Buffering academic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic related social isolation: grit and growth mindset as protective factors against the impact of loneliness

The pandemic of the SARS CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19 sickness, constitutes a global challenge to well-being. Positive psychology constructs of grit and growth mindset may offer a solution to this challenge as both are associated with psychological resilience. A growth mindset describes the underlying beliefs people have about the malleability of intelligence, and grit refers to dedication to long-term goals. The present study explored whether such constructs could constitute protective factors against the academic stress associated with loneliness and perceived lack of control among international students (n = 170) during social isolation, induced by COVID-19 restrictions. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression model explained 36% of the variance in academic stress with a perceived lack of control (ß = .53, p < .001) and growth mindset (ß = -.22, p < .001) being significant direct predictors. Moderation analysis explained 17% of the variance and confirmed that a level of dispositional grit moderated the detrimental influence loneliness had on academic stress. Simple slopes analysis revealed a significant effect for moderate (ß = .07, p = .01) and high (ß =.16, p  = .001) levels of grit. Our findings suggest that grit and growth mindset, as dynamic variables, could be taught to students as resilience-building prevention of academic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, our results have shown that parents (37%) and friends (32%) were most frequently identified by students as supporters during the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal reported support from universities (2.5%). [Abstract copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.]

© The Author(s) 2020.
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