Promoting or Prohibiting? Investigating How Time Pressure Influences Innovative Behavior under Stress-Mindset Conditions

The existing empirical evidence on the relationship between time pressure and innovative behavior is paradoxical. An intriguing yet unresolved question is "When does time pressure promote or prohibit innovative behavior, and how?" We theorize that the paradoxical effect of time pressure on innovative behavior can be elucidated by the moderating role of stress mindset, and we also explore the mediating role of thriving at work. Our research involved a field study of 390 research and development personnel from eight enterprises and research institutes in China to test our proposed model. Results indicated that the stress-is-debilitating mindset negatively moderated the association between time pressure and thriving at work, while the stress-is-enhancing mindset positively moderated the link between time pressure and thriving at work. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that the stress-is-debilitating mindset negatively moderated the indirect impact of time pressure on employees' innovative behavior through thriving at work, while the stress-is-enhancing mindset positively moderated the indirect effect of time pressure on employees' innovative behavior through thriving at work. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

The roles of stress mindset and personality in the impact of life stress on emotional well-being in the context of Covid-19 confinement: A diary study

Previous studies indicate that COVID-19 confinement has led to an increase in psychological distress and a decrease in overall well-being. This longitudinal study aims to investigate how stress mindset and personality traits moderate the impact of life stress on the development of emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic confinement. Our study collected daily life stress and emotions data from 134 participants over 14 consecutive days using the diary method. We used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to analyze the data, examining within-person and between-person effects. Life stress predicted moderate increases in positive emotions and strong increases in negative emotions over time. A stress-is-enhancing stress mindset was associated with greater positive emotions at baseline and mitigated the link between life stress and negative emotions. Among the Big Five personality traits, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were associated with higher baseline levels of positive emotions. Agreeableness and conscientiousness mitigated the link between life stress and negative emotions. Neuroticism was associated with higher baseline levels of negative emotions and moderately mitigated the link between life stress and positive emotions. The interaction between neuroticism and stress-is-enhancing mindset predicted greater negative emotions and mitigated the link between life stress and positive emotions. In contrast, the interaction between stress-is-enhancing mindset and the other four personality traits mitigated the positive link between life stress and negative emotions. Overall, these findings suggest that life stress from confinement leads to a decrease in daily emotional well-being as the confinement prolongs. Personality traits-agreeableness, conscientiousness, and a stress-is-enhancing stress mindset-act as protective roles in mitigating life stress' effect on reduced emotional well-being over time. The findings advance our knowledge in understanding the roles of personality traits and stress-is-enhancing mindset in explaining the heterogeneity in the impact of life stress on emotional well-being.

The Moderating Role of Stress Mindset on the Relationship between Drinking to Cope and Alcohol Consumption among Undergraduate College Student Drinkers

OBJECTIVE

Previous research suggests drinking alcohol to cope with negative affect, including stress, is a risk for increased alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Stress mindset, the individually held belief that stress can lead to either enhancing or debilitating outcomes, has yet to be studied within the context of alcohol use. Studying stress mindset among college students as it relates to alcohol consumption may provide important insight into heavy alcohol use in this population.

METHOD

A sample of 320 undergraduates (Mage = 19.06 (SD = 0.06); 63.44% female; 65.49% White) who endorsed past-year alcohol use completed self-report measures of drinking motives, stress mindset, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related consequences. Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions were utilized to examine the moderating effect of stress mindset on the relationship between drinking to cope and alcohol consumption.

RESULTS

Stress mindset significantly moderated the relationship between drinking to cope and alcohol consumption (IRR = 0.98, se = 0.01, p < 0.05, CI = 0.96, 1.00), such that the relationship was stronger among those with a debilitating stress mindset compared to those with an enhancing stress mindset. Stress mindset did not significantly moderate the relationship between drinking to cope and alcohol-related consequences.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with high drinking to cope scores and who hold a debilitating stress mindset may be at a particular vulnerability for heavy alcohol consumption. The present study furthers our understanding of predictors of alcohol use in a college sample and suggests the importance of future research focused on stress mindset among college student drinkers.

