Self-Transcendence Explains How Stress Reduces Mental Well-Being in Emerging Adults: A Conditional Approach of Coping Flexibility

Abstract

Stress and well-being are important life experiences, but we cannot improve well-being by avoiding stress. If we want to increase well-being, we can start by determining the relationship between stress and well-being and other factors that may be effective in this relationship. This cross-sectional study investigates the hypothetical mediating and moderating roles of self-transcendence and coping flexibility in the relationship between stress and mental well-being among Turkish university students. A total of 403 students enrolled in a state university in Türkiye participated in the study. The sample was 75% female (n = 302) and 25% male (n = 101), with ages ranging from 18 to 25 years (M = 21.21, SD = 2.70). Findings revealed that stress significantly predicted university students’ mental well-being in a negative direction. Furthermore, the study identifies self-transcendence and coping flexibility as hypothetical mediators in the relationship between stress and mental well-being. Finally, it was found that coping flexibility moderated the effect of stress on self-transcendence and mental well-being. Under conditions of high coping flexibility, there are stronger, negative associations between stress and self-transcendence and stress and mental well-being. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the important role of self-transcendence and coping flexibility in promoting mental well-being and combating stress in the university environment.

Keywords

coping flexibility mental well-being self-transcendence stress

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acharya

Jin

Collins

(2018). College life is stressful today–Emerging stressors and depressive symptoms in college students. Journal of American College Health, 66(7), 655–664. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1451869

Allan

B. A.

Douglass

R. P.

Duffy

R. D.

McCarty

R. J.

(2016). Meaningful work as a moderator of the relation between work stress and meaning in life. Journal of Career Assessment, 24(3), 429–440. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072715599357

Arı

Cesur-Soysal

(2019). Perceived ability to cope with trauma scale (PACT): The Turkish adaptation, validity and reliability study. Journal of Clinical Psychology Research, 3(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.5455/kpd.2602443806062019m000007

Arnett

J. J.

(2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469

Arslan

(2023). Psychological Well-Being and Mental Health in Youth: Technical Adequacy of the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving. Children, 10(7), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10071269

Arslan

Allen

K. A.

(2022). Exploring the association between coronavirus stress, meaning in life, psychological flexibility, and subjective well-being. Psychology Health & Medicine, 27(4), 803–814. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2021.1876892

Arslan

Coşkun

(2023). Coronavirus–related stressors, resilient mindset, loneliness, depressive symptoms in college students: Testing a moderated mediation model. Psychological Reports, 127(4), 1633–1651. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941221139721

Arslan

Kabasakal

Taş

(2024). Childhood psychological maltreatment, mindful awareness, self-transcendence, and mental well-being in emerging adults. Emerging Adulthood, 12(1), 18–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968231208246

Arslan

(2018). Bilinçli farkındalık, depresyon düzeyleri ve algılanan stres arasındaki ilişki. Birey ve Toplum Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 8(2), 73–86. https://doi.org/10.20493/birtop.477445

10.

Arslan

Wong

P. T. P.

(2022). Measuring Personal and Social Responsibility: An Existential Positive Psychology Approach. Journal of Happiness and Health, 2(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v2i1.5

11.

Arslan

Wong

(2024). Embracing life’s challenges: Developing a tool for assessing resilient mindset in second wave positive Psychology. Journal of Happiness and Health, 4(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v4i1.53

12.

Baggio

Studer

Iglesias

Daeppen

J. B.

Gmel

(2017). Emerging adulthood: A time of changes in psychosocial well-being. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 40(4), 383–400. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278716663602

13.

Bonanno

G. A.

Pat-Horenczyk

Noll

(2011). Coping flexibility and trauma: The perceived ability to cope with trauma (PACT) scale. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(2), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020921

14.

Çetin

(2022). Examining the relationship between university students' perceptions of coping with trauma, self-compassion and life stress with mixed method (Unpublished master’s thesis). Necmettin Erbakan University, Institute of Educational Sciences.

15.

Cheng

(2001). Assessing coping flexibility in real-life and laboratory settings: A multimethod approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(5), 814–833. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.5.814

16.

Cheng

Lau

H.-P. B.

Chan

M.-P. S.

(2014). Coping flexibility and psychological adjustment to stressful life changes: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 140(6), 1582–1607. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037913

17.

Cheng

Wang

H. Y.

Ebrahimi

O. V.

(2021). Adjustment to a “new normal:” Coping flexibility and mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, Article 626197. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.626197

18.

