Structural Equation Modeling of the Relationship Between Sport Mental Toughness and Sportspersonship Orientation among Licensed Athletes

<jats:p>This study examines the structural relationship between mental toughness and the sportmanship orientation in licensed athletes. Designed as a cross-sectional and correlational study, the research utilised data collected from 347 licensed athletes. The Mental Resilience in Sport Inventory (MRI; α = 0.814) was assessed across three sub-dimensions, whilst the Multidimensional Sportsmanship Orientation (MSO; α = 0.897) Scale was assessed across four sub-dimensions. Preliminary analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between the two constructs (r = 0.225; p &lt; 0.001). The construct validity of the scales was tested using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). The AFA results confirmed structures explaining 43.3% of total variance for MRI and 53.4% for MRO. The CFA findings indicated that the measurement models fit the data perfectly/well, with MRI having a three-factor structure (χ²/df = 1.542, CFI = 0.977, RMSEA = 0.040) and MRO having a four-factor structure (χ²/df = 0.795, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = 0.000) measurement models fit the data perfectly/well. The structural equation model (SEM) testing the relationship between the two second-order latent structures also yielded good fit indices (χ²/df = 1.361, CFI = 0.975, RMSEA = 0.032). According to the SEM findings, mental resilience predicts sportsmanship orientation positively and significantly (βstd = 0.376, p &lt; 0.001). These findings statistically demonstrate that mental skills and ethical sporting behaviour are mutually supportive constructs and suggest that these two elements should be addressed in an integrated manner within athlete training programmes.</jats:p>