Mental toughness in sport: Past, present and future

Abstract

In this concluding chapter, our objectives are to draw together some of the key findings and issues that arise for us from contributions in this book, as well as offer some suggestions for future avenues of research. As there have been some fairly recent and comprehensive reviews of the literature on mental toughness in sport (e.g. Connaughton and Hanton, 2009; Gordon and Gucciardi, in press), the aim in this chapter is not to resynthesize this material, but to highlight existing shortcomings in our understanding and examination of this construct. We begin the chapter by focusing on the past, move our attention to the present and then finish by offering some thoughts for the future. We present ideas for future research and theorizing not as answers to the many pertinent questions but rather hold them up for scrutiny and consideration by others. By considering some of these fundamental issues, we hope that mental toughness researchers will be able to proceed from a solid theoretical and empirical foundation.