简介：我们在高尔夫版图上找到一些小字辈……

简介：Background:Athletes,coaches,sportpsychologypractitioners,andresearcherssuggestthatmentaltoughnessrepresentsanimportantconstructthatisassociatedwithathleticperformance.Unfortunately,theabsenceofreal-worldperformanceasadependentvariablehaslimitedourabilitytosubstantiatethisclaim.Theconcernofalackofecologicallyvalidmeasuresofsportsperformancemightbeaddressedbyexaminingtherelationshipbetweenmentaltoughnessandsportsperformanceusingastandardizedmeasureofpersonalbest(PB)triathlontimeandavalidatedunidimensionalmeasureofmentaltoughness.Methods:Threehundredandsixteentriathletescompletedthe8-itemmentaltoughnessindex(MTI),reportedtheirage,andprovidedaPBOlympicdistancetriathlontimeandthetotalnumberoftriathlonstheyhadcompletedtodate.Giventhatmalesaretypicallyquickerthanfemales,astandardizedtimewascalculatedbydividingthePBbythecurrentOlympicrecordforgender;wealsohypothesizedthatmoreexperiencedtriathleteswouldreportquickerPBtimesbecauseofgreaterfrequencyanddurationoftraining.Oncewehadcontrolledforgenderandexperience,wepredictedthatmentaltoughnesswouldbenegativelyassociatedwithtriathlontimeandthesizeoftherelationshipwouldbeofamoderatemagnitude.Results:Resultsrevealedsmall-tomoderate-sizednegativerelationshipsbetweenbothcompletednumberoftriathlonsandmentaltoughnesswithstandardizedPBtime.Conclusion:ThehierarchicalregressionanalysisshowedthatmentaltoughnessprovidedauniquecontributiontothevariabilityinstandardizedOlympictriathlonPBaftercontrollingforthetotalnumberoftriathlonscompleted.