Coping Strategies for Stress Adopted by Undergraduate Students of Private Universities in Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

Background: Stress affects the health and academic career of students. Students adopt different coping methods and strategies to deal with stress. Objective: To assess the coping strategies adopted by the undergraduate students of private universities in Himachal Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among 422 undergraduate students of two selected private universities in Himachal Pradesh in March-April using self administered questionnaire. Brief cope inventory was used to assess coping strategies. Results: The most used coping strategies were positive reframing (mean=5.85+1.583), active coping (mean=5.82+1.548), religion (mean=5.72+1.77), acceptance (mean= 5.67+1.581) planning (mean=5.65+1.491) and self distraction (mean=5.6+1.583). Least used coping strategies were substance use (mean=2.83+1.478), denial (mean=4.64+1.567) and venting (mean=4.64+1.513). Conclusion: Students used positive coping strategies rather than the negative strategies to deal with stress. Though negative coping technique like substance were least adopted, such coping strategies need to be discouraged at the family, community and university level to deal with stress.

Keywords

• Brief cope inventory
• Coping strategies
• Stress
• Undergraduate students