University Student’s Perception of Academic Stress and Coping Strategies

Abstract

In the current research, the focus was to examine the perception of academic stress of university students in terms of academic stressors and their coping strategies concerning gender, employment status, and education level, and find the relationship between perception of academic stress and coping strategies. For this purpose two instruments were used; Perceptions of academic stress scale and Brief Cope. It was concluded that unemployed students’ perception of academic stress was more severe than employed and that graduates use more emotion-focused strategies than undergraduates. There was a direct positive relationship between the perception of academic stress and coping strategies. Results can be used by counsellors and health care professionals for better insight into university students’ stress and coping mechanisms.