Article
Perceptual and Motor Skills
2023, Vol. 130(3) 1202–1220
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/00315125231165819
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Mental Toughness and
Resilience in Trail Runner’s
Performance
Nuno Gameiro1,2, Filipe Rodrigues1,2, Ra´ul Antunes1,2,3,
Rui Matos1,2, Nuno Amaro1,2, Miguel Jacinto1,2, and
Diogo Monteiro1,3,4
Abstract
Our purpose with this study was to analyze trail runners’ psychological variables of
mental toughness (MT) and resilience, and their associations with runners’ perfor-
mances within a quantitative cross-sectional study. In total, we analyzed data from
307 Portuguese trail runners (60 female, 247 male), aged between 20 to 66 years (M
age = 41.98; SD = 7.74). The results showed that the measurement model, including the
factors of MT, resilience, and performance variables, exhibited an adequate ﬁt to the
data: χ2 = 150.01 (74); BS-p = .003; CFI= .953; TLI = .942; RMSEA = .058 90% (.045,
.071) and SRMR= .042. Standardized direct effects revealed positive associations
between these variables. More speciﬁcally: (a) MT was signiﬁcantly associated with
resilience; and (b) resilience was signiﬁcantly associated with performance. The indirect
regression paths showed that MT was positively associated with performance, with
resilience considered a possible mediator (β = .09 IC = .010, .168; p = .02). In total,
considering direct and indirect effects, the model explained 21% of performance
variance among trail runners.
1ESECS – Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal
2Life Quality Research Centre (CIEQV), Leiria, Portugal
3Center for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria 2411-901,
Portugal
4Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), Vila Real, Portugal
Corresponding Author:
Diogo Monteiro, ESECS – Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal; Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences
and Human Development (CIDESD), Vila Real, Portugal. Life Quality Research Centre (CIEQV), Leiria,
Portugal.
Email: diogo.monteiro@ipleiria.pt
Keywords
endurance, mental toughness, performance, resilience, trail running
Introduction
Exercise beneﬁts have been well described in past literature (Spittler & Oberle, 2019)
with agreement that exercise contributes favorably to the physiological, psychological,
and social development of the human being (Bostancı et al., 2019). Traditional rec-
reational running is a very popular form of exercise around the world (Wa´skiewicz
et al., 2019) creating positive lifestyles changes (Gajardo-Burgos et al., 2021). Over
recent years, there has been increasing interest in running longer distances (Spittler &
Oberle, 2019), probably due to modern societal demands to overcome adversities and
challenges (Goddard et al., 2019). Parallel to this tendency, there is an increase in the
athlete´s participation in off road or track endurance races known as trail running
(Easthope et al., 2014; Malliaropoulos et al., 2015; Suter et al., 2020), involving
unsurfaced mountain trails with extensive vertical displacement and different distances
(Easthope et al., 2014; Malliaropoulos et al., 2015). Trail running is an outdoor sport
(Viljoen et al., 2022) that is becoming one of the most popular disciplines in endurance
running (Groslambert et al., 2020; Scheer et al., 2019). The International Association of
Athletics Federations has recognized trail running as a new running discipline (Perrotin
et al., 2021) and there are an estimated 20 million trail runners, with increased par-
ticipation in the last decade (Viljoen et al., 2022). With a strong sense of sports ethics
and a sense of humility, trail running is a sport that takes place amid nature and respects
the environment as demanding for both body and mind (International Trail Running
Association [ITRA], 2022). Trail running races are characterized by pedestrian
competitions open to everyone, with a minimum use of paved roads (20% maximum)
(Malliaropoulos et al., 2015) and distances that can range from a few kilometers to more
than 200 km (in a multiday marathon) (Viljoen et al., 2022). These endurance races
occur in variable terrains, including over frequent signiﬁcant climbs and descents
(elevation gain and loss), in varied environmental conditions like cold, heat, high
altitude, snow, and humidity conditions (Perrotin et al., 2021) creating high overall
difﬁculty for a given race (ITRA, 2022). The conditions can inﬂuence both the bio-
mechanical and psychological state of the runner and, therefore, the overall perfor-
mance during the race (Perrotin et al., 2021). Thus, there is a need to attend to the
runner’s senses, their age, and the runner’s medical condition to explore their capa-
bilities and develop their physical and mental abilities (ITRA, 2022). Recently, trail
running has become more accessible to non-professional athletes, despite its demands
and requirements for training, work schedule and personal life sacriﬁces (Rochat et al.,
2017). In addition, several events or changing dynamics may occur during a race (Suter
et al., 2020) due to the many variable exigencies of this sport (Scheer et al., 2019),
including a combination of the runner’s own physical, tactical, and psychological
characteristics that can lead to success or failure (Liew et al., 2019). In trail running, as
Gameiro et al.
