be why coaches have dominant behavior that
affects athletes’ mental toughness; but once an athlete
has established mental toughness, neither the coach
nor other people can affect the athlete's behavior
towards setback or adversities (Gucciardi, et al. 2017).
Over a period of time, mental toughness increases.
Furthermore, an athlete experiences a different
situation that builds him or her into a mentally tough
individual (Lin et al., 2017). Thus, in a study
conducted by Wilson et al. (2019), mental toughness
was a critical part of the coping mechanism in any
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sports–related activity. An athlete that has a low-level
mental toughness may not be able to cope with a
situation that needs an urgent response that can affect
the desired performance. Athletes who can easily cope
with setbacks manage to have a higher level of
performance. This separates being a good athlete that
can just do a normal response from an elite athlete that
can make a different response even though there's a
setback or unfortunate circumstance that can possibly
stop him or her from attaining the specific goal.
Moreover, mental toughness can be demonstrated in
the face of hardships. –Pressure-filled games may need
athletes to demonstrate greater mental toughness than
in situations that are simpler and less significant
(Newland, 2013). The finest performers in sports and
other performance fields are resilient to adversity—the
setbacks and hurdles they encounter prior to and
during performances. One of the most critical
psychological abilities that successful athletes and
performers possess is the capacity to bounce back from
adversity—setbacks and hurdles experienced prior to
and during the performance (Keelan, 2016). Being
resilient in the game can be advantageous, particularly
if an athlete can truly recover from an in-game
circumstance. It can endow an athlete with the ability
to win a game. In addition, a tough psychological
experience can result in physical benefits (Collins,
2017). Previous hostile life experiences may help
athletes view the task ahead as less demanding, or that
they possess a greater ability to cope. The
overwhelming pressure that athletes feel before and
during competition is one of the most common
problems they face. This pressure causes a shift in
concentration as well as a mood of confidence that is
typically shaky. Many athletes seek strategies to
increase their mental performance by pondering over
how they can boost their confidence, relax, and calm
their minds (avoid over-thinking). Many athletes,
however, have a problem that extends beyond their
lack of mental talents. With any athletes, they must
also learn how to find and maintain a state of
happiness when competing (Alban, 2016). Pressure is
not a bad thing, as, for an athlete, it should be a fuel to
overcome more adversities. Just like gold, it will not
be gold without pressure.
Based on the study by Rankin (2016), athletes are
better at handling pressure when performing a task and
are most likely to cope with stress even in a high-
pressure situation. In addition, according to the study
conducted by Oudejans, et al. (2011), most
professional athletes perform under pressure, and
choking under pressure in sports has been explained by
their attention to the skill execution, but in order to
maintain their performance athletes tend to have
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
positive monitoring to continually perform even under
pressure. Moreover, concentration is just one aspect
under the broad term of attention. It relates to the
ability to exert deliberate mental effort in a given
situation even. Just like the human body, concentration
needs to be trained so that it will help one to master
calmness, and become active at the same time. An
athlete who has a great concentration or focus can give
a lead towards the goal for the reason that athletes are
focusing on the goal, not on the adversities that the
athletes can experience during the competition. There
are things that an athlete needs to do in able to
concentrate meaningfully. One of them is eliminating
distractions which is necessary to give more focus on
the goal. Some of the athletes lose the game because of
their lack of concentration. Thus, an athlete gains the
focus that is needed in the game for him/her to have a
greater chance to win the competition (Rodriguez et
al., 2016). Additionally, Zeplin et al. (2014) argue that
concentration is the capacity to act with a clear and
present focus; an individual who is concentrating is
said to be focused on a task at hand clearly and
immediately. Once an athlete has mastered this
necessary talent for competition, controlling one's
attention in order to concentrate on the required
performance becomes much easier, especially when
done regularly. Additionally, Whitman (2016) states
that concentration benefits an athlete in a variety of
ways. To begin, athletes must remain focused on the
present moment and avoid dwelling on past mistakes
by getting ahead of themselves. Second, it enables an
athlete to disregard distractions; and third, it enables
an athlete to manage tension or excessive enthusiasm,
which enables them to see things early and notice little
nuances that provide them an edge during a
performance or game.
One of the primary attributes of a mentally tough
athlete is being unshaken of any failures and setbacks.
Thus, Skinner (2013) suggests that confidence has an
impact on the performance of the athlete. An athlete
who shows firm confidence not just in the game but in
day-to-day training and exercises is already a lead
toward greatness. Being confident inside and out is not
simple as an athlete should also have the will towards
