Psychological resilience in Olympic combat sports

Introduction: The purpose of the study was to examine psychological resilience in Olympic combat sports, comparing gender, sports performance level and discipline type. Moreover, we verified whether resilience predicts sports performance. Materials and methods: Eighty-four athletes were involved in the study. Psychological resilience was assessed with the Romanian adaptation of the Brief Resilience Scale. Results: Using the Goodman and Kruskal tau association test a significant link was found between athletes’ gender and the scoring on psychological resilience. Also, analysis of variance and Tukey post-hoc test highlighted significant differences between athletes’ level (i.e., international, national, and regional/local athletes) (p = 0.02, respectively p < 0.01). Data analysis showed no significant differences in resilience (p = 0.182) between the Olympic combat sports (disciplines) investigated (boxing, karate, fencing and taekwondo). In addition, a binomial logistic regression was performed, predicting athletes’ likelihood to obtain higher sports performances based on psychological resilience. Conclusion: A slightly above average level of psychological resilience (generally) is linked with an increased likelihood of international and/or national performances in Olympic combat sports. On the other hand, athletes with lower caliber obtained the highest scores for resilience. In addition, male athletes obtained higher scores for resilience than female athletes. The study offers a valuable window into understanding psychological resilience in combat sports.