The role of avoidance in understanding emotional dysfunction associated with a fixed emotion mindset

Individuals differ in the extent to which they believe that their emotions are controllable or not, and these beliefs have significant impacts on emotional functioning. A strong belief that your emotions are uncontrollable (fixed mindset) is a vulnerability for emotional dysfunction, such as internalizing symptoms; however, the proximal mechanisms that might explain how emotional beliefs manifest as symptoms remain unclear. Across two studies, we examined whether mindset was indirectly related to internalizing symptoms through use of avoidance-based strategies and whether perceptions of stress function to amplify this relationship. In Study 1, (N = 163; mean age = 17.9), a fixed mindset was associated with a greater presence of depression and anxiety symptoms in un-dergraduates indirectly through the use of avoidance for anxiety, but not depression. Perceived stress did not moderate the indirect effect. In Study 2 (N = 183; mean age = 18.74) we replicated this model and extended this finding by examining social-avoidance. There was an indirect effect of mindset on anxiety and on depression via the use of avoidance-based strategies; however, there was no moderating effect of perceived stress. These findings extend the previous literature by demonstrating for role of avoidance in understanding the relationship between fixed mindsets and internalizing symptoms.