1203
in all other sports, performance is inﬂuenced by many physical characteristics like
toughness, strength, speed, agility, and by the athletes’ psychological status such as
motivation, concentration, and mental ability (Namli & Demir, 2019). In this regard,
toughness may be needed for correct decision making under stress-difﬁcult conditions,
staying calm under pressure, and overcoming troubles that are intertwined with per-
formance; this makes mental toughness a critical competency for achieving best
success (Namli & Demir, 2019).
A characteristic of activity endurance is surely the demand for mental and physical
reintegration following fatigue induced by the performance effort (Diotaiuti et al.,
2021). Especially since performance can be challenged by unpredictable occurrences
like weather conditions, mechanical failures, pain, or discomfort related to physical and
mental states (Diotaiuti et al., 2021), it is imperative that athletes prepare in a com-
prehensive but focused way (Scheer et al., 2019). The inﬂuence of psychological
factors in endurance sports is of undeniable importance; and, while there has been
growing interest in studying these factors, and their impact on performance, they have
been poorly analyzed to date (M´endez-Alonso et al., 2021), leaving us with insufﬁcient
data of this kind (Scheer et al., 2019). Different types of mental resources are apt to be
important for an athlete’s preparations for the exigencies and challenges of this sport
(Moreira et al., 2021).
Mental Toughness
Mental toughness (MT) is a psychological construct with demonstrated importance in
sport (Brace et al., 2020; Cooper et al., 2020; Jones & Parker, 2019) and there has been
increased research and practice interest on mental toughness in sport and exercise
psychology over the last two decades (Gucciardi, 2017). MT has been associated with
beneﬁcial behaviors and better sport performance outcomes (Stamatis et al., 2020),
though there is still inadequate consensus regarding its conceptualization (Hardy et al.,
2014). Amongst several deﬁnitions of MT, Gucciardi et al. (2015) deﬁned it as “a
personal capacity to produce consistently 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.” Zeiger & Zeiger (2018)
deﬁned MT as “a state-like psychological resource that is purposeful, ﬂexible and
efﬁcient in nature for the enactment and maintenance of goal-directed pursuits,” such
that MT enables striving (e.g., effort), surviving (e.g., coping) and thriving (e.g.,
performing) (Jones & Parker, 2019). MT shares conceptual space and has been cor-
related with various other psychological constructs (Brace et al., 2020; Jones & Parker,
2019) like optimism, pessimism, coping, youth experiences, achievement goals and
sport motivation, developmental assets, and stress appraisal (Jones & Parker, 2019), as
well as resilience, self-belief, and emotional intelligence (Nicholls et al., 2015).
Nicholls et al. (2015) suggested that it might be the presence of other psychological
constructs (rather than coping alone) that permits mentally tough individuals to dis-
tinguish themselves under stressful circumstances (Nicholls et al., 2015). Evidence
1204
Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)
suggests that MT is a multifaceted construct that supports performance excellence
(Cowden et al., 2017; Shaari et al., 2020) irrespective of the type, direction, and degree
of demands experienced (Cowden et al., 2017). Additionally, MT is considered central
to sport performance (Anthony et al., 2016) and it is an important prerequisite for a
higher sustained athletic performance (Goddard et al., 2019). MT is classiﬁed as a
critical factor for success (Souter et al., 2018) because of its role in increasing a
controlled adaptative response to positive and negative pressures, situations, and events
(Cowden et al., 2017). The implicit association between MT and success or better
performance has gained increasing attention among leading researchers, especially
those who have conducted retrospective studies of elite athletes (Cowden et al., 2017).
Despite the promising potential of developing MT, there is no evidence to date for any
speciﬁc approach to training this attribute. Nevertheless, Stamatis et al. (2020) sug-
gested that due to sport-speciﬁc differences in MT, interventions to enhance MTshould
consider the cultural and contextual attributes of each sport. Additionally, some in-
vestigators have begun to quantify the predictive role of MT for competitive (Cowden,
2016) and noncompetitive (Gucciardi et al., 2016) performance indicators. These
results have not been discussed in detail and there is still a scarcity of empirical research
regarding this conceptual association between MT and athletic performance. More
speciﬁcally, it is still unclear whether MT is noticeable in athletes with better per-
formance, higher achievement, or successful outcomes, or whether MT is more apt to
be evident in association with non-performance factors like resilience, self-belief, and
emotional intelligence (Cowden et al., 2017). Cowden et al. (2017) highlighted the
importance of conducting statistically based studies that more accurately control the
relationship between levels of MT on performance outcomes. Stamatis et al. (2020)
highlighted the importance of conducting studies with objective indicators of athletic
performance to provide evidence for MT interventions.
