Learning to cope with school: A study of the effects of a coping skill training program with test-vulnerable 7th-grade students

Abstract

Forty-two 7th-grade students who had previously been found to react adversely to test situations were individually assessed with a battery of intellectual, cognitive, and affective measures, both prior and subsequent to a remedial coping-skill-building program. Nineteen of these test-vulnerable students were also considered to be at risk for school failure because of previous problems in school. The remaining 23, despite their vulnerability to tests, were normally successful in school. Two coping skills training programs were taught to 12 of the at-risk and 12 of the otherwise normal students in this test-vulnerable sample; the remaining 18 students served as controls. One training program was highly structured and included instruction in the use of a prescribed problem-solving sequence, relaxation, and verbal self-instruction. The other program encouraged the students to generate their own coping strategies. After training, students in both treatment groups showed a significant increase in the number and improvement in the quality of coping set and strategies generated, increased performance on the WISC-R Coding and Mazes subtests, and a tendency toward heightened resistance to test-stress and higher grades. Differences between the at-risk and normal students and between the two treatment programs are reported and discussed. Results are discussed in terms of the remedial potential of a school-based intervention in the alleviation of stress-depressed school performance.