From Tolerance for Ambiguity to Stress and Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Need for Cognitive Closure Among Chinese University Students

Based on the Entropy Model of Uncertainty, this study examined the relationship between tolerance for ambiguity and stress and anxiety, as well as the mediating roles of overall need for cognitive closure and its dimensions in this relationship. Four hundred and eighty-eight Chinese university students were recruited online and completed the survey voluntarily and anonymously. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that tolerance for ambiguity negatively predicted students’ perceived stress and anxiety. Moreover, overall need for cognitive closure, as well as its dimensions of preference for order and decisiveness played full mediating roles in this relationship. Specifically, tolerance for ambiguity negatively predicted students’ overall need for cognitive closure, preference for order, preference for predictability, decisiveness, and closed-mindedness. Further, preference for order negatively predicted students’ perceived stress and anxiety, while overall need for cognitive closure and decisiveness positively predicted such. However, preference for predictability and closed-mindedness were not significant predictors of perceived stress and anxiety.