Cloninger

C. R.

Cloninger

K. M.

(2021). Self-transcendence. In The virtues in psychiatric practice (pp. 205–230). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780197524480.003.0011

19.

Cohen

J. I.

(2000). Stress and mental health: A biobehavioral perspective. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 21(2), 185–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/016128400248185

20.

Cohen

Kamarck

Mermelstein

(1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404

21.

Cusack

Merchant

(2013). The effects of emerging adulthood on stress and depression. Modern Psychological Studies, 18(2), 47–63.

22.

Demirci

Akın

(2015). The validity and reliability of the mental health continuum short form. Ankara University Journal of Faculty of Educational Sciences, 48(1), 49–64. https://doi.org/10.1501/Egifak_0000001352

23.

Diener

Oishi

Lucas

R. E.

(2015). National accounts of subjective well-being. American Psychological Association, 70(3), 234–242. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038899

24.

Eskin

Harlak

Demirkıran

Dereboy

Ç.

(2013). The adaptation of the perceived stress scale into Turkish: A reliability and validity analysis. New/Yeni Symposium Journal, 51(3), 132–140. https://neuropsychiatricinvestigation.org/Content/files/sayilar/pdf/TR-YeniSempozyum-c1d2631c.PDF

25.

Folkman

Moskowitz

J. T.

(2000). Positive affect and the other side of coping. American Psychologist, 55(6), 647–654. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.6.647

26.

Frankl

(1966). Self-transcendence as a human phenomenon. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 6(2), 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/002216786600600201

27.

Genç

Arslan

(2021). Optimism and dispositional hope to promote college students’ subjective well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 5(2), 87–96. https://doi.org/10.47602/jpsp.v5i2.255

28.

Hayes

A. F.

(2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.

29.

Hong

(2008). College stress and psychological well-being: Self-transcendence meaning of life as a moderator. College Student Journal, 42(2), 531–541.

30.

Kato

(2012). Development of the coping flexibility scale: Evidence for the coping flexibility hypothesis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(2), 262–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027770

31.

Kato

(2015). Testing of the coping flexibility hypothesis based on the dual-process theory: Relationships between coping flexibility and depressive Symptoms. Psychiatry Research, 230(2), 137–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.07.030

32.

Kato

(2020). Examination of the coping flexibility hypothesis using the coping flexibility scale-revised. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1), Article 561731. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.561731

33.

Keyes

C. L.

(2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: A complementary strategy for improving national mental health. American Psychologist, 62(2), 95–108. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.2.95

34.

Keyes

C. L. M.

(2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43(2), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.2307/3090197

35.

Keyes

C. L. M.

Wissing

Potgieter

J. P.

Temane

Kruger

van Rooy

(2008). Evaluation of the mental health continuum-short form (MHC-SF) in Setswana-speaking South Africans. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 15(3), 181–192. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.572

36.

King

L. A.

Hicks

J. A.

Krull

J. L.

Del Gaiso

A. K.

(2006). Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(1), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.1.179

37.

Kline

(2015). A handbook of test construction (psychology revivals): Introduction to psychometric design. Routledge.

38.

Lam

C. B.

McBride-Chang

C. A.

(2007). Resilience in young adulthood: The moderating influences of gender-related personality traits and coping flexibility. Journal of Research, 56(3-4), 159–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9159-z

39.

Lazarus

R. S.

Folkman

(1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.

40.

Lopes

A. R.

Nihei

O. K.

(2021). Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Predictors and association with life satisfaction, psychological well-being and coping strategies. PLoS One, 16(10), Article e0258493. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258493

41.

Matud

M. P.

Ibáñez

Hernández-Lorenzo

D. E.

Bethencourt

J. M.

(2023). Gender, life events, and mental well-being in emerging adulthood. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 69(6), 1432–1443. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640231164012

42.

P. Y. N.

Yang

Chiu

(2024). Features of emerging adulthood, perceived stress and life satisfaction in Hong Kong emerging adults. Current Psychology, 43(23), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05811-1

43.

Pearlin

L. I.

Lieberman

M. A.

Menaghan

E. G.

Mullan

J. T.

(1981a). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22(4), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136676

44.

Pearlin

L. I.

Lieberman

M. A.

Menaghan

E. G.

Mullan

J. T.

(1981b). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22(4), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136676

45.

Preacher

K. J.

Kelley

(2011). Effect size measures for mediation models: Quantitative strategies for communicating indirect effects. Psychological Methods, 16(2), 93–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022658

46.

