Academic Stress and Coping Strategies among Students: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Depression is highly prevalent in the student population worldwide. Important predictors of depressive symptoms are academic stress, as well as the cognitive coping strategies self-blame, rumination, and catastrophizing, and the behavioral coping strategy withdrawal. These predictors have yet to be studied together in a large cross-cultural comparison of students. The aim of this study was to investigate differences between five countries on these predictors of students’ depressive symptoms in order to find targets for psychological interventions aimed at improving student mental health. The full sample consisted of 1885 university students aged between 18 and 30, of which 1512 identified as female, 363 as male, 7 as non-binary, and 3 as other. The countries we focused on were Indonesia, China, the United States, Greece, and the Netherlands. With moderation analyses using hierarchical multiple linear regression, we examined differences between countries in the effects on depressive...Show moreDepression is highly prevalent in the student population worldwide. Important predictors of depressive symptoms are academic stress, as well as the cognitive coping strategies self-blame, rumination, and catastrophizing, and the behavioral coping strategy withdrawal. These predictors have yet to be studied together in a large cross-cultural comparison of students. The aim of this study was to investigate differences between five countries on these predictors of students’ depressive symptoms in order to find targets for psychological interventions aimed at improving student mental health. The full sample consisted of 1885 university students aged between 18 and 30, of which 1512 identified as female, 363 as male, 7 as non-binary, and 3 as other. The countries we focused on were Indonesia, China, the United States, Greece, and the Netherlands. With moderation analyses using hierarchical multiple linear regression, we examined differences between countries in the effects on depressive symptoms of academic stress and the four coping strategies, and the moderating effect of the coping strategies on the relationship between academic stress and depressive symptoms. The results showed that depressive symptoms are experienced more with a higher level of academic stress and more frequent use of the coping strategies across the full sample. Even though there were some differences in strengths of associations, most countries showed similar patterns. There was no moderation of coping strategies on the relationship between academic stress and depressive symptoms. The results indicate that in all countries, both academic stress and the four coping strategies are important targets for interventions aimed at treating the depressive symptoms of students. These results also show that the targets for interventions might not have to change as much depending on the country they are offered in. Cooperation between universities with a focus on student mental health is encouraged.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Academic Stress and Coping Strategies among Students: A Cross-Cultural Comparison