Tolerance for ambiguity and happiness: Mediating role of creativity among Chinese college students across majors.

Based on the Entropy Model of Uncertainty, this study aimed to investigate the predictive effect of tolerance for ambiguity on happiness among Chinese college students, the mediating role of students' creativity in this relationship, and the differences in the predictive and mediating effects between art and science students. Using one-wave cross-sectional survey research design and convenience sampling method, participants were voluntarily and anonymously recruited online. The final sample included 378 college students aged from 16.93 to 26.76 years, with 92 males and 286 females. The self-reported data were accumulated via the Chinese versions of the Multiple Stimulus Types Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale-II, the self-rated creativity scale, and the short-form version of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. The structural equation modeling results revealed that tolerance for ambiguity positively predicted happiness, and creativity fully mediated this relationship among the total sample and art students, rather than science students. Specifically, for the total sample and art students, tolerance for ambiguity positively predicted creativity, which, in turn, positively predicted happiness. However, for science students, the positive predictive effects of tolerance for ambiguity on happiness and creativity were not significant. When controlling for tolerance for ambiguity, creativity positively predicted happiness. Furthermore, the multiple-group invariance test results revealed that the predictive paths from tolerance for ambiguity to happiness and creativity, and from tolerance for ambiguity and creativity to happiness, were invariant across majors. Meanwhile, the major differences in the estimates of the direct and indirect effects were not significant. Therefore, the predictive patterns were equivalent across majors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]