Sports have a positive impact in optimizing the physical ability of the students in line with the National Education Philosophy focused to produce a balanced way intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically. There is evidence to confirm that mental toughness can affect performance in areas such as education. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between mental toughness and academic achievements among footballers at National University of Malaysia (UKM). Questionnaire were used to examine the constructs of mental toughness study includes self-confidence, commitment, challenge and self-control was adapted from Mental toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ48) by Clough et al. (2002). A total of 40 UKM’s football athletes were used as the main respondents in this research. The study found that the highest mean value for the mental toughness factor is the confidence (M = 4.28), followed by challenge (M = 4.26). However, the study showed no significant difference among UKM’s football athletes for all four factors of mental toughness; commitment, self-control, challenge and confidence based on their experience in their respective sports. However, the findings showed that mental toughness significantly correlated with academic achievement for UKM’s footballers. This study found that the construct of self-confidence (13.4%) are major factors of mental toughness that most contribute to academic achievement of UKM’s footballers. The study is expected to help the university, coaches, psychologists and athletes who represent the university to understand the importance of the psychological aspect to success whether in sports or academics achievement. Athletes who have high mental toughness will affect the excellent of academic performance. The researchers suggest that future research could examine athletes from different sports with a larger sample.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji tiga tujuan utama iaitu: (1) mengenal pasti tahap tret personaliti di kalangan pegawai sukan di UKM; (2) untuk mengenal pasti tahap prestasi kerja di kalangan pegawai sukan di UKM; (3) untuk mengkaji hubungan antara tret personaliti dan prestasi kerja di kalangan pegawai sukan di UKM. 44 item Questionnaire Inventori Besar Lima (BFI) diadaptasi daripada John dan Srivastava (1999) yang mempunyai lima dimensi, iaitu Ekstraversi, Kesedaran, Keterbukaan fikiran, Kesetujuan dan Neurotisme. Prestasi kerja diukur dengan menggunakan markah daripada Sistem Penilaian Prestasi (SPPP). Soal selidik ini melibatkan responden daripada kalangan pegawai sukan (N = 36) di UKM. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahawa min tertinggi bagi tret personaliti adalah Keterbukaan fikiran dengan nilai min (M = 3.70) dan tahap prestasi kerja adalah sangat tinggi (M = 92.98). Di samping itu, hasil analisis korelasi menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara tret personaliti dan prestasi kerja di kalangan pegawai sukan di UKM (sig = 0.010, p < 0.05). Kesimpulannya, tret personaliti iaitu keterbukaan fikiran dalam kalangan pegawai sukan amat penting dalam membentuk pekerja agar lebih meningkatkan prestasi dari semasa ke semasa.
Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 5(1): 22-34, 2016 - This study aims to
provide information to the team manager, especially at the university level to understand the
relationship between coaching style and mental toughness among athletes. The sample had
been selected from four Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) football team consisting of 88
players (n = 88: 22 players per team). The study used two instruments that had been modified
namely "Leadership Scale for Sports Questionnaire" (LSS-40), (Chelladurai & Salleh, 1980)
and "The Mental Toughness Questionnaire" (MTQ-48), (Clough, Earle & Sewell, 2002).
Research findings had identified UiTM’s football team scores has a moderately high level of
mental toughness for each dimension known as challenge, commitments, control assurance
and confidence. The study also found that the leadership style of training and instruction was
favored by UiTM’s footballer compared to the autocratic leadership style. Overall, the study
found a significant relationship between the leadership style with mental toughness especially
for dimension training and instruction. The findings also showed that there is a moderately
relationship between leadership style of democratic, social support and positive response to
the mental toughness dimension of confidence. As for the coaching style of training and
instruction also has a moderately relationship to the mental toughness dimensions of
challenge. Results of this study showed that the leadership style affects the level of mental
toughness UiTM’s football teams. Furthermore, the coaches need to figure out the best
coaching style in order to improve mental toughness among football team.