Present Focus Moderated the Relationship Between Academic Stress, Self‐Stigma, and Anxiety Level: A Longitudinal Study

The study was mainly aimed to explore reciprocally temporal relationships between academic stress, self‐stigma, and anxiety level, and the moderating effect of present focus among high school students with learning difficulties (LDs). Academic stress, self‐stigma, anxiety level, and present focus were measured at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2, 5 weeks later) among 3000 senior high school students in Liaoning, China. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the researchers conducted cross‐lag analyses of academic stress, self‐stigma, and anxiety level among two samples of the selected 735 students with LDs (M ± SD = 16.32 ± 0.97 [years]) and 733 students with excellent performance, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the positively simultaneous and successive correlations between academic stress, self‐stigma, and anxiety level of the students with LDs were significant. Cross‐lagged analysis showed that, among the students with LDs, academic stress at T1 only had a positive relationship with academic stress at T2 ( β = 0.36, p < 0.001), whereas self‐stigma at T1 had positively predictive links to self‐stigma ( β = 0.42, p < 0.001) and anxiety level ( β = 0.08, p = 0.031) at T2, and anxiety level at T1 had positively predictive links to anxiety level ( β = 0.37, p < 0.001), academic stress ( β = 0.13, p = 0.001), and self‐stigma ( β = 0.10, p = 0.006) at T2. Whereas among the students with excellent performance, academic stress at T1 was positively related to academic stress ( β = 0.39, p < 0.001) and anxiety level ( β = 0.09, p = 0.015) at T2, anxiety level at T1 was also positively linked to anxiety level ( β = 0.35, p < 0.001), academic stress ( β = 0.13, p < 0.001), and self‐stigma ( β = 0.10, p = 0.026) at T2, whereas self‐stigma at T1 only had a reciprocal relationship with itself ( β = 0.49, p < 0.001) at T2. Besides, high present focus at T2 exaggerated the temporal association of academic stress at T1 with anxiety level at T2 among students with LDs ( β = 0.01, t = 2.07, p = 0.039, 95% CI [0.001, 0.024]). This investigation elucidated the dynamic patterns of anxiety level, offering a nuanced comprehension of its relationship with academic stress and self‐stigma, and the moderating role of present focus. Moreover, the results hold implications for the prevention and intervention targeting the reduction of anxiety among students with LDs and students with excellent performance.