BackgroundCoping, the cognitive and behavioral effort required to manage the effects of stressors, is important in determining psychological stress responses (ie, the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses to stressors). Coping was classified into categories of emotional expression (eg, negative feelings and thoughts), emotional support seeking (eg, approaching loved ones to request encouragement), cognitive reinterpretation (eg, reframing a problem positively), and problem solving (eg, working to solve the problem). Stress mindset refers to the belief that stress has enhancing (stress-is-enhancing mindset) or debilitating consequences (stress-is-debilitating mindset). This study examined whether coping mediated the relationship between stress mindset and psychological stress responses. Psychological stress responses were conceptualized as depression-anxiety, irritability-anger, and helplessness. The following two hypotheses were tested: 1) a stronger stress-is-enhancing mindset is associated with less frequent use of emotional expression, emotional support seeking, and problem solving, which in turn is associated with lower levels of depression-anxiety, irritability-anger, and helplessness; 2) a stronger stress-is-debilitating mindset is associated with more frequent use of these coping strategies, which in turn is associated with higher levels of these psychological stress responses.Materials and methodsThe participants were 30 male and 94 female undergraduate and graduate students (mean age =20.4 years). Stress mindset, coping, and psychological stress responses were measured using self-report questionnaires. Six mediation analyses were performed with stress-is-enhancing mindset or stress-is-debilitating mindset as the independent variable, one of the psychological stress responses as the dependent variable, and the four coping strategies as mediators.ResultsEmotional expression partially mediated the relationship between a strong stress-is-debilitating mindset and higher irritability-anger levels. The other three coping strategies did not exhibit mediating effects. None of the coping strategies mediated the relationship between a stress-is-enhancing mindset and psychological stress responses.ConclusionThese results provide initial evidence that stress mindset is associated with psychological stress responses, through coping strategies.

BackgroundPositivity refers to “a general tendency to view life and experiences with a positive outlook”. Enhanced positivity has been linked with decreased negative affect and increased positive affect, but rather little is known about the factors that mediate these relationships. One potential such factor is perceived stress, which refers to how one appraises life situations as stressful. This study examined the mediating effects of perceived stress on the associations of positivity with negative and positive affect. Two hypotheses were tested: 1) positivity is negatively associated with perceived stress, which in turn is positively associated with negative affect, and 2) positivity is negatively associated with perceived stress, which in turn is negatively associated with positive affect.MethodsAn online survey was conducted with 100 Japanese men and 100 Japanese women who were members of a survey company in January 2018. They completed questionnaires on positivity, perceived stress, and negative and positive affect. All survey procedures were managed and conducted by a web-survey company.ResultsMediation analyses indicated that perceived stress was a mediator in the relationship between positivity and negative affect. Perceived stress was also found to be a mediator in the relationship between positivity and positive affect.ConclusionPositivity was found to be associated with negative affect and positive affect via perceived stress.

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