the goal. A confident athlete watches his/her actions
and body gestures, even how he/she looks and talks.
Confidence should be seen from a different angle of an
athlete's life. If one can achieve great confidence, that
person can also achieve a high– level performance. In
addition, Williamson (2019) states that confidence is
measured as a skill. With that being recognized, the
growth of mental skills is the factor that helps an
athlete achieve the goal. Managing that confidence
affects both teams and individual athletes. However,
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one important factor in maintaining confidence is
"goal setting". According to the findings, a multiple-
goal strategy with a good balance between result,
performance, and process goals leads to the best
outcomes.Moreover, goal setting improves the game,
especially if it is based on the history of success that
an athlete has. It also increases the effort and
motivation of an athlete to go further, overcome fear,
sharpen focus, handle intimidations, and cope with
negative emotions (Cohn, 2020). Motivation acts as a
catalyst for energizing, selecting, and directing the
performance. It assists in establishing difficult goals
and channeling energy and effort toward achieving
those goals. Intrinsically driven athletes work
diligently to perfect their skills and are propelled
forward by an internal passion to succeed. While they
do love the difficult conditions that arise during the
competition. Motivation is critical for performance
enhancement. This optimal level varies for every
athlete and is also determined by the nature of the
sport. Effective motivational strategies have a
significant impact on sports performance. Even
athletes who are naturally fairly motivated require a
methodical regimen to channel their motivation. Thus,
multiple motivational strategies can be used to produce
a desire to engage in activity and a readiness to
overcome associated barriers. Motivation has
significant consequences for teachers, coaches,
trainers, leaders, and administrators of physical
education programs (Singh & Pathak,
2017).Additionally, Mohd Kassim (2011) asserts that
athletes engaged in high-performance sports exhibit a
high level of motivation. Sports psychologists refer to
this concept as mental toughness. Although mental
toughness is the most frequently used term, there is
little knowledge about it in sports psychology (Allen et
al., 2013). Mental toughness has long been seen as a
critical component of sports, both by fans and
professionals. As Sari (2014) and Loehr (1982) state,
half of the factors affecting athletes' performance are
psychological, such as mental toughness. As coaches
have repeatedly stated, mental toughness is vital to an
athlete's success. Despite the general acknowledgment
of mental toughness as a necessary component of
champion development, high- quality research on
mental toughness as a psychological concept is scarce.
Legends in any competitive sport have been successful
from the time they were chosen during their
profession's selection stage (Sabino, 2009, cited by
Juan and Lopez, 2015).
Certain athletes have begun their careers in
universities and earned a reputation for themselves
through dedication, hard work, and the conviction that
they will triumph one day. Athletes from various
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schools are recruited and asked to attend the
University, where they could use their talents for not
just fame, but also entertainment. They have been put
through the wringer in order to compete and win gold.
They are robust and mighty, resembling future
Spartans. Numerous fitness factors contribute to the
optimization of athletic abilities. Sports psychology
has risen to prominence as a growing profession in
recent years. Mental abilities are the most critical and
well-established factors in obtaining high levels of
competition success (Pashabadi et al., 2011). Players
were subjected to significant psychological and
physical strain as a result of their requirement to
compete in an elite sports context (Hanton et al.,
2003).As a result, psychological characteristics, as
well as mental abilities such as self-confidence and
coping mechanisms, as well as the dynamics that
comprise the mental toughness construct, are widely
recognized as critical components of athletes' ability to
overcome adversity and succeed in competition
(Bhardwaj et al., 2014). Research on mental toughness
has assessed the written responses of 131 experienced
coaches and 160 outstanding athletes (Fourie and
Potgieter, 2001). The study has identified the
following twelve components of mental toughness: (1)
motivation; (2) coping skills; (3) cognitive ability; (4)
discipline; (5) goal-directedness; (6) competitiveness;
(7) confidence; (8) sustaining physical and mental
requirements; (9) team unity; 10) preparation skills;
(11) psychological toughness; and (12) ethics.
According to Bhardwaj et al. (2014), attention is
crucial for athlete performance in sports, especially for
high-performance athletes who have little room for
error compared to other athletes. Minor physical
ability discrepancies amongst elite athletes can have a
big impact on their performance. When an athlete is
unable to concentrate, his stamina is depleted, and a
slight mental distraction can entirely ruin their team's
performance. For young athletes, elite athletes have
long been viewed as role models and sources of
motivation. In terms of psychological finesse, there is
more to their zeal, perseverance, and optimal skill
level than meets the eye in terms of defeating the
lesser opponent. Though the phrase "mental
toughness" is occasionally used colloquially to put an
athlete's accomplishments into context, research
