The Developmental Characteristics And Neural Basis Of Students' Frustration Tolerance

The ministry of education of China proposed that strengthening college students'mental health education,such as frustration education,is an important content to strengthen and improve college students'ideological and political education under the new situation(2021).The key of the development of personality in students is to be resilient and optimistic,to be able to adjust and manage their own emotions,and to have the ability to resist frustration.Perseverance refers to a positive psychological quality that individuals show in the process of overcoming setbacks and achieving success.The current study systematically explored the structure,the development characteristics,and the neural basis of perseverance.Four studies consisted of 10 sub-studies were conducted in the current study.Study 1 was aimed to explore the structure of perseverance,and to develop the Student Perseverance Scale.Research 1a was aimed to explore the structure of perseverance by using qualitative research method in which 23 participants were interviewed in depth.The Nvivo 11.0 was used to analyze interview data.The results showed that the perseverance consisted of four components,namely,conviction,optimism,controllability and enlightenment.Research 1b used quantitative research method to develop the Student Perseverance Scale(college students'version)based on the findings of Research 1a.College students(n=2139)participated in the Research 1b.The four-factor structure of perseverance was verified through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.The results showed that the fitting indexes for the four-factors structure of perseverance of the Student Perseverance Scale(college students'version)were good.The internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability were0.89 and 0.87.The criterion-related validity using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(10-items)and the General Self-efficacy Scale as the criteria was 0.58 and 0.58.Research 1c was aimed to revise the Students Perseverance Scale(middle school students'version).Middle school students(n=1648)participated in the Research 1c.The four-factor structure was verified through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.The results showed that the fitting indexes for the four-factors structure of perseverance were good.The internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability of the Students Perseverance Scale(middle school students'version)were 0.85 and 0.88.The criterion-related validity using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(10-items)and the Chinese Cultural Beliefs about Adversity Scale as the criteria was 0.53 and 0.60.Research 1d was aimed to investigate the incremental validity of the Students Perseverance scale(college students'version).College students(n=156)participated in the Research 1d.The Students Perseverance scale(college students'version),the Theory of Intelligence Scale,the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(10-items)were used to measure participants'perseverance,mindset and resilience.Graphical reasoning task was used to create failure situation and induce frustration psychology.The results found that perseverance positively predicted college students'persistence intentions and persistence behavior after experiencing failure.Research 1e was aimed to investigate the quality of the Student Perseverance Scale(college students'version).College students with high(n=37)and low(n=36)perseverance were selected as participants by using the Student Perseverance Scale(college students'version).The graphic reasoning task and the intuitive intelligence task were used to create failure situations and induce frustration psychology,respectively.The results found that after experiencing failure in the graphic reasoning task,the positive emotions,confidence in success,persistence intentions,persistence behavior and challenge seeking behavior of college students with high perseverance were better than those with low perseverance.After experiencing failure in the intuitive intelligence task,the positive emotions,confidence in success,persistence intentions and challenge seeking behavior of college students with high perseverance were better than those with low perseverance.Study 2 was aimed to investigate the developmental features of perseverance.Two hundred and twenty-eight seventh-graders(male 106,female 122,M_age=13.97,SD=0.49),217 eighth-graders(male 89,female 128,M_age=14.06,SD=0.50),264 tenth-graders(male 147,female 117,M_age=16.55,SD=0.66),264 eleventh-graders(male 113,female 151,M_age=17.61,SD=0.62),255 freshman(male 118,female 137,M_age=19.09,SD=0.94),268sophomore(male 140,female 128,M_age=19.74,SD=0.62),and 219 graduates(male 100,female119,M_age=25.57,SD=2.85)participated in the Study 2.Participants were asked to complete the Students Perseverance Scale(college students'version)or Students Perseverance Scale(middle school students'version),respectively.A single-factor 7-level experimental design was conducted.For the total scores of perseverance,the results showed that the total scores in seventh-graders were lower than those in other graders.The total scores in eighth-graders were lower than those in tenth-graders,freshman,sophomore and graduates.The total scores in eleventh-graders were lower than those in sophomore.For the scores of conviction,the results found that the scores of seventh-graders and eighth-graders were lower than those in other graders.For the scores of optimism,the results found that the scores of seventh-graders and eighth-graders were higher than those in other graders.The scores of sophomore were higher than those in eleventh-graders,freshman and graduates.For the scores of controllability,the results found that the scores of seventh-graders and eighth-graders were higher than those in other graders.For the scores of enlightenment,the scores of seventh-graders and eighth-graders were lower than