Study of the Relationship between Coping with Stress Skills and Academic Achievement of Undergraduate Students in Relation to some Demographic Factors

Recent research findings about University students show that lack of appropriate skills of coping with stress causes burn out and emotional distress and as a result will affect academic achievement (Ripak, 2000). The aim of present research is to study the relationship between coping with stress skills and academic achievement of undergraduate students in relation to some demographic factors such as gender, marital status and place of residency (dormitory or otherwise). The subjects of the study consisted of 488 (272 females and 216 males) undergraduate students, with mean age of 22 years, from faculties of Education, Humanities, law, science, and engineering, at Shiraz University. The instrument was "coping with stress skills"? (jerabec, 1996), which was adapted and validated for use in Iranian culture. The results of factor analysis showed that the scale consisted of four factors: evaluation of situation, reaction to stress, resourcefulness and flexibility. Alpha Corebach coefficients for these factors were between 38 to 78 and for the total score was 77. In this study the grade point average of the students was used as an indicator of academic achievement. The data were analyzed via stepwise regression and one-way analysis of variance. The results showed that situational evaluation skill has a positive effect on academic achievement. In addition the academic achievement of the students who lived in dormitory were lower than the other students. Female students in comparison with male students and single students in comparison with married students have higher academic achievement. The results were discussed in relation to previous studies and certain counseling suggestions were presented.