Relationship between mental endurance, mental training, and emotional intelligence in elite athletes

Physical strength alone is not enough in today's sports' society, where athletes' performance is geared around winning; the body's demand for mental training is growing every day. The aim of this study is to examine the mental endurance, mental training and emotional intelligence levels of elite level individual athletes; to evaluate the relationships between these psychological variables in a multifactorial structure and to determine whether these variables show significant differences according to demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education level and duration of sportsmanship. This will offer useful strategies to maximize the performance of elite athletes. In this cross-sectional study, a quantitative research method was applied using the survey model. A total of 242 elite Turkish athletes competing in individual sports branches in the Turkish National Teams in 2023 to 2024 participated in the study. Athletes' data was gathered and examined between January 02 and March 02, 2024. The data were collected using the Sport Mental Endurance Inventory, Sport Mental Training Inventory, and Sport Emotional Intelligence Scale. Nonparametric tests were applied for statistical analysis. The findings of this study showed that there were significant differences in mental endurance, mental training, and emotional intelligence levels according to gender, age, and sport branch variables. It was found that male athletes aged between 26 to 33 years had higher levels of mental endurance and emotional intelligence. In addition, it was determined that female athletes aged 21 years and over had higher levels of mental training and emotional intelligence. High positive correlations were found between mental endurance and emotional intelligence and between mental training and emotional intelligence. The development of mental endurance and emotional intelligence is of great importance for elite athletes to improve their success and performance. These findings suggest that mental endurance and emotional intelligence levels of athletes may differ according to demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and sport branches. These factors may have significant effects on athletes' performances.