ROMANIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY VOL. 5, ISSUE 4 www.rjeap.ro GENDER DIFFERENCES REGARDING COPING TECHNIQUES AT YOUNG STUDENTS AT PSYCHOLOGY ANDA ALGAFIŢII a a University of Bucharest Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences Abstract The present study highlights possible gender differences in coping styles techniques. The participants were a number of 205 students of Psychology, both from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and the Titu Maiorescu University. The instrument was a coping scale adapted on undergraduate students from Pitariu (2010).The results didn t confirm the hypothesis. Future studies should be focused on testing possible correlation between coping techniques and the faculty specialization, perceived stressors and therapeutically techniques learned in the faculty. A reason that the hypothesis regarding gender differences has not confirmed is that at psychology the students study courses of therapy, clinical psychology, group development. Hence, either male or female has acces to the same information regarding coping techniques and procedures. Cuvinte cheie: tehnici de coping, psihologie, strategie centrată pe problema, performanţe academice. Keywords: coping techniques: coping techniques, psychology, problemfocused strategy, academic performances.
1. INTRODUCTION Problem-focused strategies seem to be more often chosen instead of the option centered on emotions and also seems to be more efficient when people are in low control of the situation (DeGroot et al., 1997; Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). Osowiecki & Compas (1999) have shown than patients suffering from breast cancer who realized their diagnosis can be controlled, utilized coping techniques focused on the problem and reported less depressive and anxious symptoms right after being diagnosed. According to Alexander & Walker (1994) and Greeno & Wing (1994) people might increase alcohol, cigarettes and food consumtion, and can also use substances under stress. Jammer & Leigh, (1999); King et al., (1990) have demonstrated that the coping styles centered on emotions is correlated to low cardiovascular stimulation, and also with repressing the self in confronting certain stressful situations. de Chou et al. (2011) has studied the relationship between stress, coping strategies and depressive symptoms among the students of a China University, on a group of 756 students. Thus, the ones who have chosen coping strategies based on a positive attitude and an active problem approach obtained much better results in relation to other evaluated factors. Iamandescu (2002), believes that psychological stress emphasizes awareness of the danger of individual stress agents, taking into account distress. Lundberg (2003; 2004) highlights that academic performance is related to the student's coping techniques. It suggests that although non-traditional students are more apt to work full time, they are not affected by the work or because they have more experience limitations in time management. Combining a diploma at university with work can lead to negative consequences in students missing classes, gives less time learning and experiencing higher levels of stress (Robotham, 2009). A number of studies have demonstrated significant associations observed between stress and subsequent burnout and low academic performance among students from different disciplines (Danoff-Burg, Prelow, & Swenson, 2004; Yang & Farn, 2005, as cited in El-Ghoroury, Galper, Sawaqdeh, Bufka, 2012). Aniţei & Chraif (2011) conducted a longitudinal study regarding the vocational guidance on romaniana high school students in psychology profession, Anitei & Chraif (2012) designed Psychologists Core 46
Competencies using BARS method, Chraif & Fulga (2013) highlited in a study gender differences in pain perception at undergraduate students at psychology, Chraif & Aniţei (2011) underlined the importance of psychology students participation at National and International Conferences and Chraif & Anitei (2012) conducted a study measuring overload learning, attachment and coping strategies as predictor for mental and physical health of high school students. 2. OBJECTIVE AND HYPOTHESES 2.1. OBJECTIVE The study is focused on highlighting possible gender differences in coping techniques at undergraduate students at psychology from all three grades separately. 2.2. HYPOTHESES There are statistically significant gender differences in coping techniques at undergraduate students at psychology from the first grade. There are statistically significant gender differences in coping techniques at undergraduate students at psychology from the second grade. There are statistically significant gender differences in coping techniques at undergraduate students at psychology from the third grade. 3. METHOD 3.1. PARTICIPANTS A number of 205 Psychology students participated to the study, both from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Titu Maiorescu University, 123 (60%) being female and 82 (42%) being male. The study has involved 75 (36.6%) first year students, 67 (32.7%) second year students and 63 (30.7%) third year students. 47
