Adolescent Mental Toughness Questionnaire (aMTQ10): development, validation and norms

Research has established that mental toughness (MT), the capacity to withstand stress and sustain performance under pressure, is affiliated with real-world outcomes such as psychological well-being and academic success. To balance the conceptual importance of MT with the practical constraints of assessing the construct within large test batteries, theorists developed the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 10 (MTQ10), an abridged 10-item version of the 48-item Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ48). Despite using high school students in the development of the MTQ10, investigators failed to assess adolescent comprehension of the instrument.

To address this, the present study validated an adolescent version (aMTQ10) of the scale. The authors used an expert panel to evaluate item accessibility and implemented age-appropriate modifications. Validation of the aMTQ10 derived from a sample of 5,305 UK secondary school pupils from 80 schools.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a one-factor model. Invariance existed across age and school type, with partial invariance observed for gender. Analysis of latent means found that boys scored higher than girls and 13-14-year-olds scored higher than 14-15-year-olds. Additionally, private school pupils scored higher than state school pupils. The aMTQ10 demonstrated good internal reliability and convergent validity. Confirming the instrument's incremental validity, aMTQ10 scores uniquely predicted subjective well-being beyond belongingness.

These results indicate that the aMTQ10 is a psychometrically satisfactory adaptation of the MTQ10 suitable for educational settings. The established normative data enables educators and practitioners to accurately interpret age-related MT scores and support adolescent psychological development.