ADE. Suma Psicológica · 2025

‘Working harder’: Relationships between workers’ grit, life satisfaction, and mental health indicators

Grit is a protective factor in the work context, promoting persistence and consistency in response to job demands. However, its relationship with life satisfaction and mental health indica tors remains underexplored. Objective: This study investigated the relationships among protective constructs in workplace settings, such as grit, life satisfaction, mental health indicators such as de pression, anxiety, and stress, and also workers’ physical activity, as well as their moderating and me diating roles. Method: The sample consisted of 389 Brazilian workers, between 19 and 75 years of age; 70% female, 52.2% married, and 74.3% residents of the southeastern region of Brazil. Regarding phy sical activity, 33.4% reported practicing sports 2 to 3 times a week and 32.6% did not train at all. The instruments employed were the sociodemographic questionnaire, the Grit Assessment Scale-Redu ced, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales - 21, applied via Google form. Results: These indicated moderate and positive correlations between grit dimensions and life satisfaction among workers, a moderate and negative coefficient between both grit dimensions and depression, weak and negative correlations between grit dimensions and stress, and a moderate and negative correlation between life satisfaction and stress. Additionally, the interaction between the grit factors and physical activity training was not statistically significant. Conclusions: The findings reinforce the role of grit in life satisfaction and the reduction of depressive symptoms and stress but did not indicate any influence of physical activity training on these relationships.