1

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This section presented the related literature review and related studies on

stress coping strategies in terms of problem-focused coping strategies, emotion-

focused coping strategies, and academic performance.

The rapid expansion of the coronavirus pandemic had disrupted life for

persons, states, and institutions worldwide. Feelings of great uncertainty and

anxiety had been triggered (Kowal et al., 2020; Ramos-Lira et al., 2020). This

situation had posed a real challenge and a dramatic change for the university in

general, and for professors and students (Kecojevic et al., 2020). Academic life

was abruptly confined to the home, and the ordinary activity of the university, with

its face-to-face teaching and learning, has had to be substituted by online

teaching and remote learning (Sahu, 2020). With this scenario, it was reasonable

to expect that university life had become even more stressful than usual for many

students (Szulevicz et al., 2019; American College Health Association, 2020;

Hasan et al., 2020; Song et al., 2020). This perceived stress would then had an

ongoing influence on their emotions, on how they engage in the learning process,

and their psychological well-being (Capone et al., 2020; Kecojevic et al., 2020;

Rodríguez-Hidalgo et al., 2020).

Stress was defined as a condition or feeling experienced when a person

perceived that their demands exceeded the resources the individual had
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available (Okoro, 2018). Stress was another attractive and currently relevant

topic for every college student. Jennings, Henderson, Erla, Abraham, and Gillum

(2018) affirmed that college students were vulnerable to stress; they had a set of

stress that commonly affected them. Stress was a condition of mental pressure

for individuals facing environmental and social well-being problems, which led to

many diseases. Young age was the critical period because, at this time, youth

met lots of life changes. As a result of the stress of this transition, college

students relied on their parents for different types of support (Carlson, 2017).

College and university life was one of the most fun and exciting phases of

young adulthood. It was a place where students gained the opportunity to

educate and intellectual growth; unfortunately, young adults seem to be having

difficulty in handling life. Students encounter many challenges in their daily life

hence the idea of a vibrant college or university life disclosed by these

challenges contributed to stress. Many of them faced hardships and difficulties in

their studies and working life, and for some students, stress had become a way

of living (Parjat et al., 2017).

Identically, stress was an inescapable part of life that generally touched a

wide range of population groups without regard to their age, gender, educational

status, or socioeconomic status. Despite this fact, stress and other things were a

prevailing mental health problem among college students. It was known that life

itself was stress-related dependent on the individual’s lifestyle and the type of

cultural development. Stress increasingly became part of our lives. Historically,

the Latin word stress had been in common languages. Studies showed more
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complex than had been originally thought, and personal factors must be taken

into account. Stress issues affect college students on their concentration

academically (Sofyan et al., 2018).

The research paper of Saho pointed out that academic stress was

described as mental distress with respect to some anticipated frustration

associated with academic failure or even awareness of the possibility of such

failure. Several factors were responsible for this; we could classify them into two

categories: academic stressors and non-academic stressors. Academic stressors

like facing difficulties in learning new medical words, difficulties in reading long

textbooks especially if there was no preparatory year to prepare students for

these new terminologies, education, cultural background and the family income.

Additionally, Student’s ability to handle these increasing demands of college life

could affected their academic performance and emotional health. The enormous

tasks that the student should do leave a minimal opportunity for the student to

relax and recreate.

The paper of Sorrels in 2019 acknowledged that stress could be healthy

and adaptive to people’s response to the threat by mobilizing energy towards the

stressors. College could be a stressful experience for students as they adjust to

the academic demands of higher education, and in many scenarios, the transition

to a new city, living space, and social environment. As a result of these changes,

college students could experience heightened stress levels compared to an

individual who did not attend college, partly because of increased specialized

workload and other presumed life changes. It was also suggested that stress
 4

could be experienced when the transaction between person and environment

was perceived as a threat, challenge, or harm to personal well-being.

Comparatively, stress could upset the body's internal balance or

imbalance, leading to physical symptoms such as headaches, high blood

pressure, chest pain, sexual dysfunction, and sleep problems. Stress might be

changed to the environment that required their body to react and adjust in

response. These changes resulted in physical, mental, and emotional reactions

—many trials that happened and many things that could do to themselves. We

could experience good or bad forms of stress from our environment, body, and

thoughts (Robinson, 2017).

Cohut pointed out in 2018 that stress was a risk factor for many health

problems, such as cardiovascular issues, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.

We might think that only certain kinds of major stressors such as getting fired,

going through a breakup, or undergoing surgery significantly impact our lives. But

recent research explained that even minor stressors could harm our long-term

health. Stress was every day in our lives. It happened at work, at school, at

home, and in our relationships. This research showed that the strategy just to let

it go could benefit our long-term physical health.

