Direct and Indirect Effects of Academic Stress, Coping Strategies, Academic Self-Motivation, on Adaptation among University Students

Abstract

The objective of the research is to develop a structural model that illustrates the direct and indirect causal effects between academic stress, academic coping strategies, academic motivation, and academic adaptation among university students. Additionally, the study aims to identify gender differences in the four research variables. The study was conducted on a sample of 191 students, consisting of 100 males and 91 females, selected from the College of Education at King Khalid University. The participants had an average age of 19.82 years with a standard deviation of 1.013. Four scales were administered to the participants: The Academic Stress Scale, Academic Coping Strategies Scale, Academic Motivation Scale, and Academic Adaptation Scale. The research findings indicated that the empirical data supported the validity of the proposed structural model, which represents the direct and indirect relationships and effects between academic stress, coping strategies, academic motivation, and academic adaptation. The results also revealed that students were more likely to use problem-focused coping strategies, while females were more likely to use emotion-focused coping strategies. Furthermore, male students showed higher levels of academic self-motivation and academic adaptation compared to female students.