Does fear-of-failure mediate the relationship between educational expectations and stress-related complaints among Swedish adolescents? A structural equation modelling approach

Background: This study investigated the possible mediating role of fear-of-failure between educational expectations and adolescent stress-related complaints with a specific focus on gender differences among Swedish adolescents, and related these findings more broadly to school-related demands and stress-related complaints.

Methods: A total of N = 5504 Swedish adolescents (Mage = 15 years, SD = 0.0 years, 50.2% girls) were drawn from the 2018 Swedish Programme for International Student Assessment study for our investigation. We used structural equation models to explore if fear-of-failure mediates the relationship between educational expectations and negative affect, with a specific focus on gender differences. Educational expectations were utilized in the measurement model. Fear-of-failure was constructed as a latent mediating variable. Negative affect was constructed as a latent variable and utilized as an outcome variable. We subsequently undertook bootstrapping tests of indirect effects and non-linear comparisons of indirect effects to assess the reliability of the results.

Results: Fear-of-failure partially mediated the association between educational expectations and negative affect (39%). Our gender-specific structural equation model demonstrated that this relationship was more pronounced for girls, suggesting girls are more vulnerable to negative affect as a result of experiencing higher levels of fear of failing.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that fear-of-failure partially explains the association between educational expectations and negative affect and that this association is more pronounced for girls. This study provides insights into better understanding adolescent stress-related complaints, and the differential role fear of failing has in regards to gender.