Reed

D. J.

(2016). Coping with occupational stress: The role of optimism and coping flexibility. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 9, 71–79. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S97595

47.

Ryff

C. D.

(1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069

48.

Şahan

Karademir

Ç.

(2022). Perceived stress and psychological well-being in adult individuals during COVID-19: The mediating role of coping strategies. Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal, 12(67), 558–578. https://doi.org/10.17066/tpdrd.12250133

49.

Sarı

S. V.

Aydın

Şahin

Oktan

(2019). Predicting facebook addiction: The roles of mental health continuum and dispositional hope. Kastamonu Education Journal, 27(4), 1799–1810. https://doi.org/10.24106/kefdergi.3356

50.

Schönfeld

Brailovskaia

Bieda

Zhang

X. C.

Margraf

(2016). The effects of daily stress on positive and negative mental health: Mediation through self-efficacy. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 16(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2015.08.005

51.

Schulenberg

J. E.

Sameroff

A. J.

Cicchetti

(2004). The transition to adulthood as a critical juncture in the course of psychopathology and mental health. Development and Psychopathology, 16(4), 799–806. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579404040015

52.

Seligman

M. E. P.

(2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Atria Books.

53.

Selye

(1956). The stress of life. McGraw Hill.

54.

Serdar

Demirel

(2020). The relationship between perceived stress and leisure satisfaction: Example of sports sciences students. Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, 22(3), 54–64.

55.

Sharpnack

P. A.

Quinn Griffin

M. T.

Benders

A. M.

Fitzpatrick

J. J.

(2011). Self-transcendence and spiritual well-being in the Amish. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 29(2), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010110378043

56.

Slimmen

Timmermans

Mikolajczak-Degrauwe

Oenema

(2022). How stress-related factors affect mental wellbeing of university students a cross-sectional study to explore the associations between stressors, perceived stress, and mental wellbeing. PLoS One, 17(11), Article e0275925. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275925

57.

Steger

M. F.

Frazier

Oishi

Kaler

(2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.1.80

58.

Teixeira

M. E.

(2008). Self-transcendence: A concept analysis for nursing praxis. Holistic Nursing Practice, 22(1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.HNP.0000306325.49332.ed

59.

Togay

Önder

F. C.

(2020). Genç yetişkinlerde stres ve öznel iyi oluş arasındaki ilişkide benlik belirginliğinin aracı rolü. İnönü Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 21(1), 366–383. https://doi.org/10.17679/inuefd.554660

60.

Treadgold

(1999). Transcendent vocations: Their relationship to stress, depression, and clarity of self-concept. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 39(1), 81–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167899391010

61.

Tugade

M. M.

Fredrickson

B. L.

(2004). Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(2), 320–333. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.320

62.

Wang

Lesage

Schmitz

Drapeau

(2008). The relationship between work stress and mental disorders in men and women: Findings from a population-based study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 62(1), 42–47. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.050591

63.

Wang

Hegde

Son

Keller

Smith

Sasangohar

(2020). Investigating mental health of US college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional survey study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(9), Article e22817. https://doi.org/10.2196/22817

64.

Wersebe

Lieb

Meyer

A. H.

Hofer

Gloster

A. T.

(2018). The link between stress, well-being, and psychological flexibility during an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy self-help intervention. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 18(1), 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2017.09.002

65.

WHO . (2012). Risks to mental health: An overview of vulnerabilities and risk factors. World Health Organization.

66.

Wong

Mayer

C.-H.

Arslan

(2021). Editorial: COVID-19 and existential positive psychology (PP2.0): The new science of self-transcendence. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 800308. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.800308

67.

Wong

P. T. P.

(2011). Positive psychology 2.0: Towards a balanced interactive model of the good life. Canadian Psychology, 52(2), 69–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022511

68.

Wong

P. T. P.

(2012). Toward a dual-systems model of what makes life worth living. In Wong

P. T. P.

(Ed.), The human quest for meaning: Theories, research, and applications (2nd ed., pp. 3–22). Routledge.

69.

Wong

P. T. P.

Arslan

Bowers

V. L.

Peacock

E. J.

Kjell

O. N. E.

Ivtzan

Lomas

(2021). Self-transcendence as a buffer against COVID-19 suffering: The development and validation of the self-transcendence measure-B. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 648549. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648549

70.

Zimmer‐Gembeck

M. J.

(2021). Coping flexibility: Variability, fit and associations with efficacy, emotion regulation, decentering and responses to stress. Stress and Health, 37(5), 848–861. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3043