Immediate outcomes for tertiary students of dealing with stressful situations : interpersonal conflict or an exam

Abstract

The relationships between coping strategies and both mood outcomes and a measure of the quality of the outcome of problem situations were explored in a study of 115 students enrolled in tertiary education. Subjects completed one of two questionnaires dealing with their experience earlier that day of either an exam or conflict with another person. Different coping strategies were adopted depending on the situation. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that heightened negative mood was most likely in older students who faced many daily hassles and who used escapeavoidance behaviours to deal with their particular problem situation. Increased positive mood was predicted by greater use of positive reappraisal and distancing strategies. Coping efforts made no difference to judgments about the quality of the outcome of the problem situation. Correlational data indicated that coping strategies showed both generality and specificity in their relationships with different types of outcomes. The use of some coping strategies was related to both worse negative mood and judgments that the problem situation seemed worse, whereas the use of other strategies was related to just one type of outcome.