ArticlePloS one2020
Mental toughness and self-efficacy of elite ultra-marathon runners.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Psychological traits associated with mental and performance resilience in long-distance and ultra-endurance runners: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The complex interplay between psychological factors and sports performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Physiology of lived experience: Cruising among the Swiss peaks.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Mental Pain Responses of Ultramarathon Runners: A Scoping Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Influence of training stress on psychological well-being in female college athletes: chain mediating roles of general self-efficacy and psychological resilience.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Human Resilience and Pain Coping Strategies: A Review of the Literature Giving Insights from Elite Ultra-Endurance Athletes for Sports Science, Medicine and Society.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Review
- Sex-specific differences in performance and pacing in the world's longest triathlon in history.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Race course characteristics are the most important predictors in 48 h ultramarathon running.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Effects and mechanisms of social support on the adolescent athletes engagement.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Do Parenting Styles Influence Mental Toughness and Sportsmanship in Young Athletes? A Structural Equation Modelling Approach.Journal of human kinetics · 2025Article
- Motivation and self-efficacy in cycling and running athletes: a person-centered approach.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The mechanism of peer support on the mental toughness of adolescent swimmers: the mediating role of self-efficacy.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Role of Psychological Factors and Resilience in Mediating Sports Passion in Triathletes.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2024Article
- Using machine learning to determine the nationalities of the fastest 100-mile ultra-marathoners and identify top racing events.PloS one · 2024Article
- Personality of marathon runners: a narrative review of recent findings.EXCLI journal · 2024Review
- Limits of Ultra: Towards an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Ultra-Endurance Running Performance.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Psychological Capital and Its Factors as Mediators Between Interpersonal Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Undergraduates.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- Hitting boundaries: Contract type, playing experience, non-cognitive skills, and sport anxiety in elite women cricketers.PloS one · 2024Article
- Pre-Event Self-Efficacy and Sports Performance: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Competition Anxiety in Combat Sports and the Importance of Mental Toughness.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Minimal research has examined psychological processes underpinning ultra-marathon runners' performance. This study examined the relationships between mental toughness and self-efficacy with performance in an elite sample of ultra-marathon runners competing in the 2019 Hawaiian Ultra Running Team's Trail 100-mile endurance run (HURT100). The Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) and the Endurance Sport Self-Efficacy Scale (ESSES) were completed by 56 elite ultra-marathon runners in the HURT100 (38 males, 18 females; Mage = 38.86 years, SDage = 9.23). Findings revealed mental toughness and self-efficacy are highly related constructs (r(54) = 0.72, p < 0.001). Mental toughness and self-efficacy did not significantly relate to ultra-marathon performance (mental toughness and self-efficacy with Ultra-Trail World Tour (UTWT) rank F(2, 53) = 0.738, p = 0.483; mental toughness and self-efficacy with likelihood would finish the HURT100 χ2 = 0.56, p = 0.756; mental toughness and self-efficacy with HURT100 placing and time F(2, 53) = 1.738, p = 0.186 and F(2, 30) = 2.046, p = 0.147, respectively). However, participants had significantly and meaningfully higher mental toughness (M = 45.42, SD = 4.26, medium and large effect sizes) than athletes from other sports previously published. Our interpretation is that these results taken in conjunction, suggest a threshold of mental toughness that performers require to be of the standard needed to be able to prepare for and compete in elite ultra-marathon events such as the HURT100; once this mental toughness threshold is met, other factors are likely to be more influential in determining elite level ultra-marathon performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.