Thirteenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore flourishing among undergraduate students in the U.S., and to examine the role of psychological inflexibility, resilience, and stress mindset as predictors of flourishing. The study utilized data from the 2021-2022 wave of the Healthy Minds Study examining mental health, health behaviors, and related issues. We used data from 527 undergraduate students who had completed measures on the variables of interest. Participants consisted mainly of young adults (69% were female, 31% were male) with a mean age of 20.96 years (SD=4.37). Measures included Diener’s Flourishing Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, and a brief Stress Mindset scale. To predict flourishing, a hierarchical multiple regression was conducted with two blocks. The first block included age and sex. In block two, psychological inflexibility, emotional resilience, and stress mindset were entered. The results showed that the first model using age and sex as predictors was not significant. The second model (F(5, 526) = 59.16, p< .001, R2=.36) was significant. The model included inflexibility as the strongest predictor of flourishing (b=-0.47, t= -10.90, p< .001) followed by resilience (b=-0.22, t= -4.96, p< .001). Flourishing represents a way to conceptualize positive mental health and well-being. The most novel finding of this research is that psychological inflexibility is negatively associated with flourishing among college students. Of note, scores on the flourishing scale had a mean of 41. 97 (SD=9.11) which is lower than the cutoff score generally used to identify flourishing (48).