Mental toughness and academic achievement among footballers at National University of Malaysia
Kekuatan mental dan prestasi akademik atlet bola sepak Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37134/jsspj.vol6.1.3.2017Keywords:
Kekuatan mental, prestasi akademik, atlet bola sepakAbstract
Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 6(1): 21-35, 2017 - Sukan memberi impak yang positif dalam mengoptimumkan keupayaan fizikal pelajar selaras dengan Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan yang memberi tumpuan ke arah melahirkan insan yang seimbang dari segi intelek, rohani, emosi dan jasmani. Terdapat bukti yang mengesahkan bahawa kekuatan mental boleh memberi kesan kepada prestasi dalam bidang seperti pendidikan. Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan kekuatan mental dan prestasi akademik atlet bola sepak di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ48) diguna pakai untuk mengukur 4 konstruk kajian kekuatan mental yang dibangunkan oleh Clough et al. (2002) iaitu keyakinan diri (confidence), komitmen (commitment), cabaran (challenge) dan kawalan diri (self-control). Sampel kajian ini adalah seramai 40 orang atlet bola sepak UKM. Hasil kajian mendapati nilai min yang tertinggi bagi faktor kekuatan mental adalah keyakinan (M = 4.28) diikuti oleh cabaran (M = 4.26). Namun begitu, kajian menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan dalam kalangan atlet bola sepak UKM bagi keempat-empat faktor kekuatan mental iaitu komitmen, kawalan diri, cabaran dan keyakinan berdasarkan pengalaman mereka dalam sukan yang diceburi. Walau bagaimanapun, hasil kajian mendapati faktor kekuatan mental mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan terhadap pencapaian akademik atlet bola sepak UKM. Dapatan kajian ini mendapati konstruk keyakinan diri (13.4%) merupakan faktor kekuatan mental utama yang paling menyumbang kepada pencapaian akademik atlet bola sepak UKM. Dapatan kajian ini diharap dapat membantu pihak universiti, jurulatih, ahli psikologi dan atlet-atlet yang mewakili universiti untuk memahami kepentingan aspek psikologi bagi mencapai kejayaan mereka sama ada dalam bidang sukan mahupun akademik. Atlet yang mempunyai kekuatan mental yang tinggi akan mempengaruhi prestasi akademik yang cemerlang. Pengkaji mencadangkan agar kajian akan datang dapat mengkaji atlet-atlet dari sukan yang berbeza dengan sampel kajian yang lebih besar.
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Sports have a positive impact in optimizing the physical ability of the students in line with the National Education Philosophy focused to produce a balanced way intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically. There is evidence to confirm that mental toughness can affect performance in areas such as education. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between mental toughness and academic achievements among footballers at National University of Malaysia (UKM). Questionnaire were used to examine the constructs of mental toughness study includes self-confidence, commitment, challenge and self-control was adapted from Mental toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ48) by Clough et al. (2002). A total of 40 UKM’s football athletes were used as the main respondents in this research. The study found that the highest mean value for the mental toughness factor is the confidence (M = 4.28), followed by challenge (M = 4.26). However, the study showed no significant difference among UKM’s football athletes for all four factors of mental toughness; commitment, self-control, challenge and confidence based on their experience in their respective sports. However, the findings showed that mental toughness significantly correlated with academic achievement for UKM’s footballers. This study found that the construct of self-confidence (13.4%) are major factors of mental toughness that most contribute to academic achievement of UKM’s footballers. The study is expected to help the university, coaches, psychologists and athletes who represent the university to understand the importance of the psychological aspect to success whether in sports or academics achievement. Athletes who have high mental toughness will affect the excellent of academic performance. The researchers suggest that future research could examine athletes from different sports with a larger sample.
Keywords: Mental toughness, Academic performance, Footballers
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