Resilience
As previously noted, another construct that is frequently mentioned alongside MT is
resilience (Liew et al., 2019). Resilience in sport has aroused interest due to athletes’
needs to use and optimize a range of mental qualities to protect them from or to
overcome stressors, adversities, and failures (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015; Sarkar &
Fletcher, 2014). Sport is an excellent context in which to study resilience for cop-
ing with unexpected adversities like serious injuries, or stressors of a psychosocial
nature (e.g., losing a match, maladaptive interactions with coach), a physiological
nature (e.g., high training loads) or a non-typical circumstance (e.g., pandemic situ-
ations) (den Hartigh et al., 2022). Additionally, athletes submit themselves continu-
ously to evaluative environments with high consequences (e.g., winning or losing)
(Galli & Gonzalez, 2015). Thus, to distinguish psychological resilience from other
forms of resilience, Fletcher and Sarkar (2012) ﬁrst deﬁned resilience as “the role of
mental processes and behavior in promoting personal assets and protecting an indi-
vidual from the potential negative effect of stressors.” Additionally, resilience has been
Gameiro et al.
1205
seen as the individual’s capacity to recognize personal limits, and to accept and go
further to face difﬁculties with optimism (Diotaiuti et al., 2021). Roebuck et al. (2020)
conceptualized resilience as a “high-order trait that reﬂects the ability of a person to
maintain normal psychological functioning in the setting of a stressor.” There still exists
controversy between the deﬁnition and the concept of resilience in research and sport
practice, with some investigators noting continued difﬁculties operationalizing and
measuring resilience, both in this context and in non-sport settings (Galli & Gonzalez,
2015). Resilience has been studied, with multidisciplinary interest, as a dynamic
process with a personalized perspective (den Hartigh et al., 2022), leading sport
scientists to adopt one of two possible approaches (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015). On one
hand, they have examined the psychosocial factors that predict performance following
an initial failure on the same task, seeing resilience as a coping behavior characterized
by performing successfully after an initial failure or trying after-the-fact to identify how
to enhance resilience/performance (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015). From the other per-
spective, resilience has been investigated by attempting to understand the thoughts,
beliefs, emotions, and behaviors of athletes who demonstrate a capacity to overcome
adversity in sport (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015). Nonetheless, the athlete’s personal
qualities of resilience (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015) namely positivity, determination,
competitiveness, commitment, maturity, persistence, passion for the sport (Sarkar &
Fletcher, 2014) as well as social and environmental contexts appear to have an im-
portant role (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015). In qualitative studies, researchers have focused
on psychological elements that protect athletes against stressors; they have emphasized
positive personality, motivation, conﬁdence, focus and perceived social support as
main protective factors (Sarkar & Fletcher, 2014). Additionally, positive personality
traits, and, more speciﬁcally, adaptative perfectionism, optimism and competitiveness
have been linked with dealing with stressors (den Hartigh et al., 2022). Consequently,
studying this dynamic process of bouncing back to normal functioning following
adversity and noting speciﬁcally how long this takes have been seen as keys to un-
derstanding how to prevent performance depletion and contend with psychological or
physical stresses (den Hartigh et al., 2022). Utilizing biopsychosocial data, it is possible
to determine warning signs of a loss of resiliency (den Hartigh et al., 2022).
Current Integrative Research
As noted above, resilience can interact with other psychological constructs in sport like
hardiness, coping, MT, and post traumatic growth (Galli & Gonzalez, 2015). Thus,
Gucciardi et al. (2008) and Nicholls et al. (2015) focused on the relationship between
resilience and MT in sport and, more recently, Moreira et al. (2021) showed that, while
MT incorporates characteristics of resilience and hardiness, it also enables one to thrive
in situations where there are positive effects and perceived positive pressure. Resilience
is very similar to MT (Cowden et al., 2016) and both constructs have very often been
cited together (Liew et al., 2019; Gucciardi et al., 2009). Like MT, conceptualization,
operationalization, and measurement of resilience have not yet generated a consensus
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Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)
(Cowden et al., 2016). While they share similar conceptual space, their relationships to
each other have not been explicitly clariﬁed (Nicholls et al., 2015). Nonetheless, it is
important to clarify some dissimilarities. Clough et al. (2002) proposed that conﬁdence,
a component of MT, is the distinguishing factor between both constructs. Anthony et al.
