Comparative analysis of psychological skills and its subscales among athletes from the University of Baghdad and the University of Delhi

Abstract

Psychological skills, such as motivation, focus, and anxiety control, are vital for athletic success. Athletes who develop these mental skills tend to perform better in competitive sports. Universities, including the University of Baghdad (BU) and the University of Delhi (DU), provide an ideal setting for understanding how different cultural and educational environments influence the development of these skills. This study aims to compare the psychological skills of athletes from BU and DU, focusing on key mental training techniques. It seeks to explore how cultural and educational factors affect athletes' mental preparedness and to provide recommendations for improving mental training programs. This study employed a cross-sectional survey design to assess the psychological skills of 300 athletes (150 each) from the University of Baghdad and the University of Delhi. Using purposive sampling, participants engaged in competitive sports were evaluated on six psychological skills: Achievement Motivation (AM), Goal Setting (GS), Anxiety Control (AC), Maintaining Confidence (MC), Concentration (CON), and Mental Rehearsal (MR). Data were collected using a validated psychological skills inventory, and independent t-tests were conducted to compare the groups. Athletes from University of Delhi scored significantly higher in psychological skills, including achievement motivation (AM), goal setting (GS), maintaining confidence (MC), concentration (CON), and mental rehearsal (MR) (p