MENTAL TOUGHNESS, SPORTS COMPETITION ANXIETY AND FEAR OF FAILURE AMONG YOUNG CLUB CRICKETERS

Abstract

The present study was aimed at determining the relationship between mental toughness, sports competition anxiety and fear of failure among a sample of young Pakistani club cricketers. Relationship between demographic variables and study variables was also analyzed. The sample comprised of 201 club Pakistani cricketers including 185 boys/menand 16girls/women. The data wascollected through an online Google Form by using convenient sampling technique.Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (Sheard et al., 2009), Sports Anxiety Scale-2 (Smith et al., 2006) and Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory- Short Form (Conroy, 2003) were used to measure mental toughness, sports competition anxiety and fear of failure respectively. Correlational research design was used in this research.The findings revealed that sports competition anxiety had a significantly positive relationship with fear of failure, whilesports competition anxiety was significantly negatively associated with age. Additionally fear of failure was significantly negatively associated with age. Regression analysis manifested that Mental Toughness had a non-significant effect in determining Sports Competition Anxiety and Fear of Failure. Numbers of years of playing cricket were negatively correlated with both sports competition anxiety and fear of failure. Gender differences were found as female players exhibited higher levels of sports competition anxiety and fear of failure as compared to their male counterparts. Further researches can help young cricketers in Pakistan,as very less literature is accessible related to this domain of research, especially on a Pakistani sample.