The challenging nature of universities across the world can lead to university students facing immense pressure and stress, which may in turn adversely affect their academic performance and mental health. As of 2018, the number of students enrolling in universities is increasing at a rapid rate, which can further lead to a number of complicated and perplexing challenges related to the emotional and physical well being of students. As such, the rate of mental issues and depression, coupled with stress and inability to cope with building pressure seems to be ever increasing. One of the main reasons why students are overburdened with stress and pressure is because they lack coping skills and mechanisms. In psychology, coping refers to the ability of an individual to better deal with challenging and stressful circumstances in life. As a matter of fact, the Five Factor Personality Model can be used to understand the personality traits of university students and the factors which could help them cope with situations in a more effective manner.
Cummings, Greene and Karraker (2014), coping in psychology means the investment of one’s own conscious efforts which would solve the interpersonal and personal conflicts, which would reduce and eliminate stress from a person’s life. Every individual is vulnerable to the various life situations which invoke stress and pressure and can affect the mental well being of a person. Coping, thus, refers to the adaptive capability of every individual to deal with these situations (Skinner, Pitzer & Steele, 2013). Psychological stress faced by college and university students across the globe has become a matter of concern today. A student entering university faces a number of issues which include leaving their families, cultural shocks, financial issues, academic pressure, adapting to change, intense competition with peers along with other serious problems like bullying or harassment. For most students, university life becomes one of the most stressful periods in his or her life. A student is constantly under the pressure to succeed, to excel and to achieve perfection. Failure to meet standards or fear of disappointment can increase the level of stress for college students. Coping strategies in this case would refer to the optimized way in which students are able to tackle the pressure and obstacles that come their way and move forward without quitting (Nizielski et al., 2013).
Lazarus had defined coping as the behavioral and cognitive efforts put in by an individual to manage the internal and external conflicts and consequently reduce stress (Biggs, Brough & Drummond, 2017). Davis and Brekke (2014) however explain proactive coping as a more optimistic and more efficient way of dealing with stress. Proactive coping may be defined as the process of anticipating potential stressors and working towards their elimination even before they occur (Zambianchi & Bitti, 2014). The very word “proactive” takes a positive outlook towards problem and conflict solving. The theory that was proposed by Schwarzer defined proactive coping as one of the healthiest and most effective ways of dealing with stress. It may be explained as the process of seeking out new challenges, creation of new opportunities and the facilitation of promotion of these challenging goals (Frydenberg, 2014). In other words, this is a more proactive way of dealing with stressful situations where people take control of the situation and put in their best foot forward so as to meet these challenges head on (Buunk, Gibbons & Buunk, 2013). Unlike the other modes of coping like preventive coping, proactive coping happens to be entirely future oriented in its approach. Proactive coping is extremely different from preventive coping in terms of technique. In preventive coping, a person is more likely to anticipate adverse situations and work accordingly. However, in the case of proactive coping, a person is going to take more constructive and purposeful actions which are positive in nature. A model was developed in the 1990s which provided a multidimensional instrument for measuring proactive coping. It consisted of fourteen subscales which would help in measuring the proactive attitudes in university students. Proactive coping is highly important for students moving to university for the first time (Tielmans et al., 2014). For instance, students who possess the capacity for proactive thinking and coping would be more capable of identifying and recognizing potential stressors even before they surface. They would be more inclined towards effective analysis of the situation and identifying stressors beforehand. This would enable the students to eliminate the stressors at the very beginning so as to experience less frustration in the long run.
Larsen et al. (2017) define personality as the various differences in the characteristic patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving. Personality science may be defined as the branch in psychology which deals with the study of various personality traits and characters in individuals. Personality refers to the numerous traits of a person which shape and determine his character. It also determines the thought process of a person and how he feels and reacts to a certain situation (Fairbairn, 2013). The proactive coping mentioned in the previous section would largely depend on the attitude of a person, which is an essential aspect of his personality. Whether or not a person reacts positively or in a proactive manner to a stressful situation would depend on his overall perspective of life and his personality. This can be analyzed further by using the Five Factor Personality Model. The Five Factor Personality Model consists of five essential factors, which are important for measuring the personality of every individual. They are – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (Salgado & Tauriz, 2014). Openness refers to the personality trait of expressing more curiosity and being more creative, innovative, insightful and open minded towards a range of experiences. Conscientiousness as a personality trait refers to the behavioral tendency to demonstrate dutifulness, self discipline and an inclination for achievement. This is not spontaneous behavior; instead, it is planned. An extraverted person is more likely to be sociable, open to new experiences and more enthusiastic. Agreeableness would refer to the personality traits in an individual which make them more trusting, compassionate and cooperative with others. Neuroticism refers to the tendency of a person to cope with negative or unpleasant emotions like depression, anger or anxiety (Alik, Realo & McCrae, 2013).
