Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Strategies Predict Health and Academic Resilience in Undergraduate Students with and without Chronic Health Conditions: A Longitudinal Study
Faculty Mentor
Kevin Criswell
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
10-5-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Introduction: Prior work suggests that the use of adaptive coping strategies (e.g., approach-oriented activities) leads to better health and performance outcomes. While most research focused on students with a specific chronic health conditions (CHCs), it is unclear how coping strategies are used across students with multiple CHCs. The current longitudinal study addresses this gap in the literature.
Method: Undergraduate students (n = 131) at Eastern Washington University completed online surveys during the Fall and Winter of the 2020-21 academic year. Surveys included CHC information and validated measures of quality of life (QoL), stress, resilience to academic difficulties, and frequency of coping strategies. Multiple regression modeling addressed whether coping strategies remained independent predictors after controlling for baseline (Fall) levels of outcome variables and time between surveys.
Results: Across students with and without chronic health conditions, less usage of avoidance coping strategies (e.g., disengagement), more usage of approach strategies (e.g., planning), and more usage of adaptive cognitive strategies (e.g., positive reframing) during Fall were associated with better QoL across most domains, greater academic resilience, and lower overall stress during Winter. Most bivariate correlations were not significant after controlling for Fall outcome levels and passage of time between surveys, with some exceptions (e.g., disengagement predicted lower resilience in students with co-occurring mental and physical CHCs).
Discussion: Our findings are consistent with prior work as approach-oriented strategies tended to predict better health and performance. Future studies would benefit from exploring coping strategy use in other student populations (e.g., across gender identities).
Recommended Citation
Holman, Sphie and Ordona, Pamela, "Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Strategies Predict Health and Academic Resilience in Undergraduate Students with and without Chronic Health Conditions: A Longitudinal Study" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 22.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/p1_2023/22
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Strategies Predict Health and Academic Resilience in Undergraduate Students with and without Chronic Health Conditions: A Longitudinal Study
PUB NCR
Introduction: Prior work suggests that the use of adaptive coping strategies (e.g., approach-oriented activities) leads to better health and performance outcomes. While most research focused on students with a specific chronic health conditions (CHCs), it is unclear how coping strategies are used across students with multiple CHCs. The current longitudinal study addresses this gap in the literature.
Method: Undergraduate students (n = 131) at Eastern Washington University completed online surveys during the Fall and Winter of the 2020-21 academic year. Surveys included CHC information and validated measures of quality of life (QoL), stress, resilience to academic difficulties, and frequency of coping strategies. Multiple regression modeling addressed whether coping strategies remained independent predictors after controlling for baseline (Fall) levels of outcome variables and time between surveys.
Results: Across students with and without chronic health conditions, less usage of avoidance coping strategies (e.g., disengagement), more usage of approach strategies (e.g., planning), and more usage of adaptive cognitive strategies (e.g., positive reframing) during Fall were associated with better QoL across most domains, greater academic resilience, and lower overall stress during Winter. Most bivariate correlations were not significant after controlling for Fall outcome levels and passage of time between surveys, with some exceptions (e.g., disengagement predicted lower resilience in students with co-occurring mental and physical CHCs).
Discussion: Our findings are consistent with prior work as approach-oriented strategies tended to predict better health and performance. Future studies would benefit from exploring coping strategy use in other student populations (e.g., across gender identities).
