Sharing Student Projects

Higher education students are required to apply themselves to their academic studies, towards an end goal of passing exams and assignments and gaining credits to ultimately graduate. This can induce significant levels of stress in students (Reddy et al., 2018), which has negative implications for both wellbeing and academic outcomes (Khan et al., 2013; Ruzhenkova et al., 2018). Executive Function (EF) is high order cognitive function that is essential for learning processes. EF has been linked to a variety of positive educational outcomes, such as adaptive learning behaviours and academic performance (Cartwright et al., 2020; Rabin et al., 2011). It is therefore important to understand the factors which effect stress and EF in students. Mindfulness has been linked to both decreases in stress and increases in EF suggesting it could be a useful skill to target in higher education students. Therefore, this research aimed to explore the relationships between trait mindfulness, perceived stress and EF and to explore whether trait mindfulness effects EF indirectly through perceived stress. The target population of this study was higher education students, due to their increased vulnerability to stress and their reliance on EF to meet educational goals. The study sampled 78 higher education students from UK universities, aged 18-25 years old. Participants completed selfreport questionnaires measuring trait mindfulness, perceived stress and EF. In order to assess the relationships between these factors, bivariate correlations, multiple regression and mediation analysis were utilised. Results showed that greater trait mindfulness significantly predicted EF ability and that this relationship was still significant after controlling for perceived stress. Additionally, the relationship between trait mindfulness and EF and was not mediated by perceived stress. Greater trait mindfulness was also associated with lower levels of perceived stress. An initial negative association between perceived stress and EF was seen, however this was no longer significant after controlling for trait mindfulness. The findings were in line with existing literature, which has seen trait mindfulness to predict lower levels of stress, as well as greater levels of EF. Limited research observes the relationships between all three of these variables and none thus far have observed the mediating effect of perceived stress on the relationship between trait mindfulness and EF. However, the findings do contrast with emerging research suggesting that perceived stress mediates the relationship between trait mindfulness and cognitive function more broadly. This study highlights the strong associations between trait mindfulness and both stress and EF and emphasises the need for future longitudinal research to explore causation in the relationships between trait mindfulness and EF and to further the emerging evidence suggesting trait mindfulness causes lower stress. Presently, trait mindfulness is linked with a variety of positive outcomes and may be an extremely useful skill for higher education students.

This study highlights how trait mindfulness is associated with lower levels of perceived stress and greater EF ability in higher education students. The findings add to the growing body of literature suggesting that individuals with higher trait mindfulness hold characteristics that can protect them from stress and improve EF. A variety of stakeholders, including students, universities, health professionals and psychology practitioners may benefit from the contributions to knowledge made by this study, as it furthers understanding of how both stress and EF which are linked to positive outcomes in students. Students are particularly vulnerable to experiencing stress, and the findings from this study support the use of mindfulness as an effective strategy for stress reduction. EF supports higher education students to engage in adaptive learning behaviours and perform better in assessments that contribute to successful graduation from their courses. EF ability has also been linked to achievement, health, wealth in later life. It has been shown that EF is a trainable skill and can be improved at any age and the current findings support that trait mindfulness could boost EF in higher education students. Mindfulness interventions are becoming increasingly available at universities for students to access (Cieslak et al., 2016) however students more commonly perceive mindfulness as an emotion regulation strategy than a skill that can support EF or their academic skills and performance (Bamber & Schneider, 2022). Universities should continue to explore different interventions through which student mindfulness can be improved, and make attempts to increase student awareness on the possible benefits to EF. Such strategies may be particularly useful around exam periods and assessment deadlines, when students are dealing with increased academic pressures. Likewise, health and psychology practitioners can use the current findings to guide their support of students experiencing high stress, or EF deficits.