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Stress, Sex Differences, and Coping Strategies Among College Students

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Abstract

The sources of stress (academics, financial, family, social, and daily hassles) and coping strategies (self-help, approach, accommodation, avoidance, and self-punishment) of 166 college students were examined. The relationship between sex, specific sources of stress, and coping strategies was also investigated. Students completed a stress assessment inventory and a stress coping inventory based on a 5-factor revised COPE model (Zuckerman and Gagne Journal of Research in Personality, 37:169–204, 2003). Results found that college women reported a higher overall level of stress and greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies than college men. College men and women also reported different coping strategies for different stressors; however the use of emotion-focused coping strategies dominated over problem-solving strategies for both men and women. These results have implications for designing stress reduction workshops that build on the existing adaptive emotion-focused strategies of college students.

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Correspondence to Ruby R. Brougham.

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Brougham, R.R., Zail, C.M., Mendoza, C.M. et al. Stress, Sex Differences, and Coping Strategies Among College Students. Curr Psychol 28, 85–97 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-009-9047-0

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