There were many causes of stress for college students, from working to

objects to academic courses and calculated schedules, taking care of the family.

Stress was a typical instance in college life, and it was said to be expected.

Although it might be true, there were a lot of ways to manage stress in college.

Moreover, stress was a familiar feeling of not being able to cope with detailed
 5

requirements and events. Anyway, stress could become a sustained illness if a

person does not take steps to manage it. These could come from work,

relationships, financial problems, and other situations, but anything that causes

or identifies a challenge or threat to a person could be stress. Stress could be

motivated and could even be essential to survive (Felman, 2020).

In the same way, stressors were anything that caused the release of

stress hormones. There were two types of stressors which included

psychological stressors and physical stressors. Factors that led to stress in

college students could also increase new opportunities, independent decision-

making, new financial obligations, evolving maturity levels, and social and civic

skills. It could be difficult for students to meet new people and become socially

integrated while focusing heavily on academics. Moreover, joining extracurricular

organizations, such as clubs, could be difficult for college students because they

might face complications learning to successfully manage their time (Puri, Yadav,

& Shekhawat, 2016).

Essel and Owusu (2017) pointed out that stress could lead to physical and

psychological symptoms that affect the mind, body, and feelings. Physical

symptoms involved headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest

pain, poor eating habits, and sleeping problems. The research suggested that

stress also could bring on or worsen specific symptoms or diseases.

Psychological stress was not a new problem for college students; however, it had

emerged as an issue of increasing concern, particularly within the context of

increased efforts to curb student attrition. It was interesting to identify the

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mechanism of stress generation and management among students. Stress

experienced by anyone could be inevitable.

It was also mentioned that academics and workload tuned out as the top

stressors of the students. The course they have, the assignment, requirements,

exams, other responsibilities, and the meaningfulness of the task affected their

perception and experience of their workload in a semester and money;

relationship; school; and body, mind, and feelings (Dy, 2019). Students in tertiary

education face many ongoing stressors related to academic demand, financial,

emotional, and psychological. The recent survey reported that students who

experienced stress had lower well-being, measured using psychological, social,

cognitive, and physical components. Previous research showed that individuals

undertaking higher education, self-supported level of stress were associated with

poorer quality of and well-being (Rebeiro et al., 2017). Ongoing stress also

precipitated the development of more serious mental health issues such as

anxiety and depression (Hetrick, Pascoe, & Parker, 2020).

In an academic situation, the source of stress that greatly affected

students were school, money, relationship, and body, mind, and feelings. It

alleviated the student’s concentration in school. Money was one of the

significant issues that affected student life that referred to financial problems. It

was another critical factor that influenced the financial standing of college

students, their background, or more specifically, their parent's financial status.

Family income was usually the starting point for any student, and regardless of

the current dependency on parental finances, this background affected college

 7

students' perspectives and behaviors regarding money. Theodora and Marti’ah

(2016) stated that financial literacy was critical to helping students manage

independently and do appropriate financial planning. Knowledge and

understanding related to personal finances were significantly relevant in making

sound and wise decisions in spending money (Gunardi, Ridwan, & Sudarjah,

2017).

School campuses refer to the environment as the facilities available for

instructions, and it possesses a strong influence in the teaching-learning process

(Okwelle, 2016). He added that there was a need for adequate classroom

buildings with suitable sitting arrangements for classroom instruction. Fayose

(2016) stated that there was a need for a standard library. It should be equipped

with relevant books, journals, and many others. It was also essential to provide a

stable electricity supply, good lighting and ventilation, maintained tidiness of the

learning environment (Puyate, 2016). School location was important for college

students either in an urban or rural area. According to Akubue & Ifelunni (2016),

students in urban schools performed better than those in the rural school. Hence,

the school campus could affect the college experience nearly as much as the

students' study and hope.

The relationship was one of the indicators of stress among college

students either from their parents, friend, teacher, and classmates. College

student connection to campus life could sometimes be unpredictable. But it was

a vital relationship that helped with the healthy and prosperous college

experience. Many studies have explored these relationships from different

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angles. Some of the primary considerations included student-institution fit,

student engagement, and complexity thinking. All these explorations on student

connectedness stemmed from the conceptual perspective of the researcher or an

institutional framework (Akubue & Ifelunni, 2016).

According to Ruberman (2016), the connection had also been discovered

between solid parental relationships and the emerging adult ability to self-

regulate and successfully transition to college. Strong relationships between

emerging adults and parents with an authoritative parenting style have positively

influenced competence. Authoritative parenting predicted better academic,

social, and personal-emotional adjustment at university or colleges and a greater

sense of attachment to the institutions. Effective communication that positively

impacted the relationship could create an open and sincere relationship between

college students and parents, which was relevant to reducing students' stress

(Sorrel, 2019).