Keeping in mind the various challenges that a university student has to face, it is important to study the relationship between their personality traits and their ability to cope with stress. For example, Hamdan Mansour et al., (2014) claimed that the personality trait related to resilience in a university student would indicate that that individual is more inclined towards proactive coping strategies. Similarly, one of the characteristics of the Five Factor Personality Model, namely extraversion is another characteristic of a person with healthy and proactive coping styles. A person who is more sociable and demonstrates extraversion would cope with stress in a more purposeful, mature manner and would be solution oriented. Likewise, conscientiousness is believed to be linked with positive and proactive coping mechanisms in students. A person with high neuroticism levels is more prone to preventive coping, dabbling in negative methods of dealing with stress – which would include avoidance, fantasizing and self blame. On the other hand, a person with the aforementioned personality traits would be more likely to deal with stress, face it, understand the problem, get to the bottom of it and attempt to come up with solutions to the problem.
Chai and Low (2015) argue that the personality of university students is very closely related to psychological stress. The personality of an individual would play a crucial role in the identification, response and approach towards stress. This in turn contributes to the way individuals cope with stressful circumstances. Several personality traits like independence, intellectual efficiency, social presence, psychological intuition or empathy would have an impact on the stress levels of individuals and also on the way people respond to stress. For instance, the inability of a person to cope with stress would have severe adverse impacts on the psychological, physiological and mental well being of students.
In order to ensure the welfare of students, it is important to understand the role of personality in coping. Coping is a process that human beings indulge in on a day to day basis. Yet, what differs is the way people deal with it. Coping strategies usually involve two aspects – appraisal and coping. Appraisal refers to the ability of individuals to perceive various stressors and work on their ability to encounter the stressor. Once the stressor or the stressful stimulus is identified, it would be important to come up with a proper and healthy way of coping with it. It was in psychodynamic theory that the relationship between coping and personality were first equated (Afshar et al., 2015). The concept of defense mechanisms was derived, which discussed the maladaptive or adaptive ways in which the perception of various events influenced the behavioral responses from individuals. The main reason why it is important for one to understand the relation between coping and personality is because the latter has been found to influence the former both directly and directly (Larsen et al., 2017). Directly, personality may affect the coping strategies of a person by either facilitating it or by constraining it. This would largely depend on the nature of the stressors. Indirectly, personality traits of a person may affect coping based on exposure to stress, stress reactivity, situational demands and intensity.
University students especially in the highly competitive academic environment today are under huge pressure to prove themselves. Baghurst and Kelley (2014) suggest a number of stressors which college students have to face. Academic stress is the primary cause of anxiety, panic and stress amongst university students. Attending classes, writing papers, completing assignments, deadlines, management of projects, preparation for exams and so on – these are just some of factors which contribute to stress. Students are also subject to a lot of personal stress. For most university students, this is their first time away from home. This newfound independence can prove to be quite challenging for students. Moreover, college for most students, university is a period of transition, from adolescent to adulthood – this itself is a major student that a large number of students are unable to cope with. At least 50 to 60 per cent of students attending university find it challenging to adapt to changing situations, which turns out to be quite stressful (VanKim & Nelson, 2013). Students in university are also under pressure to develop a favorable social image, which is triggered by an innate desire to be accepted by their peers. Moreover, family and parental pressures are also important stressors that must be considered. Students are also under constant pressure to live up to the standards and expectations set by their families. Failure to live up to them can lead to anxiety, stress and even chronic depression (Rabbani, Kasmaienezhadfard & Pourrajab, 2014).
For university students, it would be beneficial to understand the links between personality and coping mechanisms. Understanding the personality traits that are more likely to cope with stress in a better and more effective manner would have practical implications as well. For instance, it would be possible for universities to develop more personality oriented counselling sessions, where the Five Factor Personality Model would be used to analyze and examine the personality traits of students (Straud, McNaughton-Cassill & Fuhrman, 2015). This would then enable them to understand which students are more likely to crack under pressure and which students could potentially deal with stress in a more meaningful and mature way. As far as university life is concerned, stress is inevitable. Yet, it is important to understand how personality development or personality training could induce better and healthier coping mechanisms in students (Conley, Travers & Bryant, 2013). For instance, if some students demonstrate high neuroticism, it would mean that they would probably opt for avoidance or escapism as coping strategies. These students can then be mentored and coached so that they can better approach or react to stressful situations.
To conclude, it can be said that university students in the twenty first century are plagued by stress owing to a number of factors, like family, personal reasons, societal factors and academics. Such stress is usually inevitable and an essential component of university life. Yet, what makes a difference is the ability of a student to deal with stress in a manner that is purposeful, meaningful, effective and mature. Avoidance and escapism are not remedies for stressful situations. This ability is known as proactive coping, which is a positive approach towards all stressful situations. Moreover, the ability of a student to proactively cope with a situation would depend on his personality traits, which can be measured using the Five Factor Personality model. This paper highlights the link between personality and coping, and how an in depth understanding of this could be applied to reduce stress levels amongst students and even promote a healthier approach to stress management.
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