TY - JOUR
T1 - Mental Toughness in South African Youth
T2 - Relationships With Forgivingness and Attitudes Towards Risk
AU - Cowden, Richard G.
AU - Clough, Peter J.
AU - Oppong Asante, Kwaku
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Young people are particularly vulnerable to health risk behaviors and interpersonal violence, stimulating scholars’ attention towards identifying factors that may reduce the likelihood that these actions will occur. Associated with positive outcomes in a variety of domains, mental toughness in young people might protect them from engaging in potentially deleterious interpersonal or health-risk behaviors, while potentially promoting positive psychological behaviors. Within this framework, the present study investigated the relationships between mental toughness, attitudes towards physical and psychological risk-taking, and trait forgiveness in a sample of 123 (males = 54, females = 69) South African youth (M age = 23.97 years, SD = 4.46). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated higher levels of mental toughness were associated with being more forgiving, (η2p =.036), perceiving physical risk-taking more positively (η2p =.062), but having more negative attitudes towards psychological risk-taking (η2p =.036). These findings give credence to mental toughness as a psychological characteristic involved in youth risk-taking perceptions and interpersonal functioning. Future research might explore the integration of mental toughness into the development of future youth risk behavior interventions.
AB - Young people are particularly vulnerable to health risk behaviors and interpersonal violence, stimulating scholars’ attention towards identifying factors that may reduce the likelihood that these actions will occur. Associated with positive outcomes in a variety of domains, mental toughness in young people might protect them from engaging in potentially deleterious interpersonal or health-risk behaviors, while potentially promoting positive psychological behaviors. Within this framework, the present study investigated the relationships between mental toughness, attitudes towards physical and psychological risk-taking, and trait forgiveness in a sample of 123 (males = 54, females = 69) South African youth (M age = 23.97 years, SD = 4.46). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated higher levels of mental toughness were associated with being more forgiving, (η2p =.036), perceiving physical risk-taking more positively (η2p =.062), but having more negative attitudes towards psychological risk-taking (η2p =.036). These findings give credence to mental toughness as a psychological characteristic involved in youth risk-taking perceptions and interpersonal functioning. Future research might explore the integration of mental toughness into the development of future youth risk behavior interventions.
KW - Mental toughness
KW - South Africa
KW - attitudes towards risk-taking
KW - trait forgiveness
KW - youth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014880508&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0033294116687516
DO - 10.1177/0033294116687516
M3 - Article
C2 - 28558619
AN - SCOPUS:85014880508
SN - 0033-2941
VL - 120
SP - 271
EP - 289
JO - Psychological Reports
JF - Psychological Reports
IS - 2
ER -