The Sport Mental Training Questionnaire: Development and Validation

Research in sports psychology has revealed that mental training is essential in the development of successful athletes. This project, comprised of five studies (a total of N = 2015) resulted in a novel approach towards the measurement of mental skills in sport. In Study 1 (N = 797) and Study 2 (N = 405) we used principal component analysis to identify and confirm the structure of a wide range of identified sport mental skills. Study 3 (N = 429) and Study 5 (N = 330) confirmed factorial structure of Polish and English versions. Study 4 documented how both versions of the scale were developed, and how these two versions converge supporting their cross-cultural validity. The final version contains 20 items grouped into 5 subscales (foundational skills, performance skills, interpersonal skills, self-talk and mental imagery). The Sport Mental Training Questionnaire is a reliable and valid brief questionnaire that will facilitate psychological evaluation of mental preparation among athletes.