(2020) also underlined the importance of resilience. For instance, Anthony et al. (2020)
showed that resilience could act as an emergent outcome, both in terms of individual
and group systems, that allows one to bounce back quickly to homeostasis following
adversity; whereas MT is only related to the psychological capacity of individuals or
resources, acting as a protective factor. Aryanto and Larasati (2020) pointed to the fact
that resilient individuals control their behavior by remaining focused, despite iden-
tifying and controlling negative inﬂuences, while MT individuals can reject outside
negative effects to the point that they are unaware of them. MT could be applied to
positive circumstances, representing a group of personal attributes that impact the way
in which adversity, challenges and goals are surrounded and assessed (Cowden et al.,
2016). On the other hand, resilience is mostly associated with negative contexts,
including possession of and/or the presence of protective and vulnerability factors, such
that resilience inﬂuences the relationship between risk and positive adaptation and may
inﬂuence and be inﬂuenced by important attributes outside of the self (e.g., perceived
social support) (Cowden et al., 2016). Nonetheless, Cowden et al. (2016) emphasized
the studies conducted by Gerber et al. (2013) in which MT was seen as “a resilience
resource or protective factor that moderated the association between risk and adaption
levels to facilitate positive outcomes.”
In line with the inherent growth of interest in sports generally, the growing interest in
trail running races by sport professionals has contributed to increased attention to the
characteristics that athletes might develop through training and competitions to better
their race performances (M´endez-Alonso et al., 2021). In this way, owing to the
limitations of physical training, the possibilities and seeming limitlessness of psy-
chological training has become a newer crucial focus (Zeiger & Zeiger, 2018). Given
the promising results of MT (M´endez-Alonso et al., 2021; Guszkowska & Wojcik,
2021) and resilience (Diotaiuti et al., 2021; Galli & Gonzalez, 2015) constructs in
endurance performance sports, endurance runners have begun to try to raise their levels
of tenacity, determination, and tolerance of negative affect (e.g., resilience traits)
(Diotaiuti et al., 2021). Nonetheless, quantitative studies analyzing these constructs
through validated measurement instruments in endurance sports like trail running are
still scarce.
In the present study, our objective was to analyze these psychological variables
among trail runners and to study the association between these variables and athletic
performance as measured by the International Trail Running Association Index (ITRA
Index). More speciﬁcally, we studied the relationship between MT and resilience and
athletic performance, hoping to contribute a quantitative study that would lend a better
understanding of these two constructs, outlining their similarities and differences.
Gameiro et al.
1207
Method
Participants
A total of 307 Portuguese trail runners (60 female, 247 male), aged between 20 to
66 years (M age = 41.98; SD = 7.74) participated in this study Data were collected in
accordance with the Helsinki Declaration World Medical Association (2013); and the
Ethics Committee of the Polytechnic of Leiria gave its approval for its implementation
(CE/IPLEIRIA/26/2021). Potential participants were contacted though the Portuguese
Trail Running Association platform. Additionally, social network pages, forums, and
individual teams were contacted. A Google form was sent to all potential participants of
this study. To be included in this study, potential participants needed to obtain a valid
ITRA proﬁle. This means that athletes needed to have ﬁnished at least one certiﬁed
ITRA race in the previous 36 months. Before data collection, potential participants
were informed about the main objectives of the study, and the estimated time to
complete the assessment battery (approximately 12 minutes). Before completing the
questionnaires, participants had to complete a check box, ensuring that they understood
the aims of the study, and that they consented to participate. Participants were thanked
for their contribution, but no compensation was provided.
Measures
Mental Toughness. In this study, we used the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire
(SMTQ) developed by Sheard et al. (2009) in a Portuguese version by Fonseca (2012).
The SMTQ was established to ascertain the athlete´s mental toughness levels. This
questionnaire is comprised of 14-items that are answered on a four-point Likert-type
scale, ranging from “not at all true” [1] to “very true” [4]. The items are grouped into
three factors: Conﬁdence – six items (e.g., “I interpret threats as positive opportuni-
ties.”); Constancy – four items (e.g., “I give up in difﬁcult situations.”) and Control –
four items (e.g., “I am overcome by self-doubt.”). Previous studies supported the
validity and reliability of this measure among athletes (Sheard et al., 2009; Zeiger &
Zeiger, 2018). For the present study, we utilized the three factor constructs (Conﬁdence,
Constancy, and Control) representing mental toughness (Miçoo˘gulları, 2017).
