Coping with stress in college: an examination of spirituality, social support, and quality of life

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate specific adaptive coping strategies, including spirituality, social support, and healthy behaviours, that are associated with better quality of life in a college student population. Four hundred forty (N = 440) college students in the United States with the mean age of 20.67 (SD = 2.94) completed an online survey measuring various coping strategies and quality of life. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify coping strategies associated with Low, Moderate, and High quality of life. The multivariate results showed that overall, low stress (p < .001), high spirituality (p = .001), and high social support from parents (p = .001) were significantly related to both moderate and higher quality of life. Spiritual growth and social support were found to be essential adaptive factors connected to better quality of life for college students. The findings of this study provide a direction with which to develop better interventions focused on combatting stress among college students.

KEYWORDS:

• Quality of life
• stress
• spirituality
• parental support
• peer support
• health behaviours

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.