Abstract:

Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between mental toughness and emotional intelligence in athletes studying in university and to examine mental toughness and emotional intelligence in terms of various demographic variables. Methods: The research sample of the study consisted of 203 (126 males, 77 females) athletes studying in universities in the Aegean Region in the academic year of 2016-2017. “Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ)” developed by Scheard et al. (2009), “Sporda Zihinsel Dayanıklılık Envanteri (SZDE)” adapted with validity and reliability for the Turkish population by Altıntas (2015) and “Emotional Intelligence Scale for use in Sport (EISS)” developed by Lane et al. (2009) as well as “Sporda Duygusal Zekâ Envanteri (SDZE)” adapted with validity and reliability for Turkish population by Adilogullari and Gorgulu (2015) collecting data for emotional intelligence were used during the research. The collected data were analyzed by a statistical package program (SPSS 22), and the results were interpreted. Data were analyzed with the Kolmogorov Smirnov test. Independent samples t-test was used in the two groups because the data were distributed normally. The Pearson correlation test analyzed the relationship between the data Results: According to the research results, a significant relationship was found between the mental toughness levels and emotional intelligence levels of the elite athletes. In comparison, there were significant differences between mental toughness and subscales and gender, age, and weekly training. There was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and subscales and gender variable. Conclusion: It can be said that as the mental toughness levels of the participants increase, their emotional intelligence levels also increase.

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