Decomposition table of chained mediation effects.

Fostering growth resilience is critical for college students to succeed and develop amidst academic and social environment. Temporal coherence — a balanced integration of past, present, and future perspectives — is recognized as important, yet the mechanisms linking it to growth resilience remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the effect of temporal coherence on growth resilience among college students and to test the serial mediating roles of goal clarity and cognitive curiosity. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design and administered an anonymous questionnaire to 452 Chinese college students (50.4% male and 49.6% female) via an online survey platform. The measures included the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), the Goal Clarity Scale (GCS), the Cognitive Curiosity Scale, and the Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Hypothesis testing was conducted using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and the bias-corrected bootstrap method. The results indicated significant positive correlations among temporal coherence, goal clarity, cognitive curiosity, and growth resilience (r = 0.56–0.71, p