General and sport-specific mental toughness in university students: associations with personality traits and physical activity

Objectives: This study aimed to examine general and sport-specific mental toughness in university students and their associations with personality traits, sport participation, and academic performance, as well as competitive anxiety in students engaged in sport.Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 239 university students. Participants completed the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-18 (MTQ-18), the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ), and the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Demographic, academic, and behavioral variables were also collected, and students engaged in regular sport practice additionally completed the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT).Results: General and sport-specific mental toughness were strongly positively associated, indicating substantial overlap between the two constructs while preserving domain-specific features. Conscientiousness emerged as the main positive predictor of both forms of mental toughness. Academic performance was positively associated with general mental toughness. Training frequency was positively associated with both general and sport-specific mental toughness. Among students engaged in sport practice, higher sport-specific mental toughness was associated with lower competitive anxiety, while neuroticism was positively related to anxiety levels. Daily phone use and sedentary behavior were examined as additional behavioral correlates.Conclusions: Mental toughness in university students appears to be associated primarily with dispositional factors, particularly conscientiousness, and with sport participation variables such as training frequency. General mental toughness was also positively linked to academic functioning, whereas competitive anxiety emerged as a relevant correlate among students engaged in regular sport practice.