(Frontiers Media, 2020-01-31) Fuente Arias, Jesús de la; Amate Romera, Jorge; González Torres, María Carmen; Artuch Garde, Raquel; García-Torrecillas, Juan Manuel; Fadda, