Gender as a factor in differentiating strategies of coping with stress used by physical education students

Abstract

health psychology report · volume 4(3), 6 original article background Students are exposed to numerous stressors associated with their integration into their university education, their relationships with friends, and anxiety about the future. Given that stress may be related to university students' academic performance, understanding the coping strategies used by students may be important in facilitating a positive transition to a university setting. The aim of this study was to determine the gender-based variation of strategies for coping with stress used by students, as well as to determine the correlation between these strategies and the students' academic achievements. participants and procedureThe study design was cross sectional and included 376 first-year undergraduate students (227 men and 149 women) enrolled in the physical education and sport programme at the University of Physical Education in Warsaw. The Polish adaptation of Carver, Scheier and Weintraub's Multidimensional Inventory for Measuring Stress Coping -COPE and the mean grade from all first-year university courses (the indicator of academic achievements) were used. resultsMen definitely preferred task-oriented strategies, while women preferred to look for support (instrumental and emotional) and placed higher importance on the focusing on and venting of emotions. Academic achievement correlated positively with task-oriented strategies and negatively with avoidance-oriented strategies. These relationships were partly confirmed by regression analyses. conclusionsThe results of the study provide support for sex differences in the most frequently applied coping strategies. The results also suggest that avoidance-oriented strategies do not facilitate academic achievement, while active coping strategies correlate with greater success in studies.

The Role of Gender and Age in the Emotional Well-Being Outcomes of Young Adults

“…According to our results, seeking for help, actions directed to causes, self-instructions, and communicating feelings and seeking for social support are coping strategies associated positively with women. These results are contrary to previous studies [ 57 ] but they might reflect stable cultural differences because our results are consistent with prior studies with a Spanish population [ 56 ]. Negative associations are interesting as well.…”

“…Women tend to regulate their stress through social support strategies, while men use more planning and positive reevaluation when coping with stress [ 56 ]. A study revealed that men obtained higher results in active coping strategies while women were more inclined to use avoidance oriented strategies—like distraction and behavioral disengagement [ 57 ]. On the contrary, men tend to “forget about it” in order to regain control, while women “talk about it” when dealing with stress [ 58 ].…”

Coping strategies, perception of sport risk and satisfaction with life in men and women practicing extreme sports

“…This result could be explained by the fact that women rely on strategies associated with seeking support more often than men do, which has been confirmed by previous research [33,34]. Thus, concentrating on forming interpersonal relations through looking for instrumental and emotional support seems more natural to women, which is in line with the results of female students in a study conducted at a sports university [35]. It is possible that, for this reason, women assess the threats more realistically and do not feel the need to underestimate them in order to gain social approval.…”

Coping Strategies And Meaning Of Life Among Czech Adolescent Students

“…As with secondary school students, women tended to use NEG negative strategies (Sigmund, Kvintová, Dostálová, 2013). Guszkowska's research results (2016) have shown that men prefer choosing management strategies, while women prefer focus-seeking strategies, both emotional and material, and put more emphasis on emotions and avoiding solutions (Guszkowska, 2016). The meaning in the life of secondary school students is not a negligible part of their lives, as according to the research by Eun-hyeCho (2014), meaning in life is an important precursor of adapting to the conditions of the secondary school and in dealing with stressful situations.…”