Stress Management and Coping Strategies in Undergraduate Students at a Midwestern State University

Dr. Pucher along with my former student, Megan Scribner, finally published our collaborative research. This article features results from a descriptive phenomenological study of college student mental health. Participants were asked to discuss their lived experiences in responding to trauma and stress. In response to these events, they were also asked to describe their stress management or coping strategies. Schlossberg’s transition theory (1995) and Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) transactional theory of stress and coping were used to define coping strategies to better understand the different potential styles of college students. Results suggest that students are in a constant state of transition and employ a spectrum of problem-focused strategies. We suggest that student affairs professional find ways to teach emotion-focused coping strategies and to help our students feel comfortable with the ambiguity of the undergraduate college experience.

This article is available in the open-access journal New York Journal of Student Affairs.