Experiências de elevada adversidade e o coping

: um estudo com estudantes do ensino superior

Abstract

During the developmental process, humans are forced to face a variety of challenges and situations of high adversity. However, each individual has different perspectives on the perception of these experiences and the adoption of coping strategies to deal with the negative consequences of such situations. The present research aims to investigate which experiences Portuguese higher education students identify as being of high adversity and to understand the coping strategies they tend to adopt to deal with these experiences. The sample was collected through an online questionnaire, disseminated during the months of May and June 2024, targeting individuals of any gender, aged between 18 and 30 years old, non-Psychology students in higher education. A total of 154 participants accessed the questionnaire, however, for descriptive analysis of sociodemographic variables, only 57 participants were included. Due to not meeting the inclusion criteria and obtaining a considerable number of missing values, the final analytical sample totaled 36 participants. As a method of data collection, we used a questionnaire developed by the research team, implemented on the Qualtrics platform, which includes the Check List of High Adversity Experiences and the Brief COPE questionnaire. The quantitative information was analyzed using SPSS (Version 28.0), conducting descriptive analyses of the variables and investigating the relationship between them with different non-parametric statistical tests: Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and Fisher's Exact Test. In this context, the experiences most frequently reported by students focused on the end of romantic relationships (16.7%), exposure to intrafamily violence (13.9%), and the Covid-19 pandemic (13.9%). Regarding coping strategies, we found that self-distraction is the most used strategy by students to deal with the most frequently adverse experiences lived, instead of denial. However, the adoption of the Humor strategy showed a higher average for the adverse experience Covid-19, compared to the End of romantic relationships and Exposure to intrafamily violence experiences, with this being the only statistically significant difference (p=.032). We also found that students perceive the strategies they adopt as effective, with the reinterpreting positive strategy (Median=4.00), humor (Median=3.00), and self-blame (Median=2.50) standing out. And that, about 86.1% of the participants considered that age influenced the adoption of coping strategies. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that the coping strategies adopted by students vary depending on the type of adverse experience lived, but do not vary significantly between genders or age groups. This suggests that students demonstrate flexibility in adapting their coping strategies based on the adversity faced, which can be interpreted as a positive indicator of resilience and adaptability.

Date of Award	9 Jul 2024
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Catarina Ribeiro (Supervisor) & Diogo Costa (Supervisor)