Effects of a group-based music imagery program on promoting coping resources among undergraduate students: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Background

Music is well-known for its stress-reducing effects. Little is known about the potential effect of music interventions in fostering internal coping resources for stress management among undergraduate students in Hong Kong.

Objectives

This pilot study aimed to examine the efficacy of the Group-based Focus Music Imagery Program (GFMI) in promoting a stress-is-enhancing mindset, sense of coherence, and self-compassion among undergraduate students.

Methods

We used a two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT). The experimental arm received 6 weeks of GFMI with measures taken at two time points after completing baseline assessments (Weeks 6, 10). The control arm received 6 weeks of an active control program and completed the outcome measures at time points similar to the GFMI group. Data were collected using the Chinese versions of the Sense of Coherence Scale (C-SOC-13), the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (C-SCS-SF), the Stress Mindset Measure (C-SMM), the Perceived Stress Scale (C-PSS-10), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (C-GAD-7).

Results

Sixty-four participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 32) or the control group (n = 32) between July 2021 and September 2022. The experimental group exhibited a retention rate of 71.9% at T1 (23 out of 32 participants), which slightly decreased to 65.6% (21 out of 32) at T2. The control group displayed a retention rate of 75% (24 out of 32) at T1, which dropped to 43.8% (14 out of 32) at T2. The GEE analyses showed insignificant differences between groups at any time point in C-SOC-13, C-SCS-SF, and C-SMM. Instead, the control group had a higher reduction in stress scores (C-PSS-10) at T1, and anxiety (C-GAD-7) at T2 than the experimental group.

Conclusion

The pilot trial provided valuable information in examining the feasibility of the trial design and intervention. Future studies with larger samples are needed to validate if GFMI can reliably promote coping resources to manage stress and anxiety in undergraduate students.

Trial registration number

https://www.researchregistry.com/, researchregistry8209.

Category-Specific Stress Mindsets: Beliefs about the Debilitating versus Enhancing Effects of Specific Types of Stressors among Young Adults

Recently, research has shown that stress mindsets, or the degree to which people believe that stress is enhancing versus debilitating, impact the ways they process and react to stress. However, young adults encounter various forms of stress, which might elicit different stress mindsets. This study investigated (1) how much young adults think about specific types of stressors as they complete stress mindset measures and (2) how stress mindsets vary across stressor types.

METHOD

Participants (n = 182) completed measures of general and category-specific stress mindsets (academic, interpersonal, identity-based, illness, societal, financial) and rated how much they thought of each category when completing the general mindset measure.

RESULTS

Academic stress was the most salient, and identity-based discrimination was the least salient as participants completed the stress mindset measure. Academic stress was perceived as the most stress-enhancing, and illness stressors were rated as the least stress-enhancing. Cisgender women reported stronger stress-is-debilitating mindsets for interpersonal and illness/injury-related stressors as compared with cisgender men.

CONCLUSION

Stress mindset ratings in research studies might be weighted toward certain types of stressors. Further, young adults' mindsets differ across different stressor categories. This nuance has implications for how we conceptualize stress mindset in interventions and research.

The effects of challenge and threat states on coping flexibility: evidence from framing and exemplar priming

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Challenge and threat states have divergent effects on cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses. The present research used two experiments to investigate whether challenge and threat states influence coping flexibility differently.

DESIGN

Study 1 (N = 93) used loss-framed and gain-framed task instructions to elicit situation-specific threat and challenge evaluations, respectively, with a Null condition as a control. Study 2 (N = 86) used an online single-session Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) paradigm to present participants with exemplars related to either positive or negative resolutions of stressful situations to engender a stress-is-a-challenge or stress-is-a-threat mindset, with a mixed condition as a control.

RESULTS

Loss-framed task instruction generated situation-specific threat evaluation, debilitated effective attention, and reduced positive affect, without altering coping flexibility measured in other scenarios. CBM-I engendered a stress-is-a-challenge mindset and maintained positive affect and coping flexibility, whereas the negative and mixed groups decreased coping flexibility. A stress-is-a-challenge mindset was positively associated with coping flexibility prior to and after exemplar priming.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings enrich the literature on stress coping and shed light on future practice by illustrating the different effects of framing and CBM-I on challenge/threat situation-specific evaluation and stress mindset, and the positive relation of stress-is-a-challenge mindset to coping flexibility.

