Kong Ting, Zeng Shuang
Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
College of Foreign Languages, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2023 Nov 3;13(11):906. doi: 10.3390/bs13110906.
Uncertainty, as the predominant characteristic of the contemporary landscape, poses significant challenges and exerts profound influence on individual decision making and behaviors; however, there remains a limited understanding of its impact on university student behavior. Building upon the uncertainty management theory, this study presents a conceptual framework to investigate the impact of perceived environmental uncertainty on university students' anxiety levels and behaviors, including academic engagement and prosocial behavior. Additionally, our model proposes that the intolerance of uncertainty moderates a mediating effect on anxiety. These hypotheses are empirically tested using a sample of 221 Chinese university students. The results reveal a positive relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and anxiety among university students; subsequently, anxiety exerts a negative influence on both academic engagement and prosocial behavior. Furthermore, we find that anxiety serves as a psychological mediator between perceived environmental uncertainty and both academic engagement and prosocial behavior. This research also underscores the significance of the intolerance of uncertainty in shaping university students' involvement in academic pursuits when confronted with anxiety stemming from perceived environmental uncertainty. Consequently, these findings have practical implications for facilitating university students' adaptive coping strategies in uncertain contexts and mitigating the negative effects of anxiety on their behavioral responses.
不确定性作为当代环境的主要特征，带来了重大挑战，并对个体决策和行为产生深远影响；然而，人们对其对大学生行为的影响仍知之甚少。基于不确定性管理理论，本研究提出了一个概念框架，以探讨感知到的环境不确定性对大学生焦虑水平和行为的影响，包括学业参与和亲社会行为。此外，我们的模型提出，对不确定性的不容忍会调节焦虑的中介作用。我们使用221名中国大学生的样本对这些假设进行了实证检验。结果显示，感知到的环境不确定性与大学生的焦虑之间存在正相关关系；随后，焦虑对学业参与和亲社会行为均产生负面影响。此外，我们发现焦虑在感知到的环境不确定性与学业参与和亲社会行为之间起心理中介作用。本研究还强调了在面对因感知到的环境不确定性而产生的焦虑时，对不确定性的不容忍在塑造大学生参与学术追求方面的重要性。因此，这些发现对于促进大学生在不确定环境中的适应性应对策略以及减轻焦虑对其行为反应的负面影响具有实际意义。
