Development and validation of the Mental Toughness Scale for Chinese Snow Sports Athletes: a mixed-methods study

Mental toughness is a key psychological resource that enables athletes to sustain goal-directed engagement, regulate internal states, and maintain consistent performance under pressure, adversity, and uncertainty. Snow sports are strongly influenced by weather and snow conditions, take place in complex training and competition environments, and involve varying degrees of risk. These characteristics require athletes to cope with stress, maintain attentional control, and adapt to changing performance conditions. Existing measures of mental toughness have been developed mainly for general athletic populations and may not fully capture the sport-specific characteristics and psychological demands of snow sports athletes. Accordingly, the present study aimed to develop and validate the Mental Toughness Scale for Chinese Snow Sports Athletes.

This study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. In Study 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 elite Chinese snow sports athletes. Interview data were analyzed using grounded theory coding to identify the core dimensions of mental toughness. In Study 2, an initial item pool was generated from qualitative findings and relevant literature. Items were refined and screened through Delphi consultation, a pilot survey, item analysis, item-total correlation analysis, and exploratory factor analysis, yielding 148 valid pilot responses. In Study 3, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability testing, and convergent and discriminant validity assessments were conducted using 342 valid main survey responses.

The qualitative findings supported a three-dimensional structure of mental toughness among snow sports athletes, comprising achievement motivation, positive cognition, and adaptive coping. After item refinement and structural exploration, a 20-item scale representing these three dimensions was finalized. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model and indicated good model fit: χ²/df = 1.456, RMSEA = 0.037, CFI = 0.982, and TLI = 0.979. The total scale showed strong internal consistency, with a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.929, and the subscale coefficients ranged from 0.894 to 0.923. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity met accepted psychometric standards.

The Mental Toughness Scale for Chinese Snow Sports Athletes demonstrated a clear three-dimensional structure and promising preliminary psychometric evidence. The scale may serve as a context-specific instrument for assessing mental toughness among snow sports athletes, although its cross-cultural applicability requires further examination.