Resilience. The 10 item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) developed
by Connor and Davidson (2003) is available in a Portuguese version adapted by
Almeida et al. (2020). The CD-RISC-10 measures resilience in the general population,
and it has been tested among athletes with adequate psychometric properties (Galli &
Gonzalez, 2015). This scale is comprised of 10 items, that are answered on a scale from
0 (not true at all) to 4 (true nearly all the time). The items are grouped into a single factor
representing the level of the respondent’s resilience. Several studies (e.g., Nartova-
Bochaver et al., 2021) have supported validity and reliability of this measure in
different countries.
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Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)
Performance. The International Trail Running Association (ITRA) Performance Index
is a tool for ranking athletes based on their sport performance level, and it has been used
to compare the speed of trail runners around the world (M´endez-Alonso et al., 2021).
The scale has a maximum of 1000 points corresponding to the best possible perfor-
mance (world record performance for that distance), considering the athlete’s ﬁnish
time and speciﬁc race characteristics, namely distance, elevation gain/loss and average
altitude (ITRA, 2022). This scale utilizes an indirect normative comparison method
(based on the statistical analysis of a database of more than 5.3 million individual
results), with the technical characteristics of the terrain also considered (ITRA, 2022).
A general performance index is calculated from the weighted mean of the ﬁve best race
results over the previous 36 months (permitting reliable statistical calculations and
giving the possibility of an injured athlete continuing to appear), regardless of the
distance of each race (ITRA, 2022). By ﬁnishing a certiﬁed ITRA race (from a
minimum of 2 km to more than 190 km), the result will appear in the ITRA Performance
Index (ITRA, 2022). The number of races ﬁnished by participants in this study varied
between 1 to 69 (M = 15.94; SD = 13.01). In addition, the average distance (in ki-
lometers) made in certiﬁed trail races was 971.12 and the average distance of positive
ascents was 46.45 km, while the average distance of negative ascents was 45.90 km.
Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistics included means (and standard deviations) and bivariate corre-
lations for studied variables. In addition, a two-step maximum likelihood approach
(ML) (Kline, 2016) in AMOS 27.0 was performed. A conﬁrmatory factor analysis
(CFA) ﬁrst tested the psychometric properties of the measurement model, including its
convergent and discriminant validity and composite reliability (Hair et al., 2019).
Convergent validity was assessed via average variance extracted (AVE), considering
values higher than or equal .50 as adequate (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Discriminant
validity was estimated through the square correlations between factors, and it was
considered adjusted when the square correlations were below the AVE of each factor
(Hair et al., 2019). Additionally, the internal consistency of each of the latent variables
under study was calculated, from the composite reliability (Raykov, 1997), assuming as
a cut-off value for adequacy coefﬁcients, ≥.70 (Hair et al., 2019; Raykov, 1997). Next, a
structural model was established to test the hypothesis. The model´s ﬁt for both the
measurement model and the structural model was observed through the traditional
goodness-of-ﬁt indexes. Speciﬁcally, we used the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and
Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) and the absolutes of the Standardized Root Mean Residual
(SRMR) and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) with a conﬁdence
interval (CI 90%), as recommended by several authors (Kline, 2016; Hair et al., 2019;
Byrne, 2016; Marsh et al., 2004) and with the following adopted cut-off values: CFI
and TLI ≥ .90; RMSEA and SRMR ≤ .08 (Kline, 2016; Hair et al., 2019; Byrne, 2016;
Marsh et al., 2004). Standardized direct and indirect effects on the dependent variable
were also analyzed. The signiﬁcance of direct and indirect effects was analyzed using a
Gameiro et al.
1209
bootstrap resampling procedure (1000 bootstrap samples), through a 95% CI. The
indirect effect was considered signiﬁcant (≤0.05) if the 95% CI did not include zero
(Williams & Mackinnon, 2008). We chose to consider conﬁdence intervals rather than
the probability of signiﬁcance (p-value) due to recent evidence of mediation without a
signiﬁcant relationship between variables (Hayes, 2018).
Results
Preliminary Analysis
The Full Information Robust Maximum Likelihood (FIML) was used to handle the
small amount of missing data at the item level (missing at random = 4%) as proposed by
Enders (2010). Additionally, no outliers (univariate and multivariate) were identiﬁed.
Item-level descriptive statistics indicated no deviations from univariate normality
because skewness and kurtosis assumptions of the data distribution were comprised
between 2 and +2 and 7 and +7, respectively (Hair et al., 2019). Mardia’s coefﬁcient
for multivariate kurtosis (47.83) exceeded expected values (5.0) for the assumption of
multivariate normality (Byrne, 2016).
