Student's strategies to cope with stressful situations

Abstract

Introduction

It is well known that students have several stressful situations to cope with and their coping strategies are of a wide range (Brougham et al., 2009, Zi et al., 2011, Pierceall and Cane, 2009).

Objective

The purpose of the study was to investigate how students coped with various stressful situations they faced.

Aims

One hundred participants, 60 men and 40 women, studying at TEI of Patras, Greece, were randomly selected and asked to describe their stressful situations and the ways they dealt with them.

Method

The questionnaire used was based on “Échelle Toulousaine de Coping” (Tap et al., 1993) adjusted by Theodoratou et al. (2006).

Results

Forty-five percent of the students could not control their feelings, while facing a difficult situation and might feel panic, but the majority of the students (63%) did not use medication to cope with a difficult situation. When facing a problem, the 45% of the students did not amuse themselves and 35% of the participants avoided communication with other people when they faced a problem. Moreover, 29% of the students chose to pray to face a difficult situation. Finally, 58% of the participants estimated that a counseling center in TEI of Western Greece would be necessary.

Conclusions

In conclusion, many students were overwhelmed by a negative emotion and most of them chose social withdrawal. Thus, they might feel helpless and suggested that a counseling center in their College and university might help them to overcome difficulties during their studies.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.