The associations between emotional neglect and positive mental health: the mediating role of stress-is-enhancing mindset and the moderating role of stress-is-debilitating mindset

H Wang, Mengxuan Li, Gao Y, Min Zou, Haizhou Leng, Chao Gao

Objective This study aimed to investigate the associations among emotional neglect (EN), stress-is-enhancing mindset (SIEM), stress-is-debilitating mindset (SIDM), and positive mental health (PMH). Methods The cross-sectional survey was employed in this study. A sample of 2150 college students (826 males) completed the emotional neglect subscale of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form, the Stress Mindset Measure and the Positive Mental Health Scale. The PROCESS macro version 4.2 for SPSS was used to examine the moderated mediation model. Results EN negatively predicted PMH ( p < 0.001). SIEM mediated the association between EN and PMH. Moreover, SIDM ( β = 0.04, p < 0.001) not merely moderated the relationship between EN and PMH, but also moderated the link between EN and SIEM ( β = 0.04, p < 0.001). Conclusion EN has a direct negative link to PMH and an indirect negative link to PMH through SIEM. Importantly, high SIDM mitigates the direct negative relation between EN and PMH. Moreover, the indirect negative effects of EN on PMH via SIEM diminish as SIDM increases, and the mediation pathway of SIEM is neutralized under high SIDM. These findings preliminary reveal the interplay between SIEM and SIDM in post-traumatic cognitive processing, offering new insights into the non-linear processes of psychological adaptation following early adversity.