A stress mindset manipulation can affect speakers' articulation rate

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Mindsets about stress can be altered so that people interpret stress as either a positive or negative force. We exposed participants to a stress mindset intervention to test its effects on a challenging speech production task.

DESIGN AND METHOD

Participants (N = 60) were randomly assigned to a stress mindset condition. In the stress-is-enhancing (SIE) condition, they viewed a brief video that characterized stress as a positive force that benefits performance. In the stress-is-debilitating (SID) condition, the video characterized stress as a negative force that should be avoided. Each participant completed a self-report measure of stress mindset, performed a psychological stressor task, and then repeatedly produced tongue twisters aloud. Speech errors and articulation time were scored for the production task.

RESULTS

The manipulation check confirmed that stress mindsets were altered after viewing the videos. Participants in the SIE condition articulated the phrases more quickly than those in the SID condition without an accompanying increase in errors.

CONCLUSIONS

A stress mindset manipulation affected speech production. This finding indicates that one way to mitigate the negative effects of stress on speech production is to instantiate beliefs that stress is a positive force that can enhance performance.

Web-based training for post-secondary student well-being during the pandemic: a randomized trial

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a highly stressful period where post-secondary education moved to online formats. Coping skills like decentering and reappraisal appear to promote stress resilience, but limited research exists on cultivating these skills in online learning contexts.Methods: In a three-arm randomized trial design, we evaluated three-week, web-based interventions to gauge how to best cultivate mindfulness and stress-reappraisal skills and whether the proposed interventions led to improved mental health. Undergraduate participants (N = 183) were randomly assigned to stress mindset, mindfulness meditation, or mindfulness with choice conditions.Results: At the study level (baseline vs. post-intervention), decentering improved across all conditions. Mindfulness with choice significantly decreased negative affect and rumination compared to stress mindset, while stress mindset significantly enhanced stress mindset skills compared to both mindfulness groups. At the daily level (three sessions per week), stress mindset significantly increased positive affect compared to mindfulness meditation.Conclusions: Results suggest that student mental health can be remotely supported through brief web-based interventions. Mindfulness practices seem to be effective in improving students' negative mood and coping strategies, while stress mindset training can help students to adopt a stress-is-enhancing mindset. Additional work on refining and better matching students to appropriate interventions is needed.

Social Support and Loneliness among Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children: A Moderated Mediation Analysis of the Roles of Social Competence and Stress Mindset

Social support has been an important social-contextual protective factor against loneliness. However, how individual-level protective factors, such as social competence and a positive stress mindset, may jointly influence the relationship between social support and loneliness is less known. This study examined to what extent the link between social support and loneliness would be mediated by social competence and moderated by stress mindset among migrant children. In total, 198 rural-to-urban migrant children aged 10-14 years (56.1% girls) in Beijing, China, completed a set of self-reported questionnaires. A moderated mediation analysis was performed. We found that perceived social support was associated with a lower level of loneliness, and this association was significant only for migrant children holding a positive stress mindset (indicated by a high ratio of the stress-is-a-challenge mindset to the stress-is-a-threat mindset). Notably, across children with different stress mindsets, perceived social support was indirectly related to a lower level of loneliness through greater social competence. Our findings suggest that social competence and a stress-is-a-challenge mindset are important individual-level protective factors for migrant children to overcome loneliness. Social competence can carry the effect of social support, and a stress-is-a-challenge mindset can optimize the effect of environmental resources on mental health.

How Work Stress Impacts Emotional Outcomes of Chinese College Teachers: The Moderated Mediating Effect of Stress Mindset and Resilience

Based on the job demands-resources model and conservation of resource theory, this study investigated 456 Chinese college teachers' work stress, stress mindset, resilience, emotional exhaustion, positive affect, and negative affect. The results of mediation analysis showed that resilience played a partial mediation role between work stress and emotional outcomes (emotional exhaustion, positive affect, and negative affect). Moreover, the results of a moderated mediation analysis showed that stress mindset moderated the relationship between work stress and resilience, and moderated the mediating effect of resilience between work stress and emotional outcomes (emotional exhaustion, positive affect, and negative affect). Specifically, work stress had a significant negative predictive effect on resilience when stress mindset is low (β = -0.54, p < 0.001); work stress could also negatively predict resilience when the stress mindset is high (β = -0.47, p < 0.001), but its effect decreased, and stress mindset negatively moderated the path between work stress and resilience. Finally, we discussed theoretical implications, practical implications, limitations, and future directions.

