Mental Toughness describes the mindset that every person adopts in everything they do. It is closely related to qualities such as character, resilience, grit, etc. It is defined as: “A personality trait which determines, in large part, how people respond to challenge, stress and pressure, irrespective of their circumstances”. Most personality models and measures assess the behavioural aspects of Personality (how we act).
Mental Toughness differs in that it assesses something more fundamental – “how we think”. In other words, why we act and respond emotionally to events. It enables us to understand mindset in a very practical way. Research carried out under the direction of Professor Peter Clough of Huddersfield University identified by 2002 the four key components (constructs) of Mental Toughness. These are called the 4Cs. In 2017, work by Doug Strycharczyk, Dr John Perry and Professor Clough, allowed the concept to be expanded to eight factors to be understood and assessed around the 4Cs. This is shown below:
Mental Toughness Scale What does MTQ assess… the 8 Factors
| CONTROL |
Life Control – I really believe in myself, I can do it Emotional Control – I can manage my emotions and the emotions of others |
| COMMITMENT |
Goal Orientation – I set goals and like the idea of working toward goals Achievement Orientation – I do what it takes to keep promises and achieve goals |
| CHALLENGE |
Risk Orientation – I stretch myself, welcoming new and different experiences Learning Orientation – I learn from what happens, including setbacks |
| CONFIDENCE |
In Abilities – I believe I have the ability to do it, or can acquire the ability Interpersonal Confidence – I can influence others |
Why is Mental Toughness important?
Published research and case studies from around the world show that Mental Toughness is a major factor in: • Performance – explaining up to 25% of the variation in performance in individuals
• Agility - Positive Behaviour – more engaged, more positive, more “can do”, dealing well with change
• Wellbeing – more contentment, better stress management, less prone to bullying
• Aspirations - more ambitious, prepared to manage more risk It is a major factor in retention, particularly in higher education, employability and is a key aspect of an organisation’s culture.
It has applications in virtually every sector. In the world of work, it is key for leadership and staff development, particularly within change programmes as well as in talent management programmes. It is also widely used for developing young people in education, in youth work and social mobility programmes.
Can we develop Mental Toughness?
We can. We can either help someone change their mental toughness or we can show someone how to adopt the behaviours that a mentally tough person would adopt. Either way, many of the benefits of developing mental toughness can be achieved.
MTQ48 is a really valuable tool. It certainly makes you think about your performance and positive behaviour – and what you can do about both. We liked the report structure which equipped the manager/coach and the individual with relevant information and practical development suggestions. -Liz Chandler Director for Corporate Development, Merseytravel
All our assessments and output reports have been written and reviewed by an experienced team of academics and psychometricians. Data is continually reviewed as part of a continual research process and at last review c 2014 no statistically significant difference was observed between male and female participants or specific ethnic groups for any MTQ Subscale.
| Accessibility |
The assessment system used for MTQ & ILM72 was developed in 2014 before accessibility guidelines were published. It is currently under redevelopment and a new upgraded system is due to be released late 2021 |
| Data Protection | Timeframe for retaining an individual data on AQR’s system:
All data for AQR assessments is stored on database servers hosted by Amazon in their Frankfurt, Germany data centres. The database servers are locked down behind firewalls and access to these is only available to a development server that our developers use, that is also hosted in Germany. |
| Reliablity | Overall Cronbach’s Alpha​ for MTQ Plus is 0.90
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| Validity | The BPS and the US DOL both say that a good Concurrent Validity score should exceed 0.25. Scores rarely exceed 0.40. All scales in MTQ48 score between 0.30 and 0.42 |
| Comparison groups available for your candidate scores | The norm groups for the MTQ suite products is based on a global working population. Last reviewed in 2014 using over 8000 sets of results. For the MTQ Plus these are currently under review and will be adjusted again by the end of 2021 |
| Title of the Report | Assessor Report | Cost (exc. vat) | $0.00 | |
| Training required to use this report? | Yes | Sample Report | ||
| Brief Description | This Assessor Report provides at least 5 sample questions on each scale to enable managers or coaches to probe individual scores. |
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| Title of the Report | Coaching Report | Cost (exc. vat) | $0.00 | |
| Training required to use this report? | Yes | Sample Report | ||
| Brief Description | This Coaching Report provides manager/coach with narrative about the person’s mental toughness and offers coaching suggestions to help them to guide the candidate more effectively. |
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| Title of the Report | Development Report | Cost (exc. vat) | $0.00 | |
| Training required to use this report? | Yes | Sample Report | ||
| Brief Description | This Development Report provides the candidate with: Feedback on their MTQPLUS scores Suggestions for their own development |
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