Relations Of Coping And Cognitive Flexibility To Mental Health In College Students

College life is an important stage for the individuals. We will face all kinds of stress events in this stage. Coping has been well researched because of its influential role in psychological adjustment. However previous findings were mostly about the relationship between coping strategies and mental health. In recent years,coping flexibility aroused many researchers’interests.Studies were no longer limited to what coping styles are favorable to the physical and psychological health, but emphasized the variability in cognitive appraisal across stressful situations. In addition, attribution as an important content of the social perception, Fresco deemed that we should emphasize the cognitive process by which these attributions are made and to what extent the individuals can make different attributions depending on the particular context of the event. So this study aimed to:1. To examine the relations of attribution styles, attribution flexibility and coping flexibility to mental health.2. To explore the associations of cognitive flexibility, attribution and coping flexibility to mental health in college students.Study I:The relations of attribution styles, attribution flexibility and coping flexibility to mental health.Methods:A convenient sample of279college students were investigated with Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), Coping Flexibility Questionnaire (CFQ) and Attribution Styles Questionnaire(ASQ). Then the independent-Samples T test was used to examine the gender differences on coping flexibility, attribution styles and attribution flexibility. Relations of attribution styles, attribution flexibility and coping flexibility to mental health in college students were explored by the Pearson correlation analysis and multivariate stepwise regression analysis.Results:1.There were not significant gender differences on coping flexibility.The scores of ASQ’s attribution flexibility, whole-part dimension of positive events, and internality-externality dimension of negative events were significantly higher in male students than in females(Ps<0.05).2. Coping flexibility were correlated with college student’s mental health. Attribution styles and attribution flexibility were all correlated with college student’s coping flexibility and mental health.Study II:To explore the relationship between cognitive flexibility and mental health in college students.Methods:A convenient sample of106college students involved in study I were tested by The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Trail Making Test to investigate their cognitive flexibility. Then the independent-Samples T test was used to examine the gender differences on cognitive flexibility. The relations of cognitive flexibility, attribution and coping flexibility to mental health were examined by the Pearson correlation analysis and multivariate stepwise regression analysis.Results:1.There were not significant gender differences on the whole dimensions of The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the scores of Trail Making Test.2.Cognitive flexibility were correlated with college student’s attribution styles and attribution flexibility.3. Cognitive flexibility were correlated with coping flexibility and mental health of college students.4.Cognitive flexibility, attribution flexibility and coping flexibility worked together to college students’depression.Conclusion:1.Individuals who have a flexible perceived controllability and high effectiveness may have lower levels of depression, anxiety and negative mood, but higher levels of positive mood and optimism.2.The scores of ASQ’s internality-externality dimension of negative events and attribution flexibility were correlated with all index of mental health. Attribution styles and attribution flexibility were all correlated with college student’s coping flexibility.3.Cognitive flexibility were correlated with attribution styles and attribution flexibility,coping flexibility and mental health. Cognitive flexibility, attribution flexibility and coping flexibility worked together to college students’depression. Individuals with higher situation-strategy fit and attribution flexibility had lower levels of anxiety. Individuals who had bad attribution styles had higher levels of negative mood.