Does Gender Affect Coping Strategies Leading to Well-being and Improved Academic Performance?

Abstract

The interest in developing a high-quality educational system requires constant research on different aspects of diversity (e.g., gender). The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to analyze the use of different coping strategies from a gender perspective in university students; and (2) to investigate the effect of university students’ coping strategies on their psychological well-being (i.e., academic engagement) and academic success (i.e., performance and satisfaction) depending on their gender. A sample of 767 students (59.7% female) was drawn from a Spanish University. ANOVA analyses showed that the use of some coping strategies differs depending on the gender: females showed a higher level of Support-seeking coping whereas males showed a higher level of Meaning-focused coping. Results of multi-group structural equation analysis showed a good model fit, revealing that only Problem-focused and Avoidance coping are related with performance and satisfaction through engagement. For females, engagement fully mediates the relationship between Problem-focused coping with Satisfaction and performance, as well as between Avoidance coping with Satisfaction and performance. For males, engagement fully mediates the relationship between Problem-focused coping with Satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between Problem-focused coping with performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed, as well as future research directions.