Abstract:
The study was undertaken with the aim to investigate stress and coping strategies among first year students of the University of Cape Coast. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The study was guided by three research questions and six hypotheses. A sample size of 300 first year students was selected for the study through cluster, proportionate and simple random sampling procedures. The researcher and five data collection assistants administered the adapted version of the Students Stress Inventory and Stress Coping Style Inventory (SCSI) to the selected respondents in their lecture theatres and it took us a period of two weeks to finish with the data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics independent samples t-test and One-Way ANOVA). The findings indicated that there was high level of stress among the students. The study revealed that environmental, financial and academic stressors were the major common stressors to the students. Most students use active emotional-focused coping and active problem-focused coping strategies. There was no significant difference in gender in relation to stress. Males and females do not differ in stress coping strategies. Students from the three faculties do no differ in their stress level and also in the use of coping strategies. It was therefore recommended that students should be educated on both emotional-focused coping strategies and problem-focused coping strategies so that they can use them properly under different situations.
