Task-Oriented Versus Emotion-Oriented Coping Strategies: The Case of College Students.

Abstract

The study examined the relationships between stress and coping strategies among 283 college students. Participants completed questionnaires relating to their stress perceptions, actual academic loads and their coping strategies. The main objective was to explore the effect of stress perceptions on coping behavior while accounting for objective loads and demographic parameters. Multilevel analyses revealed several indications: first, students' coping behavior could be predicted from their reported stress perceptions and their appraisals of their academic-related stress levels; second, students employed mainly task- and emotion-oriented coping strategies; and finally, students' age was a significant factor in determining their coping behavior. Our findings suggest that, in stressful environments, each of the coping strategies functions independently, with the type of strategy adopted depending largely on the specific profile of each student's stress perceptions and demographic characteristics. ********** This study examined the relationships between stress and coping strategies among college students. Participants completed questionnaires relating to their stress perceptions, actual academic loads and their coping strategies. The main objective was to explore the effect of stress perceptions on coping behavior, while also accounting for objective loads and demographic parameters. Sources of Academic Stress and its Likely Impact on Students College students perceive academic life as stressful and demanding (Wan, 1992; Hammer, Grigsby & Woods, 1998) and report experiencing emotional and cognitive reactions to this stress, especially due to external pressures and self-imposed expectations (Misra & McKean, 2000). They report on numerous stressors during term-time, including academic demands and social adjustment. Stress-inducing academic demands include grade competition; lack of time and issues relating to time or task management (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye & Phillips, 1990; Trueman., & Hartley, 1996); the need to adapt to new learning environments (van-Rooijens, 1986) in terms of the increased complexity of the material to be learned and the greater time and effort required to do so; and the need to constantly self-regulate and to develop better thinking skills, including learning to use specific learning techniques (Fram & Bonvillian, 2001). Emotional stress, such as anxiety, students' appraisal of the stressfulness of the role's demands and of their ability to cope with those demands (Wan, 1992), are also connected to academic stress. Another category that evokes stress is social adjustment, particularly adjusting to university life (Saracoglu, Minden, & Wilchesky, 1989; Abouserie, 1994) and separating from family and friends. Finally, other constraints include financial pressure (Miech & Shanahan, 2000) and other technical difficulties. Thus, academic stressors cover the whole area of learning and achieving in and adjusting to a new environment in which a great deal of content must be assimilated in a seemingly inadequate period of time. Since students endeavor to adapt themselves to academic life, positive adaptation and well-being factors are associated with fewer experienced stress symptoms (Van-Rooijen, 1986; Tobin & Carson, 1994). Coping Strategies Coping strategies are assumed to have two primary functions: managing the problem causing stress and governing emotions relating to those stressors (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980, 1986; Lazarus & Folkman 1984). Interpreting their results in terms of this assumption, most studies confirm two major related findings. The first is that a situation is evaluated as stressful, in part, whenever the individual perceives a lower ability to cope with it. The second finding is that stressors perceived as controllable elicit more proactive coping mechanisms (Karasek & Theorell, 1990), while those perceived as uncontrollable elicit more avoidance strategies (Anshel & Kaissidis, 1997; Compas, Malcarne & Fondacaro. …

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