Background This study examined how the perceived stress of college students leads to drinking problems based on the Escape Theory.
Methods A total of 485 college students were surveyed. A moderated mediation analysis was used to test the hypotheses.
Results Since no significant correlation was found between perceived stress and drinking problem, the dependent variable was replaced with problematic drinking, a sub-factor of drinking problem. Escape from self fully mediated the relationship between perceived stress and problematic drinking. The interaction of perceived stress and dysfunctional self-focus was correlated with escape from self. Coping motives to drinking strengthened the pathways from escape from self to problematic drinking.
Conclusions This study shows the need for therapeutic interventions to curb college students’ drinking problems. This study’s significance and limitations are also discussed.
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Background This study examined how seeing one’s own image during video communication affects the cognitive process of social anxiety.
Methods Fifty-two university students were recruited and assessed for social anxiety and dispositional self-focused attention. They were randomly assigned to different exposure and size settings of self-images on a screen (none, middle, big). Subsequently, a simulated video interview was conducted. During the experiment, changes in state anxiety (subjective anxiety, heart rate) and state self-focused attention were assessed.
Results First, self-focused attention mediated the effect of social anxiety on subjective anxiety. Second, the mediation effect of state self-focused attention on social anxiety’s influence on subjective anxiety was not moderated by the exposure and size of the self-image on the screen. Third, the mediation effect of dispositional self-focused attention on social anxiety’s influence on subjective anxiety was moderated by the exposure and size of the self-image on the screen. The moderated mediation effects of the exposure and size of the self-image on the screen were significant for middle and big sizes.
Conclusions These findings suggest that dispositional self-focused attention—a cognitive characteristic of social anxiety—can interact with the exposure and size of a self-image on a screen, causing higher anxiety.