Therefore, the Bollen-Stine bootstrap on 2000 samples was employed for subse-
quent analysis (Nevitt & Hancock, 2001). Finally, the collinearity diagnosis was
checked using variance inﬂation factor (VIF) and tolerance tests and these results
revealed values between 1.56 to 1.88 for VIF and 0.38 to 0.77 for the tolerance test,
demonstrating acceptable conditions for regression analysis (Kline, 2016; Hair et al,
2019). Then, descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were calculated for all
variables under analysis.
Descriptive statistics showed that the participants presented scores above the
midpoint for the measures of MT and resilience. Looking at bivariate correlations,
positive and signiﬁcant associations were found between all variables under analysis,
speciﬁcally including these observations: (a) MT was positively associated with both
resilience and performance; and (b) resilience was positively associated with per-
formance. The measurement model including the factors MT, resilience, and perfor-
mance variables, exhibited an adequate ﬁt to the data: χ2 = 150.01 (74); BS-p = .003;
CFI = .953; TLI = .942; RMSEA = .058 90% (.045, .071) and SRMR = .042, since CFI
and TLI were above and SRMR and RMSEAwere below the previous reported cut-off
values.
As seen by the CR coefﬁcients, each factor showed scores above the cutoff (>.70),
revealing adequate internal consistency. Based on the results of the measurement model
and reliability analysis, convergent and discriminant validity were calculated. Con-
vergent validity was achieved, since the AVE scores were above the acceptable cut-off
values, as seen in Table 1. According to the squared correlations and AVE scores, all
factors demonstrated adequate discriminant validity since the squared correlations of
each latent variable were lower than the AVE scores in each latent variable. The results
provide preliminary support to conduct SEM analysis and examine the direct between
1210
Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)
mental toughness and resilience with performance and indirect effect between mental
toughness and performance via resilience.
The results from the SEM analysis showed that the structural model provided an
acceptable ﬁt to the data, with χ2 = 150.01 (75); BS-p = .003; CFI = .954; TLI = .944;
RMSEA = .057 90% (.044, .070) and SRMR = .042 since CFI and TLI were above and
SRMR and RMSEA were below the previous reported cut-off values. Standardized
direct effects revealed positive associations (see Figure 1) between variables. Spe-
ciﬁcally, MT displayed a signiﬁcant association with resilience; and resilience was
signiﬁcantly associated with performance.
The indirect regression paths showed that MT was positively associated with
performance, with resilience a possible mediator (β = .09 IC = .010, .168; p = .02) in this
relationship. In total, considering direct and indirect effects the model explained 21% of
the performance variance in trail runners.
Discussion
In this study we aimed to analyze the associations across mental toughness, resilience,
and athletic performance in Portuguese trail runners. Overall, our hypothesis was
conﬁrmed and will be discussed below in the context of existing literature.
The positive association found between MT and resilience was in line with previous
research in which Nicholls et al. (2015) found signiﬁcant associations between MT and
resilience, concluding that “mentally tough athletes are able to excel under pressure.”
MT, in the presence of other psychological constructs, can distinguish performance (not
just coping) under stressful circumstances. Similarly, Gucciardi et al. (2008) found,
through qualitative investigation, that “mentally tough athletes are resilient,” and
Cowden et al. (2016) found a strong positive association in competitive South African
Tennis players between MT and resilience, further afﬁrming the conceptual similarities
between the two constructs. Our standardized direct effects analysis also revealed a
positive association between resilience and performance, in line with Hosseini and
Besharat’s (2010) ﬁnding that resilience predicted athletes’ sporting achievement,
psychological well-being and distress.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics, Bivariate Correlation, Convergent and Discriminant Validity,
and Composite Reliability of the Participants Responses to MT and Resilience Measures and Their
Trail Running Performance.
M
SD
1
2
3
AVE
CR
1. MT
3.09
.48
1
—
.67
.82
2. Resilience
3.12
.54
.62**
1
—
.56
.84
3. Performance
650.91
543.87
.23**
.13**
1
—
—
Note. MT = mental toughness; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; AVE = average variance extracted; CR =
composite reliability.
Gameiro et al.