3.2. INSTRUMENTS The present study involved applying a coping techniques scale adapted on undergraduate students, based on the coping scale CAPES (Pitariu, 2008). The scale has a number of 13 items on a Likert scale from 1-very low to 6 very high. 3.3. PROCEDURE Firstly the participants received the instructions, being informed about the procedure of applying the instrument. In order to complete the questionnaire, the also completed an informed consent form. Applying the scale requested 5 to 9 minutes. 3.4. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The independent variable consisted of the participants gender. The dependent variable consisted on the total score of the coping questionnaire which had been adapted for Psychology students. 4. RESULTS Data analysis has been made using the SPSS 15 software. Thus in table 1 we may notice the descriptive data of the total coping variable. Descriptive Statistics. Tabel 1. N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Skewness total_coping 205 20,00 69,00 47,0927 7,94998 -,069 T test means for independent_samples_gender_difference_total_group. Table 2. gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean total_coping 1,00 123 47,6179 7,82233,70532 2,00 82 46,3049 8,12205,89693 48
total_coping not Table 3 T test independent_samples_gender_difference_total_group Levene's Test for ity of Variances t-test for ity of Means Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper,185,668 1,159 203,248 1,31301 1,13245 -,91986 3,54587 1,151 169,195,251 1,31301 1,14103 -,93948 3,56550 Regarding the first year participants, we have applyied the t parametric test for independent samples, noticing a significant means difference for the empathy variable depending on the gender, thus noticing the fact that the male participants (M=66,32, t=-4,02, p.<.005) obtained high scores for the empathy questionnaire compared to the female participants (M=55,59, t=-4,32, p.<.005). In the case of the coping variable, no significant gender differences have been noticed: M=47,34, t=1,95, p.<.005 in the case of female participants and M=43,67, t=1,98, p.<.005 in the case of male participants (table 7a, 7b). Table 4.T test means for independent_samples_gender_first_year. gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean total_coping 1,00 44 47,3409 8,32464 1,25499 2,00 31 43,6774 7,52501 1,35153 total_coping not Table 5. T test for independent samples_gender_differences_year I. Levene's Test for ity of Variances t-test for ity of Means Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper,201,655 1,952 73,055 3,66349 1,87725 -,07787 7,40485 1,986 68,505,051 3,66349 1,84435 -,01636 7,34334 49
Table 6.T test means for independent_samples_gender_year_ii. gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean total_coping 1,00 43 45,9535 6,05905,92400 2,00 25 46,5600 7,80000 1,56000 total_coping not Table 7.T test for independent_gender_differences_year II. Levene's Test for ity of Variances t-test for ity of Means Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper 2,444,123 -,358 66,722 -,60651 1,69624-3,99317 2,78015 -,335 40,916,740 -,60651 1,81311-4,26839 3,05537 In the case of the third year students, no significant differences were notices regarding the empathy level between female subjects. As far as coping level differences are concerned, no significant gender differences have been noticed (M=49,94 vs. M=49,19) (table 9a, 9b). Table 8. T test means for independent_gender_differences_year_iii. gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean total_coping 1,00 36 49,9444 8,66172 1,44362 2,00 26 49,1923 8,37147 1,64178 total_coping not Table 9b. T test for independent_samples_gender_differences_year_iii. Levene's Test for ity of Variances t-test for ity of Means Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper 1,323,255,342 60,733,75214 2,19845-3,64542 5,14969,34455,083,732,75214 2,18620-3,62896 5,13324 50
We will also mention that the ANOVA test for significant mean differences has been applied, which lead us to notice statistically significant differences between Ist, Iind and IIIrd year students under the aspect of coping, as the first year students obtained the lowest score (M=45,82), the second year students obtained higher scores (M= 46,22), noticing that towards the ending of higher education studies, during the third year of faculty, the students obtained the highest results (M= 49,52), considering: F=5,37, p.<.05. Tabel 10. ANOVA. Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. total_coping Between Groups 543,136 2 271,568 4,442,013 Within Groups 12350,103 202 61,139 Total 12893,239 204 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The present study proposes the objective of showing possible statistical significant gender differences regarding coping strategies adopted by Psychology students from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of University of Bucharest and the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Titu Maiorescu University. The participants were a number of 205 students of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of studies. Thus, the research hypothesis was tested for each of the 3 years of studies using the t test of mean difference. Analyzing tables 4-9 allows us to state that there is no significant gender difference regarding coping strategies adopted by psychology students among the samples of the two analyzed faculties. A strong reason that the hypotheses were not confirmed is that at the psychology specialization, the undergraduate students both male and female study group development strategies, psychotherapy courses and clinical psychology courses. Hence, both male and female undergraduate students have access to the same information regarding psychology specialization. 51
