Anxiety Stress Coping. 2025 May 22:1-15. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2025.2507094. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A stress-is-enhancing mindset refers to viewing the nature of stress as enhancing rather than debilitating and has been linked to better mental health in response to stressors. We examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal link between stress mindset and two mental health outcomes, depressive symptoms and cannabis use, over the COVID-19 pandemic in a diverse sample of adolescents.
DESIGN AND METHODS: A community sample of adolescents completed measures assessing depressive symptoms, cannabis use, and intentions to use cannabis at three time points (T1: 2018-2020, N = 299, T2: 2020, N = 219, T3: 2021, N = 173). Participants completed the stress mindset measure at T2.
RESULTS: Cross-sectionally, a more stress-is-enhancing mindset was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and reduced intentions to use cannabis, which in turn were associated with less cannabis use. Longitudinally, a more stress-is-enhancing mindset was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and indirectly associated with less future cannabis use through behavioral intentions to use cannabis.
CONCLUSION: This study establishes a stress-is-enhancing mindset as a protective factor against cannabis use and contributes to a growing literature that stress mindset is protective against depression, indicating that stress mindset may be an important protective factor even in the face of naturalistic, chronic stressors.
PMID:40404588 | DOI:10.1080/10615806.2025.2507094
