Abstract
We explored the meanings that undergraduate students make of their education and how these meanings relate to students’ perceived stress, styles of coping with stress, and optimism. Participants completed a meaning of education questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, the COPE (a measure of coping styles), and the Life Orientation Test-Revised. As expected, optimists were less likely, and students who used disengagement coping styles were more likely, to see education as a source of stress or as an escape. Emotion-focused coping positively predicted several meanings of education, including seeing the university experience as providing opportunities for social connections, for learning and for self-development. These and other findings are discussed in terms of student success in college.
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Krypel, M.N., Henderson-King, D. Stress, coping styles, and optimism: are they related to meaning of education in students’ lives?. Soc Psychol Educ 13, 409–424 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-010-9132-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-010-9132-0