Dataset Information

Psychological resilience and positive coping styles among Chinese undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Psychological resilience and coping strategies have been found to be related to various psychological and mental health problems. Evaluations of the relationship between resilience and coping style among university students are important for developing effective health promotion strategies focused on resilience intervention to benefit students' health and well-being. The relationship between psychological resilience and coping styles has usually been examined among adults and patients. Very few studies have investigated the relationship between resilience and coping style in university students. The present study aimed to investigate the associations between psychological resilience, students' characteristics (gender, major and grade) and coping styles among undergraduate students.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among undergraduate students in Shandong Province, China. Undergraduate students were randomly selected from 6 universities in 3 cities of the province using a stratified random sampling method. The questionnaire included questions on the participants' demographic information, including gender, grade and major, measures of psychological resilience and coping style. Coping style was measured by the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ). The Asian Resilience Scale (ARS) was applied to evaluate undergraduates' psychological resilience. Multivariable regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between resilience, students' characteristics and positive coping styles.

Results

A sample of 1743 undergraduates was analysed. The mean psychological resilience score was 70.41. The mean score for positive coping style was 24.72. Multiple regression analysis showed that three factors of psychological resilience, mood control, self-plasticity and coping flexibility, were all significant factors for positive coping styles (regression coefficient = 0.34, 0.35, 0.14, p < 0.01 for the three factors, respectively). Medical students and females had higher scores for positive coping styles than non-medical students and males (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

The research revealed that females and medical students are more likely than males and non-medical students to adopt positive coping styles. Higher psychological resilience is associated with a better positive coping style. The findings suggest that psychological education and health promotion programmes that target strengthening psychological resilience among undergraduate students may help foster positive coping styles to benefit their mental health and psychological well-being.

SUBMITTER: Wu Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7406959 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background: The rapid spread of COVID-19 infection has led countries across the globe to take various measures to contain the outbreak, including the closure of Universities. Forcing University students to stay at home has created enormous stress and uncertainty in their daily life. Objective: This study aimed to assess the perceived stress and coping strategies among undergraduate health science students of Jimma University amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Materials and methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 337 undergraduate health science students from August to September 5, 2020. The perceived stress scale (PSS)-10 and Brief-COPE scale were used to assess the level of stress and coping strategies, respectively. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 22 was employed for data analysis. Logistic regression was conducted to identify predictors of high perceived stress. Results: The overall mean [±standard deviation (SD)] age of the participants was 22.88 (±1.78) years. The mean (±SD) PSS score was 22.16 (±1.41), and high perceived stress was reported in 121 (35.9%) participants. The overall mean (±SD) coping score was 72.34 (±12.31), and approach coping was the predominantly used strategy for coping with stress. Personal perception of being stressed by the daily number of COVID-19 cases/deaths in Ethiopia (AOR = 4.61, p < 0.01), rare online talk/chat with friends (AOR = 4.07, p = 0.01), presence of confusion due to the inconsistent strategies developed by the health/government authorities in view of the scientific recommendations (AOR = 2.22, p = 0.01), perception of self/family members being at risk of getting sick (AOR = 0.53, p = 0.03), decreased household income following the COVID-19 pandemic (AOR = 3.92, p = 0.01), practicing denial (AOR = 1.34, p < 0.01), self-blame (AOR = 1.23, p = 0.02), planning (AOR = 1.28, p = 0.01), and religion (AOR = 1.41, p < 0.01) as means of coping with stress were associated with high perceived stress. Conclusion: Over one-third of the participants had a high level of perceived stress, and the majority of them were practicing effective means of coping with stress. The authors recommend that the hosting University in collaboration with the concerned bodies develop innovative strategies to improve the psychological well-being of the students.