Coping Strategies Among College Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in December 2019 , the government around the world has closed all the educational institutions and change the system of education to control the spread of disease. The sudden shift from the physical classroom to virtual space impacts on the mental health of the college students. The purpose of this study was to explore the coping strategies among college students around the world during the Pandemic Covid-19. This paper used descriptive explorative analysis, through literature review. A literature search on Google Scholar using keywords “coping strategies”, “college students”, “pandemic”, “covid-19” revealed 15 articles with a total of 12,532 participants of college students around the world. The findings of this study reveal that the coping strategies used by college students are (1) Problem-focused coping by (a) Seeking social support (friends, family, school) and (2) Emotion-focused coping by (a) Positive reappraisal (praying to God, do hobby) (b) Accepting responsibility (Understand students’ role, self talk) and (c) Distancing (Avoid going to public). The COVID-19 pandemic have given a significant adverse impact on the mental health of college students. Major coping strategy adopted by the students is problem-focused coping by seeking social support from their friends, family members and university. Educational institutions should work together with the government of each country to maintain the college students’ mental health.