REFERENCES Aniţei, M. & Chraif, M. (2011). A longitudinal study regarding the psychologist profession and the vocational guidance of Romanian high school students, Book Editor(s): Bekirogullari, Z in Proceedings of The International Conference on Education and Educational Psychology, 2011 Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 1677-1682 Anitei, M., Chraif, M. (2012). Designing a Psychologists Core Competencies Validation Method using Behaviorally Anchored Rated in Zafer Bekirogullari (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Education & Educational Psychology 2012, Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 1847-1852. Alexander, D. A., & Walker, L. G. (1994). A study of methods used by Scottish police officers to cope with work-induced stress. Stress Medicine, 10, 131 138. Chou,P., Chao, Y. Y., Yang, H., Yeh, G. L. and Szu-Hsien Lee, T. (2011). Relationships between stress, coping and depressive symptoms among overseas university preparatory Chinese students: a cross-sectional study, 11, 35. Chraif, M, & Fulga, D. (2013). Gender differences in pain perception-a pilot study on young Romanian students, In Editor (s) Vasile, C., Anitei, M. & Chraif, M., In the Proceedings of the International Conference on Psychology and the Realities of the Contemporary World (PSIWORLD), Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 78, 648-652 Chraif, M. & Aniţei, M. (2011), Romanian Students Attachment and Involvement towards Attending to National and International Conferences Book Editor(s): Bekirogullari, Zin Proceedings of The International Conference on Education and Educational Psychology, 2011, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 1683-1688 Chraif, M., Anitei, M. (2012). Overload Learning, Attachment and Coping Styles Predictors of Mental and Physical Health of Teenage High School Students in Zafer Bekirogullari (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Education & Educational Psychology 2012, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 1842-1846 DeGroot, K. I., Boeke, S., Bonke, B., & Passchier, J. (1997). A revaluation of the adaptiveness of avoidant and vigilant coping with surgery. Psychology and Health, 12, 711 717. El-Ghoroury, N. H., Galper, D. I., Sawaqdeh, A., & Bufka, L. F. (2012). Stress, Coping, and Barriers to Wellness Among Psychology Graduate Students. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 6 ( 2), 122 134 52
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 219 239. Greeno, C. G., & Wing, R. R. (1994). Stress-induced eating. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 444 464. Iamandescu, I. B. (2002). Stresul psihic. Bucureşti: Infomedica. Jammer, L. D., & Leigh, H. (1999). Repressive/defensive coping, endogenous opioids and health: How a life so perfect can make you sick. Psychiatry Research, 85, 17 31. King, A. C., Taylor, C. B., Albright, C. A., & Haskell, W. L. (1990). The relationship between repressive and defensive coping styles and blood pressure responses in healthy, middleaged men and women. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 34, 461 471. Lundberg, C. A. (2003). The Influence of Time Limitations, Faculty, and Peer Relationships on Adult Student Learning: A Casual Model. The Journal of Higher Education, 74 (6), 665-688. Lundberg, C. A. (2004). Working and Learning: The Role of Involvement for Employed Students. NASPA Journal, 41(2), 201-215. Osowiecki, D. M., & Compas, B. E. (1999). A prospective study of coping, perceived control, and psychological adaptation to breast cancer. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 23, 169 180. Robotham, D. (2009). Combining Study and Employment. Emerald Education Plus Training, 51(4), 322-332.. REZUMAT In studiul de faţă obiectivul principal urmărit este evienţierea unor posibile diferenţe de gen privind tehnicile de coping folosite la studenţii de la psihologie. Participanţii sunt un număr de 205 studenţi la psihologie, Facultatea de Psihologie şi Ştiinţele Educaţiei, Universitatea din Bucureşti şi Facultatea de Psihologie şi Ştiinţele Educaţiei, Universitatea Titu Maiorescu. Instrumentul folosit este scala de coping (Pitariu, 2008) adaptată pe studenţi.rezultatele obţinute nu confirm ipotezele cercetării (p<0.05).studii viitoare ar trebui să se centreze pe testarea corelaţiilor între strategiile şi tehnicile de coping, specializarea facultăţii, stresorii autopercepuţi şi tehnicile terapeutice învăţate în facultate. Un motiv pentru care nu s-a confirmat ipoteza cercetării provind diferenţele de gen poate fi şi faptul că lîn cadrul specializării psihologie studenţii atât fete cât şi băieţi studiază tehnici terapeutice,psihologie clinică şi dezvoltare personală. Astfel, atât studenţî de gen masculine cât şi cei de gen feminine au acces în mod egal la aceste cursuri şi seminarii despecialitate. 53