Stress mindset and mental health status among Chinese high school students: The mediating role of exam stress appraisals

Exam stress is one of the main stressors for adolescents, which can trigger severe mental health problems and performance decline. As an alterable individual variable that influences stress consequences, stress mindset has attracted academic attention recently. However, the relationship between stress mindset and adolescents' responses toward exams has not been fully understood. This study aimed to investigate whether stress mindset affected pre-exam mental health status and exam performance, and whether appraisals of exam mediated such influence. We collected stress mindset, threat and challenge appraisals, pre-exam mental health status, and exam scores from 185 Chinese 11th-grade students. All of them would take an important and unified exam organized on the school level. Results showed that the stress-is-enhancing mindset negatively predicted students' symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, but had no direct effect on performance. Further mediation analysis showed that stress-is-enhancing mindset was positively associated with the challenging appraisal and was negatively associated with the threat appraisal, thus having better health status (including fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress) and performance. These results suggest that the stress mindset had an association with students' response toward exams, and how they appraised the upcoming exam would be an important indirect pathway. Future studies may benefit from changing students' mindsets to protect them from negative consequences of exam stress.

Pathways Linking the Big Five to Psychological Distress: Exploring the Mediating Roles of Stress Mindset and Coping Flexibility

Personality affects the vulnerability to the emotional symptoms of depression and anxiety. This study investigated whether stress mindset (general belief about the nature of stress) and coping flexibility (the ability to terminate ineffective coping strategies and adopt alternative ones) mediate the relations of the Big Five personality traits to psychological distress. A total of 260 undergraduate students (60.4% female) in Singapore completed self-reported questionnaires. A series of path analyses was performed. Firstly, a dual-pathway model of stress coping was established, which consisted of (a) a stress-threat-distress pathway where a stress-is-a-threat mindset mediated the association between stressful experiences and psychological distress and (b) a challenge-flexibility-enhancement pathway where coping flexibility mediated the relation of a stress-is-a-challenge mindset to a lower level of psychological distress, without being influenced by stressful experiences. Furthermore, Neuroticism was associated with the stress-threat-distress pathway, with stressful experiences and a stress-is-a-treat mindset mediating the relation of Neuroticism to psychological distress. Conscientiousness was associated with the challenge-flexibility-enhancement pathway, with a stress-is-a-challenge mindset and coping flexibility mediating the relation of Conscientiousness to less psychological distress. Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness were directly associated with greater coping flexibility. The findings enrich the literature on personality and stress coping and inform future interventions to promote mental health.

From Stressful Experiences to Depression in Chinese Migrant Children: The Roles of Stress Mindset and Coping

Migrant children are at high risk for depression, though the exact mechanism is still unclear. This study investigated whether and how different stress mindsets (threat vs. challenge) and coping strategies (avoidant vs. approach) mediated the association between stressful experiences and depression in migrant children, and whether these relationships would be moderated by gender. One hundred and ninety-eight rural-to-urban migrant children (56.0% girls; M_age = 11.8 years) in Beijing, China, completed self-administered measures of stressful experiences, threat and challenge mindsets, coping strategies, and depression. Path analysis was conducted to examine the proposed mediation model. A dual-pathway model of stress coping was discovered: (1) a stress-threat-avoidance-depression pathway, in which threat mindset and avoidant coping mediated the association between stressful experiences and depression, and (2) a challenge-approach-enhancement pathway, in which approach coping mediated the association between challenge mindset and fewer depressive symptoms, without being influenced by stressful experiences. The dual-pathway mechanism did not vary by gender, and it can explain the greater vulnerability of girls to depression. Together, findings suggest that stressful events, threat mindset, and avoidant coping act as risk factors for depression, whereas challenge mindset and approach coping can function as protective factors to counteract the impacts of stressful experiences and promote psychological well-being among migrant children.