Teacher-student relationships played a significant role in student learning

and the quality of teaching. This relationship would meaningfully influence the

educational surroundings, which impacted the learner’s motivation and

achievements. The primary variable in the learning environment was not the

student but the teacher. These teachers identified the importance of being

involved with their students not to give more stress to the student. Students

became energetic participants in their learning. For this reason, the priority to

helping a student become more motivated and involved, and thus, educationally
 9

successful, was constructing and retaining positive teacher and student

interaction (Maulana, 2017).

On the other hand, coping was an important key point of dealing with

stress and preventing psychological problems. It was defined as the individual

ability to deal with external or internal requirements, which were beyond their

resources by persistently changing their cognitive and behavioral efforts. It had

mainly two actions: controlling feeling which were associated with the situation

and changing the environment or the situation itself that cause the distress for

the person. There were three characteristics describe this definition, the first one

was it was a process oriented which meant that it emphasized on what the

individual considered in his mind and what they were doing in a stressful

situation. The second feature was that coping was contextual which meant that

the person evaluated the stressful event, what was the actual demand from it and

what were the resources that were available to manage it. The last feature about

this definition that there was no supposition about what person did, as there were

no good or bad coping strategies (Sahu, 2020).

Numerous researchers had attempted to identify groups of coping

strategies. In an early attempt to categorize specific coping strategies, they

defied coping strategies into two categories: problem-focused coping strategies

which referred to the actions done by the person in order to change the stressful

situation or reduced the stress associated with it, whereas emotion-focused

coping strategies referred to person endeavor to change the feelings that were

associated with the stressful situation, without any effort to work on the situation
 10

itself. Problem focused type of coping strategies usually led to greater life

satisfaction. On the other hand, usage of emotion centered coping mechanisms

had been shown to be associated with the experience of distress and depression

(Ali, 2018).

In the same way, coping strategies were actions aimed at disregarding the

stress factors or reducing the impacts. Behavior such as distancing, self-

controlling, accepting responsibility, escape, and a positive review could be

classified as emotion-focused coping, which refers to actions aimed to reduce the

emotional pain caused by the stressful situation (Garcia et al., 2018). Likewise,

coping strategies refer to the thoughts and actions that could use to deal with a

frightening situation. The stressful situation might be considered a threat but not

necessarily for the person. The individual might become stressed by the same

problem, but for different reasons. After all, since we all become stressed for

many reasons, we will need to select the various coping strategies (Cliché,

2019).

In general, coping strategies regulate adverse emotional reactions to

stress such as anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger. This type of coping might be

helpful when a stressor is something that we cannot change. Many people

thought the primary solution strategy was the best way to manage stress. Cutting

out the things that seem to cause pressure means we do not need to learn how

to alter responses to any stress left in our lives. Moreover, it was impossible to

focus on some factors in our jobs, relationships, or our lifestyles we were

disposed to create challenges. In other words, it would not be healthy to remove

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all stress even if we could. A certain amount of pressure was healthy (Scott,

2020).

The theory conceptualized by Lazarus and Folkman in 1984 distinguished

two fundamental kinds of coping - problem-focused coping and emotion-focused

coping. In problem-focused coping, one attempted to manage or alter the

problem causing one to experience stress such as the stressor. Problem-focused

coping strategies were similar to methods used in everyday problem-solving.

They typically involved identifying the problem, considering possible solutions,

weighing the costs and benefits of these solutions, and then selecting an

alternative. A problem-focused approach to managing stress means we actively

try to address the problem (Lumen, 2021).

On the contrary, emotion-focused coping consisted of efforts to change or

reduce the negative emotions associated with stress. These efforts might include

avoiding, minimizing, or distancing oneself from the problem, favorable

comparisons with others, or seeking something positive in an adverse event. In

some cases, emotion-focused coping strategies involved reappraisal, whereby

the stressor was construed differently without changing its objective level of

threat. In a certain sense, emotion-focused coping could be thought of as treating

the symptoms rather than the actual cause (Lumens, 2021).

While many stressors elicit both kinds of coping strategies, problem-

focused coping was more likely to occur when encountering stress, we perceive

as controllable. In contrast, emotion-focused coping was more likely to

predominate when faced with stressors that we believe we are powerless to

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change. Emotion-focused coping was more effective in dealing with

uncontrollable stressors. Fortunately, most stressors we encounter could be

modified and were, to varying degrees, controllable. A person who cannot stand

their job could be quitted and look for work elsewhere; a middle-aged divorcee

could find another potential partner; the freshman who failed an exam could

study harder next time, and a breast lump did not necessarily mean that one was

fated to die of breast cancer (Lumens, 2021).

