College Student Life and Financial Stress: An Examination of the Relation Among Perception of Control and Coping Styles on Mental Health Functioning

Past research indicates that mental health problems of university students are on the increase. The transition to college is easy for some students, but for many others the shift can be very stressful. The college years are also a time during which most students get their first opportunity to manage money. Financial stress has been defined as the unpleasant feeling that one is unable to meet financial demands, cannot afford the necessities of life, and has insufficient funds to make ends meet (Davis & Mantler, 2004). Given the potential stress one may experience while transitioning to college in addition to the high amount of life and financial stress experienced in college, university and college students may be at increased risk for psychological problems compared to same-aged peers (Bouteyre, Maurel, & Bernaud, 2007; Dwyer & Cummings, 2001; Smyth, Hockemeyer, Heron, Wonderlich, & Pennebaker, 2008).;One way to prevent poor psychological adjustment resulting from general life stress as well as financial stress would be to help college students develop skills necessary to cope with the impact of each stressor. Studies have suggested that individuals use different coping styles depending on the stressor faced. In general, studies have indicated that coping efforts intended to alter the source of stress by acting on it directly (problem-focused coping) tend to be used more often with events appraised as controllable, while palliative coping strategies to modulate emotional reactions (emotion-focused coping) are used more often with events perceived as beyond personal control.;The present study was designed to investigate the differential effects of coping style and perception of control on managing life stress and financial stress in a sample of undergraduate college students. Using regression analyses, the current study provides support that college students experience life and financial stress, and that those who indicated feeling stressed were also experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results from the present study also indicate differential patterns of relations among coping, perceived control, and mental health functioning for life stress and financial stress. Specifically, students who used a high amount of emotion-focused coping strategies for dealing with financial stress experienced more depressive symptoms than those who used lower amounts of emotion-focused coping. Further, under conditions of life stress perceived control necessitated the use of either type of coping whereas under conditions of financial stress, appraisals of control only warranted the use of problem-focused coping. Finally, an association was found between students' perceived control and reported depressive and anxiety symptoms under conditions of financial stress; however, contrary to prediction, no significant relations were indicated between these variables under conditions of life stress. Taken together, these findings suggest that life and financial stress may be qualitatively different from one another. Of note, this study was the first to investigate the effectiveness of various coping styles for college students experiencing financial stress.