Abstract
Empirical evidence suggests that a domain-specific coping style may play an important role in the way students manage stressful academic events and perform at college. The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which college students' academic coping style and motivation mediate their academic stress and performance. A structural equation analysis showed that the relationship between college students' academic stress and course grade was influenced by problem-focused coping and motivation but not emotion-focused coping. As expected, greater academic stress covaried with lower course grades; however, students who engaged in problem-focused coping were more likely to be motivated and perform better than students who engaged in emotion-focused coping. Strategies for promoting more effective coping in college students are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abramson, L. Y., Garber, J., and Seligman, M. E. P. (1980). Learned helplessness in humans: an attributional analysis. In J. Garber and M. E. P. Seligman (eds.), Human Helplessness: Theory and Application, pp. 3–34. New York: Academic Press.
Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology 84: 261–271.
Amirkhan, J. H. (1998). Attributions as predictors of coping and distress. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 24: 1006–1018.
Aspinwall, L. G., and Taylor, S. E. (1992). Modelling cognitive adaptation: a longitudinal investigation of the impact of individual differences and coping on college adjustment and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63: 989–1003.
Baumeister, R. F., Heatherton, T. F., and Tice, D. M. (1993). When ego threats lead to self-regulation failure: negative consequences of high self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64: 141–156.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin 107: 238–246.
Cantor, N., and Norem, J. K. (1989). Defensive pessimism and stress and coping. Social Cognition 7: 92–112.
Carver, C. S., and Scheier, M. F. (1994). Situational coping and coping dispositions in a stressful transaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66: 184–195.
Carver, C. S., and Scheier, M. F. (1987). Expectancies and coping: from test anxiety to pessimism. In R. Schwarzer, H. M. Van Der Ploeg, and C. D. Spielberger (eds.), Advances in Test Anxiety Research, Vol. 6, pp. 3–11. Berwyn, PA: Swets.
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., and Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56: 267–283.
Costa, P. T. Jr., Somerfield, M. R., and McCrae, R. R. (1994). Personality and coping: a reconceptualization. In M. Zeidner and N. S. Endler (eds.), Handbook of Coping, Chapter 4. New York: John Wiley.
Covington, M. V. (1993). A motivational analysis of academic life in college. In J. Smart (ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Ttheory and Research, Vol. 9, pp. 50–93. New York: Agathon Press.
Dweck, C. S., and Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review 95: 256–273.
Endler, N. S., Kantor, L., and Parker, J. D. A. (1994). State-trait coping, state-trait anxiety, and academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences 16: 663–670
Folkman, S., and Lazarus, R. L. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: study of emotion and coping during 3 stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48: 150–170.
Folkman, S., and Lazarus, R. L. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 21: 219–239.
Gallagher, D. J. (1990). Extraversion, neuroticism and appraisal of stressful academic events. Personality and Individual Differences 11: 1053–1057.
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and Adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lazarus, R. S. (1966). Psychological Stress and the Coping Process. New York: Mc-Graw-Hill.
Lazarus, R. S., and Folkman, S. (1984). Appraisal, Stress, and Coping. New York: Springer.
Moos, R. H. (1974). Psychological techniques in the assessment of adaptive behavior. In G. V. Coelho, D. A. Hamburg, and J. E. Adams (eds.), Coping and Adaptation, pp. 334–399. New York: Basic Books.
Pearlin, L. I., and Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 19: 2–21.
Perry, R. P. (1991). Perceived control in college students: implications for instruction in higher education. In J. Smart (ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. 7, pp. 1–56. New York: Agathon Press.
Perry, R. P., Hechter, F. J., Menec, V. H., and Weinberg, L. (1993). A review of achievement motivation and performance in college students from an attributional retraining perspective. Research in Higher Education 34: 687–723.
Perry, R. P., and Magnusson, J.-L. (1989). Causal attributions and perceived performance: consequences for college students achievement and perceived control in different instructional conditions. Journal of Educational Psychology 81: 164–172.
Peterson, C., and Barrett, L. C. (1987). Explanatory style and academic performance among university freshmen. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53: 603–607.
Sedek, G., and Kofta, M. (1990). When cognitive exertion does not yield cognitive gain: toward an informational explanation of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58: 729–743.
Struthers, C. W., and Perry, R. P. (1996). Attributional style, attributional retraining, and inoculation against motivational deficits. Social Psychology of Education 1: 171–187.
Terry, D. J. (1994). Determinants of coping: the role of stable and situational factors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66: 895–910.
Tice, D. M. (1991). Esteem protection of enhancement? Self-handicapping motives and attributions differ by trait self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60: 711–725.
Weiner, B. (1979). A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences. Journal of Educational Psychology 71: 3–25.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Struthers, C.W., Perry, R.P. & Menec, V.H. An Examination of the Relationship Among Academic Stress, Coping, Motivation, and Performance in College. Research in Higher Education 41, 581–592 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007094931292
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007094931292