Furthermore, a coping strategy was an effort directed at the stressor by

taking steps to remove or evade it or diminish its impact somehow. The coping

strategy targeted the causes of stress in practical ways that tackled the problem

or stressful situation that was causes of stress, consequently directly reducing

the stress. Coping strategies aimed to remove or reduce the cause of the

stressor, including problem-solving, time-management, obtaining instrumental

social support. In general, coping was the best, as it eliminates the stressor as

dealt with the rooted causes of the problem, providing a long-term solution.

However, it was not always possible to use problem-focused strategies. When

someone dies, coping strategies might not be beneficial for the bereaved.

Dealing with feelings of loss requires emotion-focused managing (McLeod,

2017).

In addition, coping strategies might be the realistic options when the

sources of stress are external. It could be seen as an emotion-focused coping as

it focused on provoked caused by the pressure, not the problem. Emotion-

focused coping techniques included distraction, keeping themselves busy, and

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emotion-released. There were involved expressing strong emotions by talking or

writing about adverse events which precipitated those emotions. Equally, coping

styles moderated the relationships between physical health loss experience,

economic loss experience, role loss experience, and depression in the student

group. Lastly, social support seeks coping styles that moderate the relationships

between financial loss experience and depression in the student group. These

results were discussed in terms of educational programs related to stress coping

strategies for the students (Park, & An, 2016).

Correspondingly, Lazarus and Folkman described coping strategies as to

how persons used cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage stressful

situations. Coping was a psychological process focused on a person’s

explanations of their condition. In focus here was a person’s self-evaluation of

what coping strategies they find compelling. To emphasize, coping strategies

refer to methods persons use to solve stressful situations or plan what to do or

seek information. This strategy was used when persons felt they could manage

the situation. Coping strategies were directed toward reducing or removing a

stressor. People using problem-focused coping styles were aimed to deal with

the source of the problem and change it. The problem-focused strategies were

taking control of information seeking, to reduce or eliminate anxiety and emotions

associated with the unemployment situation. The coping strategies were

particularly for job loss or job seekers and more critical for an unemployed

individual who wishes to obtain a job (Kasuma et al., 2018).

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The coping style was centered on changing the problem and included

individual actions to accept the arrangement with stressful situations that stress

the individual. Problem-focused coping was usually implemented in the

circumstances with which the problem could be transformed, and they could help

maintain psychological well-being. Coping was included in regulatory efforts to

increase the emotions resulting from stressful events. Most recently, a third

higher-order way of the cope has been introduced, appraisal-based coping,

whereby an individual draws on beliefs, values, existential goals, motivates, and

sustains coping. It typically occurred when managing was unsuccessful and was

used to restart the coping process (Schoenmakers et al., 2017).

Coping was a product of people construing their continuing relations with

the environment and, thus, superb investigative value. Their strength and quality

exposed how people thought they were working in a meaningful context. There

were a lot of emotions, such as anger, contempt, enthusiasm, envy, fear,

frustration, disappointment, embarrassment, disgust, happiness, hate, hope,

jealousy, joy, love, pride, surprise, and sadness. Emotions were compelling

experiences of a short time, intense, with clamor difficulties evolving, orientation

to objects, persons, specific situations. Besides, emotions had their origin in the

informational process, which takes place both at the conscious level and the

unconscious level. Awareness degrees of emotions differ very much from one

individual, but primarily, people can describe their emotions and ascribe them to

some objects or exact causes (Kasuma et al., 2018).

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In the study conducted by that Guruprakash, K., Mehta, G. Atul, B.

Prakash, J., Divinakumar, K., Khan, S. and Patra, P. in 2018 among students, it

was revealed that individuals who had a higher score on perceived stress were

found to have a statistically significant positive correlation with coping strategies

like denial, self-blame, and venting. Positive coping skills like emotional support,

religious practices, and planning had been found to lessen perceived stress,

indicating that developing positive coping skills would decrease the stress and

hence general psychopathology. The scores of perceived pressures had a

significant association with the score of general psychopathology and depressive

anxiety component of burnout in their evaluation. Also, their studies provided

essential findings regarding the correlation of perceived stress with public health

and burnout.

