The relationship of gender, stressful life events, social support, and coping style to adaptation to university

The present study examined the relationship of gender, stressful life events, social support and coping styles to students' personal-emotional adjustment to university on two dates (Time 1 and Time 2) four weeks apart in the academic year. One hundred and nine students (37 males, 72 females) enrolled in first year psychology courses completed measures of stressful life events, social support, coping style, and university adjustment at Time 1. At Time 2, the stressful life events and adjustment measures were re-administered. The results of the study reveal, contrary to expectation, that gender is not a significant predictor of personal-— emotional adjustment to university, and that females do not report significantly more stressful life events (at either Time 1 or Time 2) and social support than males. In the hierarchical multiple regression analyses performed to predict personal-emotional adjustment to university at Time 1, stressful life events measured at Time 1 and emotion-oriented coping style were found to account for significant amounts of variance in personal-emotional adjustment scores. In the hierarchical multiple regressions performed to predict personal-emotional adjustment scores at Time 2, personal-emotional adjustment at Time 1 and stressful life events at Time 2 were found to account for the greatest amount of variance in Time 2 adjustment scores, followed by Time 1 stressful life events.