indicates that there is no conclusive link between
mental toughness and performance success (Newland
et al., 2013). This study has examined the mental
toughness of National University's top athletes. Seven
elite athletes from National University's Athletics
Department participated in this study. The responses
represent a variety of sports, including men's and
women's basketball, volleyball, and table tennis (male
and female). The athletes in the selected sports have
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won championship games and are considered class A
and critical to the championship's success.
Self–Efficacy and Mental Toughness among
Athletes
According to the study by Lin, et al. (2017) mental
toughness is associated with different positive
psychological traits, coping efficient strategies, and
positive outcomes. It also suggests that it is affected by
environmental factors. The study conducted by
Satterwhite (2016) claims that self–efficacy is an
important factor in coping with stress because it
measures individuals' internal control. Moreover, it
demonstrates that if an individual feels less stressed,
this is because they know how to handle stressful
situations, and is associated with a high level of mental
toughness.
Most mentally tough athletes have a high level of self–
efficacy and cope more effectively in the game
because they already know how to control and manage
such situations. Once an athlete has experienced the
same event several times, it will give the athlete the
advantage to manage this difficult situation. Other
factors such as fear, anxiety, and pressure would not
be a problem since athletes have built their capabilities
to bounce back from setbacks through experience.
That's the huge reason why athletes who manage to
master their self–belief or self– efficacy can give
themselves a lead because not all athlete can manage
their beliefs (Nicholls, et al. 2011).
Self–efficacy has a great influence on how athletes
cope effectively in the game. According to the study
conducted by Nicholls (2010), athletes with a
high–level of self–efficacy are also mentally tough
individuals. Those people that believe in themselves
can easily manage to recover from adversities and
obstacles. Being a mentally tough individual
influences a great outcome of the game. It could lead
athletes towards achieving their goals. Protective
emotional and behavioral patterns are observable in
developing mental toughness, according to Brown et
al., (2015). Through the course of developing a strong
foundation of one's mental toughness, self– efficacy
plays a vital role. The belief of an athlete that he/she
can surpass a difficult situation even if there's no
certain way may result in a higher level of self–
efficacy. Especially when they master the skills that
they need to perform such an action; it would be easy
for them to give their best because they know every
detail of the situation. Social modeling also affects the
life of an athlete as it gives them proper support and
determination. Once they see someone
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
that inspires them to do more, it will be a big help
since they also want to have a great outcome in the
same field, they are now checking what are the things
that these people that they look up to as a model are
doing just to maximize their potential to become one
of a kind athletes.
Methodology
The descriptive-correlational method was employed in
this study that aims to describe estimate the extent of
the relationship between two variables. A descriptive
correlational design was utilized in this study to
describe the level of self–efficacy and mental
toughness of Philippines national athletes and also to
know the relationship between those variables. The
descriptive–correlational method determines to
accurately and systematically describe the
demographics of the Philippine national athletes. It
also describes the respondents' level of self– efficacy
and mental toughness. It emphasized the prevailing
conditions on how the respondents of the study
function at the time of the study (McCombes, 2020).
In addition, the participants of the study were
Philippine national athletes and described by the level
of self – efficacy and mental toughness. Such
description was done in problem number one and two
of this study. Moreover, the main instrument used in
this study was adapted by the standardized
questionnaire made by Ralf Schwarzer and a survey
questionnaire made by Alan Goldberg. The first part
has 10 items that measure the individual level of self –
efficacy of the respondents and the second part have
30 items questionnaire that is divided to different
subscale such as rebound ability, ability to handle
pressure, concentration, confidence and motivation.
It’s primarily dealt with overall mental toughness of
the respondents but it also measures the five (5)
subscale under mental toughness. In addition, mental
toughness questionnaire will also help the respondents
help the respondents. Meanwhile, the General Self-
Efficacy Scale is correlated to emotion, optimism,
work satisfaction. Negative coefficients were found for
depression, stress, health complaints, burnout, and
anxiety. The mental toughness questionnaire of
Goldberg was widely used in the field of sports
psychology standardization of this testing material was
validated by different expert in the field of sports and
psychology. The researcher run a pilot testing to
collegiate athletes who has an exposure with
international games to get a more reliable result when
the test material is conduct to the population of the
study. The researcher with the help of that expert
statistician got an Internal reliability / Cronbach’s
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Research Article

