The Origins of Mental Toughness - Prosocial Behavior and Low Internalizing and Externalizing Problems at Age 5 Predict Higher Mental Toughness Scores at Age 14.

Dena Sadeghi Bahmani,Sakari Lemola,Peter J Clough,Serge Brand,Agnes Von Wyl,Kay Von Klitzing,Edith Holsboer-Trachsler,Markus Gerber,Martin Hatzinger,Sonja Perren

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01221

Abstract

Background: The concept of mental toughness (MT) has gained increasing importance among groups other than elite athletes by virtue of its psychological importance and explanatory power for a broad range of health-related behaviors. However, no study has focused so far on the psychological origins of MT. Therefore, the aims of the present study were: to explore, to what extent the psychological profiles of preschoolers aged five were associated with both (1) MT scores and (2) sleep disturbances at age 14, and 3) to explore possible gender differences.Method: Nine years after their first assessment at age five (preschoolers), a total of 77 adolescents (mean age: 14.35 years; SD = 1.22; 42% females) took part in this follow-up study. At baseline, both parents and teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), covering internalizing and externalizing problems, hyperactivity, negative peer relationships, and prosocial behavior. At follow-up, participants completed a booklet of questionnaires covering socio-demographic data, MT, and sleep disturbances.Results: Higher prosocial behavior, lower negative peer relationships, and lower internalizing and externalizing problems at age five, as rated by parents and teachers, were associated with self-reported higher MT and lower sleep disturbances at age 14. At age 14, and relative to males, females had lower MT scores and reported more sleep disturbances.Conclusion: The pattern of results suggests that MT traits during adolescence may have their origins in the pre-school years.

Highlights

IntroductionClough et al (2002) formulate the concept of Mental toughness (MT) in its present form and since the concept of MT has gained increasing interest by virtue of its psychological importance and explanatory power with respect to psychological concepts such as coping with stress, self-esteem, and motivation, and with respect to a broad range of health-related behaviors (Table 1) (Dewhurst et al, 2012; Gerber et al, 2013b; Perry et al, 2013; Crust et al, 2014; Stamp et al, 2015)
We focused on the associations between participants’ psychological traits at age five (SDQ, parents’ and teachers’ ratings; see below) and participants’ self-rated Mental toughness (MT) and sleep disturbances at age 14
The correlation coefficient was r = −0.45 (p < 0.05); higher MT scores were related to lower sleep disturbances

Summary

Introduction

Clough et al (2002) formulate the concept of Mental toughness (MT) in its present form and since the concept of MT has gained increasing interest by virtue of its psychological importance and explanatory power with respect to psychological concepts such as coping with stress, self-esteem, and motivation, and with respect to a broad range of health-related behaviors (Table 1) (Dewhurst et al, 2012; Gerber et al, 2013b; Perry et al, 2013; Crust et al, 2014; Stamp et al, 2015). More recent studies have applied the concept of MT to other groups such as healthy older adolescents (Gerber, 2011; Gerber et al, 2012, 2013a, 2015a,b; Brand et al, 2014a,b), healthy younger adolescents (Brand et al, 2016a,b), university students (Stamp et al, 2015), lower, middle, and senior managers, and clerical/administrative workers in early, middle and late adulthood (Marchant et al, 2009; Perry et al, 2013), as well as those working in education (Crust et al, 2014), and the military (Arthur et al, 2015) All these studies have shown higher MT scores to be associated with better coping with stress (Gerber et al, 2013a,b), with better sleep quality assessed both subjectively (Brand et al, 2014b) and objectively (Brand et al, 2014a), and with better physical performance (Crust and Clough, 2005; Gerber et al, 2012). The aims of the present study were: to explore, to what extent the psychological profiles of preschoolers aged five were associated with both (1) MT scores and (2) sleep disturbances at age 14, and 3) to explore possible gender differences

Objectives

Methods

Results