The Role of Implicit Theories in Mental Health Symptoms , 3 Emotion Regulation , and Hypothetical Treatment Choices 4 in College Students 5

10 Abstract Beliefs about how much people can change 11 their attributes—implicit theories—influence affective and 12 cognitive responses to performance and subsequent moti13 vation. Those who believe their attributes are fixed view 14 setbacks as threatening and avoid challenging situations. In 15 contrast, those who believe these attributes are malleable 16 embrace challenges as opportunities to grow. Although 17 implicit theories would seem to have important mental 18 health implications, the research linking them with clinical 19 applications is limited. To address this gap, we assessed 20 how implicit theories of anxiety, emotion, intelligence, and 21 personality related to various symptoms of anxiety and 22 depression, emotion-regulation strategies, and hypothetical 23 treatment choices (e.g., medication versus therapy) in two 24 undergraduate samples. Across both samples, individuals 25 who believed their attributes could change reported fewer 26 mental health symptoms, greater use of cognitive reap27 praisal, and were more likely to choose individual therapy 28 over medication. These findings suggest that implicit the29 ories may play an important role in the nature and treat30 ment of mental health problems. 1