Mental toughness (MT) is an umbrella term that entails positive psychological resources, which are crucial across a wide range of achievement contexts and in the domain of mental health. We systematically review empirical studies that explored the associations between the concept of MT and individual differences in learning, educational and work performance, psychological well-being, personality, and other psychological attributes. Studies that explored the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in MT are also reviewed. The findings suggest that MT is associated with various positive psychological traits, more efficient coping strategies and positive outcomes in education and mental health. Approximately 50% of the variation in MT can be accounted for by genetic factors. Furthermore, the associations between MT and psychological traits can be explained mainly by either common genetic or non-shared environmental factors. Taken together, our findings suggest a ‘mental toughness advantage’ with possible implications for developing interventions to facilitate achievement in a variety of settings.

Individual differences in fixation duration are considered a reliable measure of attentional control in adults. However, the degree to which individual differences in fixation duration in infancy (0–12 months) relate to temperament and behavior in childhood is largely unknown. In the present study, data were examined from 120 infants (mean age = 7.69 months, SD = 1.90) who previously participated in an eye-tracking study. At follow-up, parents completed age-appropriate questionnaires about their child’s temperament and behavior (mean age of children = 41.59 months, SD = 9.83). Mean fixation duration in infancy was positively associated with effortful control (β = 0.20, R2 = .02, p = .04) and negatively with surgency (β = −0.37, R2 = .07, p = .003) and hyperactivity-inattention (β = −0.35, R2 = .06, p = .005) in childhood. These findings suggest that individual differences in mean fixation duration in infancy are linked to attentional and behavioral control in childhood.

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Mental Toughness has been associated with optimal performance across diverse contexts including academic achievement. MT is positively associated with subclinical narcissism. Crosssectional research reported that high narcissism may contribute indirectly to enhanced positive outcomes, through MT. This study is the first to explore longitudinally the development of the association between MT, narcissism and achievement in a sample of adolescents. MT correlated positively with narcissism and predicted a small percentage of the variation in school achievement. Narcissism did not correlate significantly with school achievement. However, subclinical narcissism exerted a significant positive indirect effect on school achievement through MT. The findings suggest that the relationship between narcissism and MT could be one of the non-cognitive mechanisms that underlie individual variation in school achievement.

We gratefully acknowledge all the participants that took part in these three studies. We are particularly grateful to a number of undergraduate and MSc students that acted as research assistants and contributed to data collection at London Metropolitan University and Queen's University Belfast. The studies were not preregistered. Author Contributions K.A.P. has written the manuscript and he was responsible for data collection and data preparation; F.M.G., D.B., P.W. and G.B.M. were responsible for data collection and data preparation for study 3; K.A.P., F.M.G. and G.B.M. have performed the statistical analyses; P.J.C. and G.B.M. provided critical reviews and comments during the write-up of this manuscript. P.J.C. is responsible for the conceptualisation of MT (as described in this manuscript) and the creation of the MTQ48 to assess MT; K.A.P. was responsible for the overall conceptualisation of the studies that are presented in this manuscript. All authors contributed to the revisions of this manuscript.

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Concerns toward public well-being and mental health are increasing considering the COVID-19 pandemic's global societal and individual impact. The present study builds on the current body of COVID-19 literature by examining the role of mental toughness (MT) in predicting negative affective states (depression, anxiety and stress) during the pandemic. The study also examined the effects of changes in employment on mental health and MT. Participants (N = 723) completed a battery of questionnaires including the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48-item, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale – 21 items. Participants reported relatively higher levels of depression, stress and anxiety in comparison to pre-COVID-19 samples from previous research, with respondents who had lost their jobs during the pandemic reporting higher levels of negative affective states. Despite this, mentally tough individuals appeared to report lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Moreover, moderation analyses identified some interaction between MT and employment status when predicting depression, anxiety and stress. Our findings suggest that MT may have some utility in reducing the adverse mental health effects of the pandemic on individuals, however, further longitudinal research is needed to support these implications.

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