1211
Our indirect regression analysis revealed a positive association between MT and
athletic performance, with resilience considered as a possible mediator. This result
empathizes the close relationship between these two constructs and gives new input to
the study of psychological constructs in athletic performance. Despite the close re-
lationship between resilience and MT, resilience retains its uniqueness, including the
conditions of positive adaptation and adversity that Galli and Gonzalez (2015) de-
scribed. The decisive role of resilience in facing severe adversities that can occur
outside of the sport context (Cowden et al., 2016) seems to give resilience a mediation
role for “the enactment and maintenance of goal-directed pursuits” as Zeiger and Zeiger
(2018) suggested. Notwithstanding limited knowledge of the conceptual association
between MT and athletic performance, due to scarce other empirical results to date, our
results are in line with reviews by Cowden et al., (2017) and Guszkowska and Wojcik
(2021) who reported a positive correlation between MT and sporting performance
across different sports, regardless of the participants’ age, gender, or skill levels. This
result emphasizes that MT is a multifaceted construct that is a central prerequisite to
excellent sport performance (Cowden et al., 2017).
Our results are also in line with M´endez-Alonso et al. (2021) who found that MTand
resilience are psychological predictors of success in ultra-trail runners (i.e., there were
better classiﬁcation and race times in athletes with higher values of MT and resilience).
M´endez-Alonso et al. (2021) also highlighted that ultra-trail showed higher values of
MT and resilience than either athletes in other sports or sedentary individuals, and this
was also previously reported by Galli and Gonzalez (2015). Furthermore, past studies
found higher levels of psychological constructs among endurance athletes, especially
MT (Aryanto & Larasati, 2020) and resilience (Roebuck et al., 2020), raising the
question of whether these attributes are intrinsic characteristics or consequences of
training and/or competing. M´endez-Alonso et al. (2021) stated that each race works as a
means of training these psychological factors, increasing an athlete’s MTand resilience.
This training aspect is probably due to the unpredictable conditions and speciﬁc
characteristics of each trail running race. This is a characteristic that sports profes-
sionals should consider in assessments of MT and resilience at pre-testing, during a
race, and post- race. Although, Brace et al. (2020) demonstrated high levels of MT in a
sample of elite level ultra-marathon runners, they did not ﬁnd performance effects
during a race among those with higher MT values, possibly suggesting that other
Figure 1. Standardized Direct Effects.
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Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)
factors can inﬂuence performance more. These results reinforce the important role of
possible indirect associations between psychological constructs in performance var-
iance. Endurance sports demand mental and physical integration owing to the impact of
fatigue prompted by the high effort sport performance requires (Diotaiuti et al., 2021).
Speciﬁcally, in trail running, it is necessary to make a permanent adjustment to different
conditions (e.g., elevation and climate make it imperative that the athlete control
various pace, nutrition, posture, loneliness, and fatigue). However, these athletes
present a more effective way of contending with unpleasant situations and perform
more effectively, acting with self-awareness of their own effort and fatigue
(Guszkowska & Wojcik, 2021). This fact makes trail running different from others
sports or even from other kinds of running races, adding importance to the use of
permanent psychological control adaptations to reach sports goals, highlighting the
general importance of mental characteristics and the primordial role of psychological
preparation (MT and resilience training) in sports (Guszkowska & Wojcik, 2021).
Performance in these races is multifactorial, with many factors involved (Diotaiuti
et al., 2021), and our results show the importance of just these two constructs, while
other psychological social, and physiological factors may explain remaining variance in
athletic performance. Notwithstanding these other unknowns, the complexity of trail
running makes it an ideal target for future sports research, and for endurance sports.
Our ﬁndings show that MT, mediated by resilience, explained 21% of the total
performance variance in trail runners, providing a new perspective of the possible
importance to intervention training in psychological constructs for these kind of en-
durance efforts. Sports professionals should be aware that mental training should be an
integrant part of a holistic psychosocial program (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2016).
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
Although previous studies analyzed the association between MT, resilience, and
performance, this is the ﬁrst study to analyze simultaneously MT, resilience, and
performance in trail runners. While the present study contributed new insights into
these associated psychological constructs, some limitations should be addressed. First,
we used a cross-sectional design that precludes us from determining causal rela-
tionships between these variables. Experimental studies are needed to examine the
effects of mental toughness and resilience on athletic performance. Second, our data
were limited to a Portuguese trail running sample and may not generalize well to
athletes from other cultures and/or sport contexts. Third we collected these data only in
one moment, namely at the middle of the competitive calendar, and there may be
variations in these results if data were collected at other times.
Future investigators should analyze MT and resilience during a competitive race
calendar, taking into consideration the possible changes that may occur during a season.
Additionally, the association between these and other constructs normally related,
should be studied directly and indirectly, using not only cross-sectional but experi-
mental designs. To obtain greater generalizability, future studies might be applied
Gameiro et al.