It was paralleled to the research paper of Bamuhair, S. et al. (2017) that

confirmed that coping had been viewed as a stabilizing factor that might assist an

individual in psychosocial adaptation during stressful events. Students' coping

strategies to reduce stress include effective time management, social support,

positive reappraisal, and engagement in leisurely pursuits. There was also

emotion-based coping that involved accepting responsibility and self-blame. It

had also been found that students with an engagement strategy of coping were

able to modify situations, resulting in a more adaptive outcome, and also had

reported fewer symptoms of depression.

At the same time, Lamas in 2017 explained that school performance was

an issue that profoundly concerns students, parents, teachers, and authorities.

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The complexity of the academic performance started from its conceptualization.

Sometimes it was known as school readiness, academic achievement, and

school performance, but generally, the concepts' difference was only explained

by semantics as they were used as synonyms. Conventionally, it had been

agreed that academic performance should be used in university populations and

school performance in regular and alternative essential education populations.

Several authors decided that academic performance was the result of learning,

prompted by the teaching activity by the teacher and produced by the student.

From a humanistic approach, it was stated that academic performance was the

product given by the students, and it was usually expressed through school

grades. Fifteen years ago, it was referred to academic performance as a

measure of the indicative and responsive abilities that described, in an estimated

way, what a person had learned as a result of a process of education or training.

Identically, the academic performance involved meeting goals, achievements,

and objectives set in the program or course that a student attended. These were

expressed through grades resulting from an assessment that involved passing or

not specific tests, subjects, or procedures. On their part, it was defined as the

level of knowledge shown in an area or subject compared to the norm, and it was

generally measured using the grade point average.

The purpose of the academic performance was to achieve an educational

goal, learning. In this regard, there were several components of the complex unit

called performance. The school promoted teaching processes that involve

transforming a given state into a new form. They were achieved with integrity in a
 17

different team with cognitive and structural elements. Performance varied

according to circumstances, organic and environmental conditions that determine

skills and experiences. The academic performance involved intellectual level,

personality, motivation, skills, interests, study habits, self-esteem, or the teacher-

student relationship. When a gap between the academic performance and the

student’s expected performance occurs, it refers to a diverging performance.

Unsatisfactory academic performance was the one that was below the desired

performance. Sometimes it could be related to teaching methods (Lamas, 2017).

Above all, it was revealed from Ganesan et al.'s (2018) study that there

was a link between stress and coping strategies. It was cited that university

students were more stressed than those individuals at any other stage of their

life. These stressful students were also more likely to engage in harmful activities

such as binge drinking, eating junk foods, and not exercising regularly. Sure,

students find it challenging to cope with the stress they experience and tend to

lag, while others see it as a challenge to work hard. Coping was seen as a

stabilizing factor that might support an individual in psychosocial adaptation

during stressful situations. Using the right coping style effectively would help

students in reducing their stress levels. It was also known to influence an

individual’s experience of stress. Moreover, it was penned that university

students would be able to decrease the negative effect of stress if they knew how

to cope with them well.

Furthermore, the World Health Organization stated that students must be

healthy and emotionally secure to participate in education fully. Indeed, the

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survey reported that stress about schoolwork, homework, and tests harmed

students’ academic performance in science, mathematics, and reading. The

survey highlighted that top-performing girls said that the fear of making mistakes

often disrupted their test performance. Students in the bottom quarter of

academic performance reported feeling far more stressed than those in the top

quarter of academic performance. As many as 63% of students in the bottom

quarter of science performance reported feeling anxious about tests no matter

how well-prepared they were. In comparison, 46% of students in the top quarter

reported feeling stress. This demonstrates that higher perceived stress levels

were associated with poorer academic performance (Pascoe et al., 2020).

Previous research showed that the experienced of positive and negative

emotions were directly related to levels of students. In 293 students in Grades 7–

10 from the United States, the frequency of positive emotions during classes was

associated with higher student engagement. Conversely, the frequency of

negative emotions was associated with lower attention. This finding was

significant as engagement in learning was necessary for achievement, as

illustrated by a survey conducted by the National Union of Students. This survey

reported that the main factor affecting the tertiary studies of Australian university

students aged 17–25 was stress (Rickwood, Telford, O’Sullivan, Crisp, &

Magyar, 2016). In an observational study of 456 German undergraduate medical

students, higher perceived academic-related stress predicted poor academic

performance (Kotter, Wagner, Bruheim, & Voltmer, 2017). In another study of

121 medical students from Hong Kong, high self-reported stress levels were
 19

similarly related to poorer academic performance (Boulton & O’Connell, 2017).

The above findings demonstrated that the academic-related stress that

secondary and tertiary students experienced constituted a significant factor

affecting their academic achievement. Students with higher perceived stress

were likely to have lower academic achievement.