Name: Arnold P.

Aranoco Major: BSED GSC

Course Code: 311 Course Title: EDUC 108
Activity Name: Practiced-Based Examination

Gender Differences in Perceived Stress and Coping among College Students

Problems

According to the article, college life is not just merely paying tuition, getting
inside the four corners of the classroom, making friends, and gaining knowledge.
The students must deal with a lot of stressors at this time that is related to their
personal, academic, and occasionally employment lives. It could be challenging for
students to juggle these duties if they don't have the necessary stress management
abilities. University students might not be ready to deal with the additional pressures
brought on by the particular family, social, academic, and financial obligations that
this community faces. The utilization of mind-body strategies for healthily managing
stress has attracted increasing interest, and the popularity of the movement and
general health classes provides a chance for important research. Stress further
affects pupils by having a detrimental impact on their sense of self, such as their
sense of self-worth, general health, and immune system components. The study also
included the differentiated level of stress perceived by college students between
males and females, which is accordingly the primary indication to determine the
perceived stress between gender differences. The study also pointed out their
objectives, which are to measure both the psychological perception of stress and to
evaluate gender differences in coping strategy endorsement. As stated in the article,
they hypothesized that gender would influence stress levels and will be evaluated
accordingly for the utilization of specific coping strategies.

Methods

The study utilizes a quantitative approach to examining the effect of gender

differences on the level of perceived stress among college students of the University
of Westminster, United Kingdom. As a means of quantitative measurement, a survey
was conducted utilizing survey questionnaires that predicted and obtained the
necessary data. A total of 448 college students are assessed in the study and
enrolled in three different undergraduate science exercise courses. This student
sample comprised college students (n = 448) from a sizable public university in a
nearby suburb of Boca Raton, Florida. Data were collected four weeks before final
exams during the twelfth week of class. Two instruments were utilized in the study,
the Perceived Stress Scale and the Independent T-Test. the Brief Cope Twenty-eight
questions make up the Brief COPE questionnaire, which was used to measure the
effectiveness of coping mechanisms used to manage stress, including self-
distraction, active coping, emotional support, instrumental support, venting, positive
reframing, planning, humor, acceptance, and religion. Independent t-tests looked at
gender differences in the Total (Perceived Stress Scale) PSS score and between the
"mild," "moderate," and "severe" stress cut-off points. T-tests were once more used
to look for gender variations in the endorsement of coping style and the key coping
features.

Results

As the result of the study stated, females demonstrate a higher level of stress
compared to males as a college students. There is also a significant difference
between the genders in terms of coping mechanisms they utilize to overcome the
pressure of college life. Accordingly, compared to their male counterparts, women
reported higher total PSS. Additionally, compared to male students, more female
students reported "moderate" levels of stress. Four coping mechanisms, including
self-distraction, emotional support, instrumental assistance, and venting, were
endorsed by females significantly more often than by males. When it comes to the
main aspects of coping, female students used more emotion-focused coping
techniques than male students did. There were no gender differences in problem-
focused or avoidant coping techniques.

The implication of the Study

We all have our struggles and problems in college life and all we can do is
endure them because it is inevitable. As a student, the study primarily aids our
ignorance of how to overcome such stresses. As our college life commences, the
level of hardships and trials is getting harder and more complicated each day. The
study tells us ideas and methods for us to successfully deal with unexpected
circumstances and stresses. As the study stated, we are bombarded by stress,
disappointment, sadness, loneliness, and failure as we go on with our college life
which will eventually lead to depression, sickness, and the worst-case scenario, it
will lead to death or suicide. Handling stress is vital for us as a college students
because we are not just dealing with our careers, we are also dealing with our
financial stability, family problems, relationships, and community involvement, in the
short term, we are at a transition stage where from an innocent and irresponsible
teenager, practically becomes a knowledgeable adult with responsibility and
ambition.

The study will be a guide to those students on how they cope with the
situations they are in. We should deal with our stress properly, especially women
who as described by the study, is more prone to stress and are easily affected by the
trials in life. According to the study, we are all dealing with the pressures in life, men
and women have their way on how to deal with their problems. It may be with self-
distraction, acceptance, behavioral disengagement, positive reframing, venting,
religion, etc., which is necessary for a college student to learn for coping
mechanisms. A student’s life is not always easy and fulfilling, we are continuously
scourged by the test of life to make us the best version of ourselves and to guide us
to the path that we wanted. We might fall but we will come back stronger because, in
every disappointment, every heartache, and every failure, there are always lessons
and learnings we could never replace.

Reference

Graves, B. S., Hall, M. E., Dias-Karch, C., Haischer, M. H., & Apter, C. (2021).
Gender differences in perceived stress and coping among college students. PLOS
ONE, 16(8), e0255634. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255634