those in other graders.The scores of eleventh-graders,freshman and sophomore were lower than those in graduates.Study 3 was aimed to investigate the effects of continuous failure and continuous success on frustration psychology of college students with high and low perseverance.Research 3a was aimed to investigate the effect of continuous failure on frustration psychology of college students with high and low perseverance.College students with high(n=30)and low(n=30)perseverance were selected as participants by using the Students Perseverance scale(college students'version).They were asked to complete the graphic reasoning task,in which they were asked to experience 1?5 failure.A mixed experiment design of 2(perseverance group:high,low)×5(failure experience:1,2,3,4,5 failure)was conducted.For college students with high perseverance,the results found that there were no significant differences among the emotional experience when they experienced continuous failure.Their confidence in success decreased significantly after experiencing 3 and 4 continuous failure.Their persistence intentions decreased significantly after experiencing 3 continuous failure.For college students with low perseverance,the results found that their emotional experience and persistence intentions decreased significantly after experiencing 3 and 5 continuous failure.Their confidence in success decreased significantly when they experienced 2 and 4 continuous failure.Research 3b was aimed to investigate the effects of continuous success on frustration psychology of college students with high and low perseverance by using the graphic reasoning task.College students with high(n=26)and low(n=24)perseverance were selected as participants by using the Students Perseverance scale(college students'version).The graphic reasoning task was used to create the failure-continuous success situation.Participants experienced a failure and then experienced 1?8 successes.The results found that confidence in success of college students after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off after experiencing 6 continuous successes.For college students with high perseverance,the results found that their positive emotions and persistent intentions after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off.For college students with low perseverance,the results found that their positive emotions after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off after experiencing 6continuous successes.Their persistent intentions after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off after experiencing 7 continuous successes.Research 3c was aimed to further investigate the effects of continuous success on frustration psychology of college students with high low perseverance by using the anagram task.The Students Perseverance scale(college students'version)was used to select high-and low-perseverance groups.An anagram task was used to create the failure-continuous success situation.Participants experienced a failure and then experienced 1?8 successes.The results found that the confidence in success of undergraduates after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off after experiencing 7 continuous successes.For high perseverance group,the results found that their positive emotions and persistent intentions after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off.For low perseverance group,the results found that their positive emotions after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1 success and began to level off after experiencing 6 continuous successes.Their persistent intentions after encountering failure improved after experiencing 1success and began to level off after experiencing 7 continuous successes.Study 4 was aimed to investigate the differences in resting brain activity and brain structure between college students with high and low perseverance.College students with high(n=14)and low(n=13)perseverance were selected as participants by using the Students Perseverance scale(college students'version).Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging(f MRI)technology was used to record participants'resting brain activities(Re Ho,ALFF)and brain structure(gray matter volume).The independent sample t test found that college students with high perseverance had stronger resting neural activities in the right middle frontal gyrus,right medial cingulate gyrus,right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus,right superior marginal gyrus,left medial middle frontal gyrus,and had larger gray matter volume in bilateral superior temporal gyrus,left superior occipital gyrus,right middle frontal gyrus and left precuneus,relative to college students with low perseverance.Under the experiments mentioned above,the following conclusions can be drawn:(1)The perseverance consist of four components,namely,conviction,optimism,controllability and enlightenment.(2)The development of perseverance includes two stages:(1)Conflict-forming stage(junior middle school and senior high school).At this stage,conviction and enlightenment develop rapidly and begin to level off;the development of optimism and controllability decrease significantly and then begin to level off.(2)Stable-fluctuation stage(undergraduate and graduate period).At this stage,there are some fluctuations in the development of optimism and enlightenment,but the overall development trend is stable.(3)After experiencing continuous failure,the emotional experience,confidence in success and persistence intentions of college students with high perseverance decrease slower and less than those of college students with low perseverance.Continuous successes can stabilize the improvement of frustration psychology of college students with low perseverance.(4)The resting activity of the default network participates in the regulation of perseverance.The changes of gray matter volume in superior temporal gyrus,superior occipital gyrus,middle frontal gyrus and precuneus were related to perseverance.