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Associations between coping styles and psychological stress among medical students at Universiti Putra Malaysia

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Abstract

Effective coping styles can help buffer psychological stress in medical students. As the prevalence rate of stress is considerably high in such population, identifying the associations between coping styles and psychological stress is paramount. This cross-sectional study aims to determine the associations between coping styles and psychological stress involving medical students at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21), the Brief COPE. Using Chi-square tests, findings revealed that venting and self-blame were significantly associated with psychological stress. Stress management techniques emphasizing in coaching students to improve their coping styles are important to reduce stress and to sustain well-being throughout medical program.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Gin Wei Chai and Muhammad Asyraf Rosnawi for their help with data collection and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Ruziana Masiran, Siti Irma Fadhilah Ismail, Normala Ibrahim, Kit-Aun Tan, Beatrice Ng Andrew, Seng Choi Chong & Kwong-Yan Soh

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  1. Ruziana Masiran
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  2. Siti Irma Fadhilah Ismail
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Correspondence to Ruziana Masiran.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The institutional ethical approval reference is UPM/TNCPI/RMC/1.4.18.1 (JKEUPM)/F1.

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Masiran, R., Ismail, S.I.F., Ibrahim, N. et al. Associations between coping styles and psychological stress among medical students at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Curr Psychol 40, 1257–1261 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0049-7

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