A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress

Adolescents experience record-high stress-related anxiety and depression, prompting calls for urgent action. Conventional stress avoidance approaches are insufficient; adolescence involves inherently stressful skill acquisition crucial for adulthood. The increasing demands of advanced coursework and the added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbate this issue. Affective scientists advocate for a stress optimization approach, engaging positively with stressors rather than avoiding them. However, interventions equipping adolescents with these skills have been largely unsuccessful. This study addresses this gap by targeting adolescents' mindsets about stress.

Existing research highlights the detrimental effects of social-evaluative stressors on adolescent mental health. The 'stress avoidance' mentality neglects the inherent and beneficial stress in acquiring complex skills during adolescence. While reappraisal techniques can improve immediate stress responses, they suffer from the 'transfer problem,' failing to generalize to new situations. This research focuses on mindsets—general cognitive processes shaping interpretations of situations—as a potential solution, building on existing work on growth mindsets and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets. The authors argue that these two mindsets need to be integrated for reliable stress management.

Six experiments assessed the synergistic mindsets intervention's effects on adolescents' stress responses. Studies 1 and 2 examined cognitive appraisals of hypothetical and real academic stressors, using self-reported questionnaires. Studies 3 and 4 utilized the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to measure cardiovascular responses (peripheral blood flow, total peripheral resistance (TPR), stroke volume, pre-ejection period (PEP)), assessing physiological indicators of threat-type stress responses. Study 5 employed daily diaries and salivary cortisol samples to assess long-term effects on negative self-regard and HPA-axis activation in a sample of economically disadvantaged minority students. Study 6 evaluated the intervention's impact on anxiety symptoms during COVID-19 lockdowns in undergraduate students. Bayesian statistical analyses, including Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) and Bayesian causal forests (BCF), were employed to model heterogeneous effects and ensure conservative estimations. Manipulation checks were conducted in all studies to ensure the intervention successfully influenced the targeted mindsets. The intervention was a short (30-minute), self-administered online module delivered in naturalistic settings.

Across six experiments, the synergistic mindsets intervention consistently reduced negative appraisals of stressors, improved cardiovascular responses to stress (lowering TPR and increasing stroke volume), decreased daily cortisol levels, reduced negative self-regard (particularly on high-stress days), and lessened anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. Heterogeneity analyses in studies 3, 5, and 6 revealed that the intervention's benefits were particularly pronounced among individuals with initially negative mindsets. Study 4, a four-cell experiment, demonstrated that the synergistic combination of growth and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets was superior to interventions targeting only one mindset. Furthermore, study 5 found a positive effect on academic performance (increased pass rates in core courses, particularly in STEM subjects), demonstrating the intervention’s broader impact on academic engagement.

The findings support the effectiveness of the synergistic mindsets intervention in mitigating the negative effects of stress on adolescents' mental and physical health. The intervention's impact on both cognitive and physiological responses highlights its potential to interrupt the negative feedback loop of stress. The study demonstrates that promoting a positive mindset towards both stressors and the body's stress response is crucial for effective stress management. The results challenge the narrative of adolescent fragility and emphasize the potential for fostering resilience and adaptive coping mechanisms. The intervention's low cost and ease of implementation suggest its potential for widespread application.

This research demonstrates the effectiveness of a novel synergistic mindsets intervention in protecting adolescents from the detrimental effects of stress. The intervention's impact on multiple levels of analysis, combined with its scalability and low cost, positions it as a promising tool for improving adolescent well-being and academic success. Future research should explore the intervention's generalizability across diverse populations and contexts, investigate potential mediating mechanisms, and assess its long-term efficacy and impact on physical health.

While the study utilized large sample sizes and robust statistical methods, the results might not fully generalize to all adolescent populations. The reliance on self-reported measures for some outcomes introduces potential for bias. Future research should explore the long-term impact of the intervention beyond the relatively short follow-up periods in this study, and investigate the durability of the intervention's benefits across varied contexts and stressors.