alpha = .76 which represent an acceptable test Table 4. Frequency and Percent Distribution of
material. Subsequently, the researcher distribute the
Mental Toughness in terms of Ability to Handle
survey questionnaires or the instruments by the use of
Pressure among Athletesas
Google Form, and sending it to their Gmails and social
media accounts. Additionally, the following statistical
treatment thar was used to analyze the findings of the
study are the frequency, percentage, mean and Pearson
r.

Results
Table 5. Frequency and Percent Distribution of
In this part, it discusses the level and relationship Mental Toughness in terms of Concentration among
between self-efficacy and mental toughness of Athletes
Philippine National Athletes by the used of Pearson r.

Table 1. Frequency and Percent Distribution of the

Level of Self-Efficacy among the Athletes

Table 6. Frequency and Percent Distribution of

Mental Toughness in terms of Confidence among
Athletes
Table 2. Frequency and Percent Distribution of
Mental Toughness among the Athletes

The table demonstrate the level of mental toughness in

Table 3. Frequency and Percent Distribution of the
Level of Mental Toughness in terms of Rebound Ability
among the Athletes
terms of confidence. Out of 110 respondents, middle
level of confidence was observed in 23 or 20.9% of the
respondents, high level of confidence was reported by 79
or 71.8% of the respondents, and 8 or 7.3% of the
respondents shown a very high level of confidence.
The results show that most of the Philippine national
athletes were confident enough in different aspects of
their life. In addition, one of the primary attributes of a
mentally tough athlete seems to be unshaken of any
failures and setbacks. The findings indicate that
Philippine national athletes observed to be confident
even experiencing setbacks and challenges. It also leads
to a high-level performance.

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Psych Educ,2022, 6: 477-0, Document ID: PEMJ452, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7486705, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article
Table 7. Frequency and Percent Distribution of
Mental Toughness in terms of Motivation among
Athletes
Table 8. Mean Distribution of the Respondents in
terms of Self-Efficacy and Mental Toughness
Table 9. Relationship of Self – Efficacy and Mental
Toughness of the Respondents.
Discussion
The discussion of the findings is based on the self-
efficacy and mental toughness data of 110 Philippine
national athletes who volunteered as respondents. The
majority of Philippine national athletes exhibited a
very high level of self-efficacy, suggesting that this is
attributable to their mastery of experiences and
emotions.
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel
Moreover, the data implied that the Philippine national
athletes were mentally tough. The results clearly
demonstrated that Philippine national athletes display
the following attributes to increase their mental
toughness: they have the ability to handle pressure
even when facing challenges, are able to concentrate
or focus during a game, and are observed to be
confident in overcoming adversity even when facing
setbacks. It also contributes to high level of
performance and signifies that individuals participate
in sports for their own enjoyment or fulfillment, rather
than as a member of a group, such as a club. In
addition, motivated athletes were methodical and
direct in their approach to technique planning. This
study's findings strengthen the relationship between
self- efficacy and mental toughness by revealing that
when an athlete works on his or her personal beliefs to
achieve a goal, that objective will be accomplished.
Conclusion
The study found out that the overall findings concludes
that Philippine national athletes observed to have a
mean of 35.409 with verbal interpretation of very high
level of self – efficacy. The results concludes that the
mental toughness of the athletes is “High”.
Meanwhile, the rebound ability, ability to handle
pressure, concentration, confidence and motivation
also concludes a “High Level”. Also, there is a
positive association between the independent and
dependent variable, Also, it concludes that there is a
significant relationship between the self-efficacy and
mental toughness of athletes, which rejects the null
hypothesis. Simultaneously, the researcher identified
and concluded that the respondents have a very high
level of self – efficacy and high level of mental
toughness that’s the reason the researcher came up
with a proposed program that will maintain, develop
and nurture the self – efficacy and mental toughness of
the respondents. In addition, the researcher includes an
annual assessment and monitoring to know the
progress and changes in self – efficacy and mental
toughness.
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Affiliations and Corresponding Information
Kurt Christian B. Arcangel, MPsy., RPm
Wellness Lead, Sutherland Global Services, Philippines
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