Sex Differences in Athletic Performance Response to the Imagery and Mental Toughness of Elite Middle- and Long-Distance Runners

This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference between the levels of imagery and mental toughness in the context of sports performance in male and female athletes. A total of 344 track and field athletes, 205 male (59.6%, 23.3 +/- 4.0 years) and 139 female (40.4%, 22.9 +/- 4.0 years), voluntarily participated in the study. Imagery Inventory and Mental Toughness Inventory in Sport were used as data collection tools in the study. In the evaluation of athletic performance, athletes were asked about their ranks in the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 and were categorized according to the scoring tables specified by the International Association of Athletics Federation. A MANOVA analysis was used to determine whether there was a difference between low (-2% to +5%), medium (+6 to +11%), and high (+12 to +17%) performers among male and female athletes, and a post hoc analysis was used to determine the source of the difference. According to the present findings, there was no significant difference between the imagery and mental toughness levels of athletes with high, medium, and low performance among male athletes. On the contrary, a significant difference was detected between the imagery and mental toughness levels of female athletes with medium and high performances, showing that athletes in the high-performance range had higher levels of imagery (Eta2 = 8) and mental toughness (Eta2 = 10) than athletes in the medium- and low-performance ranges. The findings of this study show that imagery and emotional intelligence are important factors for sports performance. In this context, coaches and sports psychologists can include these parameters in their training programs to achieve the optimal performance range.