Relationship between coping and anxiety in young university population

Abstract

In Latin American countries the University Entrance occurs before 17 years of age, in adolescence. The literature proposes some tasks of this stage as the search for identity and definition of the plan of life (Casullo et Fernández-Liporace, 2001). This stage is characterized by changes that may lead to stress (Frydenberg et Lewis, 1991) and strategies and styles should be deployed to deal with situations surpluses. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between coping styles and anxiety in young university students.

The total sample consisted of n = 216 university students (53.2% female, n = 115, 46.8% male, n = 101; between 16 and 18 years of age: m = 17.32, SD = 0.70). The subjects answered the ACS (Frydenberg, 1997) which assesses coping styles in young people and the AMAS-E (Reynolds, 2007) assessing anxiety. The design was corelational, the data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 statistical program.

Results and discussion

As used style Troubleshooting reduces test anxiety, the tendency of these two variables is negative (P = 0.01). Implement the style Relating to others it will decrease test anxiety, the tendency of both variables is negative and statistically significant (P > 0.05). Stress in young people increases as gets underway unproductive type (P = 0.00). The results are consistent with the literature that suggests that late adolescents in academic challenges cause such hardship (Marote et Martínez, 2001).

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.