Stress Coping Strategies among University Students in Malaysia

Abstract

Students nowadays are always exposed to different kinds of stress that are related to academic, family, or relationship issues. Experiencing stress can have a negative impact on their mental health and personal well-being. It is important for students to know the coping strategies in order to prevent their stress levels from becoming more serious. This research was conducted to identify how university students cope with their stress.  The present study employed a quantitative method by conducting an online survey that was completed by a total of 404 university students from a selected public university in Malaysia. The findings show that students use different types of coping strategies to manage their stress. Most of the students frequently used cognitive strategies, followed by behavioral and emotional ones. Three strategies were not used significantly differently by gender except for emotional coping which was used more often by female students.  It is interesting to note that most of the male students tend to use significantly more behavioral strategies. Male students also were found to seek professional help significantly more than female students. This has implications for the policy maker in students’ welfare departments in higher education institutions, and educators to be aware of students’ psychological issues and students themselves in terms of their well-being. Apart from that, this study suggests a qualitative study should be conducted to gain in-depth information from the students on coping strategies.