Relationship Between Mental Toughness and Mental Health in Prospective University Graduates: Analyzing The Indirect Effects of Coping Strategies and Job-seeking Stress

Objectives This study aimed to explore how mental toughness can effectively reduce the psychological distress of university students in their senior year seeking employment . Based on transactional stress and coping theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and using three different types of coping strategies (social support seeking, problem-focused coping, avoidance coping) and job-seeking stress as mediators, it investigated how mental toughness of prospective graduates influences their mental health. Methods The study participants were 369 university students, whose average age was 23 years, enrolled in their final semester. An online survey was used for data collection, and SPSS software and PROCESS macro, a modeling tool in SPSS, were used for analysis of collected data. To investigate the relationship between the main variables, descriptive statistics were examined, followed by correlation analysis and indirect effect analysis (Model 80; Hayes, 2018). Results First, mental toughness was positively correlated with the coping strategies of social support seeking and problem-focused coping but negatively correlated with avoidance coping. Those with high mental toughness and little use of avoidance coping showed lower levels of job-seeking stress and mental health problems . Perceptions of job-seeking stress were positively correlated with an increase in mental health problems. Second, analyzing the indirect effects of mediators in the relationship between mental toughness and mental health, avoidance coping and job-seeking stress showed significant individual indirect effects and serial indirect effects. Additionally, problem-focused coping and job-seeking stress showed significant serial indirect effects. Conclusions These results suggest that mental toughness contributes to reducing job-seeking stress in prospective university graduates by helping them confront and resolve problems rather than avoid them, thereby preventing mental health problems. Based on these findings, educational and clinical implications are discussed, followed by the limitations of the study and suggestions for follow-up research.