Self-leadership and stress among college students: Examining the moderating role of coping skills^††

^†The data that support the findings of this study are available with restricted access in Zenodo: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1220415. Access will be granted upon any reasonable request from editors, reviewers, or other researchers wishing to validate or replicate our findings.

Abstract

Objective: Stress remains a major health concern among college students today. Consequently, research on student stress is imperative, from both an organizational and an individual perspective. This research study explores the moderating role of coping skills on the relationship between self-leadership and stress among college students. Participants: Data from 643 full-time undergraduate students attending a 4-year public university in the mid-Atlantic region were collected in February 2017 and analyzed using a moderated regression model. Results: The results indicate self-leadership practices do reduce student stress levels and that this relationship is moderated by student coping skills. Conclusion: The findings from this study deepen our understanding of how self-leadership practices may decrease student stress and showcases self-leadership as an effective tool for reducing college student stress.

Keywords:

• Coping
• college students
• self-leadership
• stress