Negative Emotion-Focused Coping Mediates the Relationships Between Neuroticism and Psychological Outcomes in College Students

Psychological distress among college students is a pressing issue, with researchers having declared a “mental health crisis” within this population (Beiter et al., 2015; Krumrei, Newton, & Kim, 2010). Although there are higher rates of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in college students than in the general population (Bayram & Bilgel, 2008; Wong, Cheung, Chan, Ma, & Tang, 2006), overall rates of psychological disorders are no different between college students and their same-age peers either in the United States (Blanco et al., 2008) or across 21 other countries (Auerbach et al., 2016). However, 45.79% of college students in a national study met criteria for a psychological disorder in the 12 months prior to assessment, with alcohol use disorders (20.37%) and personality disorders (17.68%) leading the prevalence rates (Blanco et al., 2008). Another national survey found that 86% of students with psychological disorders dropped out of college without completing a degree (Kessler, Foster, Saunders, & Stang, 1995), identifying these students as a vulnerable group. In their efforts to identify individual differences associated with psychological distress in college students, researchers have found that neuroticism, a dimension of personality, is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress (Chien, Ko, & Wu, 2007; Matthews et al., 2006; Wong, Lee, Ang, Oei, & Ng, 2009) and inversely related to well-being (Gutiérrez, Jiménez, Hernández, & Puente, 2005) in this population. Additional research has established that personality and coping styles are closely intertwined (Bouchard, Guillemette, & Landry-Léger, 2004). In the present study, therefore, we investigated coping as a mechanism through which neuroticism might predict depression, anxiety, stress, and well-being among college students. More specifically, we examined ABSTRACT. There is a mental health crisis among undergraduates (Beiter et al., 2015), with nearly half reporting psychological disorders (Blanco et al., 2008). To inform this crisis, this study examined neuroticism and negative emotion-focused coping (NEFC) as transdiagnostic mechanisms that might account for a range of psychopathology among college students. Specifically, NEFC was examined as a mediator in the relationships between neuroticism and 4 psychological outcomes: depression, anxiety, stress, and well-being. In the present study, NEFC was comprised of self-blame (negative thinking) and venting (expression of negative emotion). Participants were 189 undergraduates from a 4-year public university (n = 142 women and n = 47 men). In conditional process analyses (Hayes, 2013), NEFC mediated the relationships between neuroticism and all psychological outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, and well-being). In addition, confirming their transdiagnostic roles, both neuroticism and NEFC significantly and positively predicted depression, anxiety, and stress. Results suggested that addressing both neuroticism and NEFC in college students may decrease a range of psychopathologies, thereby improving the mental health status of this population. Negative Emotion-Focused Coping Mediates the Relationships Between Neuroticism and Psychological Outcomes in College Students