Perfectionism and Academic Adjustment among Undergraduates: The Coping Strategy as a Mediator

Abstract

The high dropout rate among undergraduates has drawn the concerns of policymakers and educators . Studies suggested that the dropout is relevant to poor academic adjustment, and to poor academic adjustment is associated with perfectionism and coping strategies . This study adopts the personality-coping-outcome theory as a framework to examine whether coping strategies mediate the effects of perfectionism on academic adjustment . Two hundred eleven undergraduate students participated in the online survey through the purposive sampling method . They were asked to fill in the Short-Almost perfect scale, simplified coping style questionnaire and academic adjustment scale . The results showed that both perfectionism and coping strategies are associated with academic adjustment, and perfectionism is associated with coping strategies . Besides, coping strategies are statistical mediators for the effects of perfectionism on academic adjustment . The findings support the application of personality-coping-outcome theory in the areas of academic adjustment . Workshops can be provided to students to train their use of appropriate coping strategies while facing academic adjustment issues .