Comparison of Mental Toughness and Sense of Coherence in Natural and Steroid Bodybuilders

Objective: Bodybuilding has attracted a lot of people in recent years, but despite the popularity of using unauthorized and steroid drugs, it has caused many problems for athletes. The purpose of the present study was therefore to compare mental toughness and sense of coherence in natural and steroid bodybuilders.Method: This study was a descriptive and causal-comparative study. The statistical population consisted of all natural and steroid bodybuilders in Rasht in ۲۰۱۹ from ۱۲۰ individuals (۶۰ natural bodybuilders and ۶۰ steroid bodybuilders) they were selected purposefully and included questionnaires on sport mental toughness Sheard, Golby & Van Wersch (۲۰۰۹) and Sense of coherence Antonovsky (۱۹۹۳) responded. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance by SPSS ۲۴ software. Results: The findings of this study showed that there was a significant difference between the components of mental toughness and sense of coherence in the two groups (P<۰.۰۱). Natural bodybuilders had higher levels of Confidence (۲۴.۹۳, P<۰.۰۰۱), Constancy (۱۵.۶۰, P<۰.۰۰۶), Control (۱۴.۴۳, P<۰.۰۰۱), and sense of coherence (۲۱.۸۸, P<۰.۰۰۱) compared to steroid bodybuilders.Discussion: The results obtained from this research show that the abuse of steroid drugs has a significant impact on the psychological and physical aspects of bodybuilders. For this purpose, it is necessary to prevent possible injuries by providing proper information and providing psychological services to professional athletes.