title: Problem-solving skills and perceived stress among undergraduate students: The moderating role of hardiness.
abstract: This study was designed to examine the relationships between problem-solving skills, hardiness, and perceived stress and to test the moderating role of hardiness in the relationship between problem-solving skills and perceived stress among 500 undergraduates from Malaysian public universities. The analyses showed that undergraduates with poor problem-solving confidence, external personal control of emotion, and approach-avoidance style were more likely to report perceived stress. Hardiness moderated the relationships between problem-solving skills and perceived stress. These findings reinforce the importance of moderating role of hardiness as an influencing factor that explains how problem-solving skills affect perceived stress among undergraduates.
authors.affiliation: 1 Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdollahi
authors.affiliation: 1 Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mansor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abu Talib
authors.affiliation: 2 Stockholm University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carlbring
authors.affiliation: 3 San Francisco State University, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: 1 Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Siti Nor
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Yaacob
authors.affiliation: 1 Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zanariah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ismail
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011340:Problem Solving; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: hardiness; problem-solving skills; stress; students