The relationship between mental toughness, stress, and mindfulness in climbers

Hulusi Alp, Reha BOZGÜNEY, İbrahim Kubilay Türkay, Görkem Turaç, Zeynep Senem Söyleyici Öcal, Didem YAZAR, Eyüp Temür, Banu Can

Frontiers in Psychology, 2026

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1799925
Data confidence 85 high
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Abstract

Background Climbing is a sport that demands high levels of both physical and mental effort, and athletes may encounter significant stress during performance. Mental toughness refers to an athlete’s capacity to cope with stress and maintain performance under challenging conditions. Mindfulness is the conscious awareness and experiential engagement with the present moment. This study aimed to examine the relationship between mental toughness and stress levels in climbers, and to investigate the moderating role of mindfulness in this relationship. Methods The study included 150 active climbers (90 males, 60 females; mean age = 25.4 ± 4.7 years). Mental toughness was assessed using the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) and the Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI), stress levels were measured via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and mindfulness was evaluated using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Multiple regression and moderation analyses were conducted using SPSS and the PROCESS macro, with 5,000 bootstrap samples and 95% confidence intervals. Results Correlation analyses indicated significant negative relationships between SMTQ and MTI scores and PSS-10 scores, as well as between MAAS scores and PSS-10 scores ( p < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses revealed that SMTQ ( β = −0.33), MTI ( β = −0.38), and MAAS ( β = −0.29) significantly and negatively predicted stress levels ( p < 0.001). Moderation analysis showed that higher levels of mindfulness strengthened the negative effect of mental toughness on stress (Interaction β = −0.18, p = 0.002). Conclusion These findings indicate that both mental toughness and mindfulness play a crucial role in stress management among climbers. In particular, mindfulness enhances the stress-reducing effects of mental toughness. The results provide practical implications for sport psychology interventions and climbing training programs.