1213
toward participants in other sports and cultures. Finally, investigations of whether or
how these psychological constructs might be trained and enhanced should be part of
future research.
Conclusion
There is a growing appreciation for the importance that psychological preparation
should assume in endurance sports and, speciﬁcally, in trail running, characterized by
unpredictable and stressful conditions that makes variance in performance excellence
multifactorial. These athletes must make permanent adjustments to different conditions
higher performance has been associated with higher values of such psychological
constructs as MT and resilience. Our ﬁndings showed that these constructs explained
21% of trail runners’ performance variance when considering their direct and indirect
effects. This, highlights the close relationship between these two constructs and their
joint inﬂuence on performance variation, contributing to a holistic view of athletic
performance. Psychological training in endurance sports practice, especially including
MT and resilience training, would seem advantageous obtaining better performances.
These training programs should consider the cultural and contextual attributes of each
sport and social and the athletes’ environmental context.
Declaration of Conﬂicts of Interest
The author(s) declared no potential conﬂicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following ﬁnancial support for the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by national funds through the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the project UID04045/2020
Data Availability
The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because the data are under
conﬁdentiality requirements. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to Diogo
Monteiro (diogo.monteiro@ipleiria.pt)
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration. Ethical approval was
obtained by the Ethical Committee of the Polytechnic of Leiria before data collection (reference
number: (CE/IPLEIRIA/26/2021).
ORCID iDs
Raul Antunes  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5485-9430
1214
Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)
Rui Matos  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2034-0585
Diogo Monteiro  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7179-6814
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Author Biographies
Nuno Gameiro holds a master’s degree in Exercise Prescription and Health Promotion
and is a researcher at ESECS (Polytechnique of Leiria) and CIEQV. He has a degree in
Physiotherapy, with specialities in Sport and Elite Sport. His research focuses on Sport
and Exercise Psychology and Performance. Other areas of research interest include
Biomechanics and Sports injuries.
Filipe Rodrigues is an adjunct lecturer at the ESECS (Polytechnique of Leiria) and
researcher at the CIEQV. His research focuses on motivational and cognitive theories
to understand health-related behavior change in diverse domains. Other areas of
research interest include health psychology, interpersonal behaviors, coaching
andneuropsychology.
Nuno Amaro holds a PhD in Sport Sciences and is an adjunct professor at the
ESECS -Polytechnique of Leiria and is an integrated member of the Life Quality
Research Centre (CIEQV), Polytechnic of Leiria. He has a degree and master’s
degree in Sport Sciences. His research activity focuses, mostly, on Strength &
Conditioning and swimming performance; Motricity for Children and Tripela.
Raul Antunes holds a PhD in Sports Science and is a professor at the ESECS -Polytechnique
of Leiria and is an integrated member of the Life Quality Research Centre (CIEQV),
Polytechnic of Leiria. He has a degree and master’s degree in Sport. His research activity
focuses, mostly, on the sport and exercise psychology, speciﬁcally the analysis of the de-
terminants of physical activity and its consequences on quality of life and well-being
(emotional and cognitive component).
Rui Matos holds a PhD in Human Movement Sciences and has a tenure position as a
Professor at the Polytechnic of Leiria. He is the vice-Coordinator of the Quality of
Life Research Centre. He has a degree in Physical Education Teaching and a master’s
degree in children Motor Development. His academic/research ﬁeld is linked to
Motor Development, Motor Competence, and their relationship with quality of life.
Miguel Jacinto is a PhD student in Sport Science, Adapted Physical Activity area at the
Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education-University of Coimbra. Is also a
research scholarship student at the Leiria branch of the Life Quality Research Center
and invited professor at ESECS-polytechnic of Leiria. His research relates the variables
of physical exercise, people with disabilities and quality of life.
Diogo Monteiro holds a PhD in Sports Science and is a professor at the ESECS -Poly-
technique of Leiria and is an integrated member of the Research Center in Sport, Health and
Human Development. He has a degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology and master’s degree
in Sport and Exercise Psychology. His academic/research ﬁeld is linked to motivational
determinants in sport and exercise and behavioral change, with a special focus on sedentary
behavior, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, well-being, exercise adherence, sport dropout,
and persistence.
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Perceptual and Motor Skills 130(3)

Mental Toughness and Resilience in Trail Runner's Performance.
Gameiro, Nuno,Rodrigues, Filipe,Antunes, Raúl,Matos, Rui,Amaro, Nuno,Jacinto, Miguel,Monteiro, Diogo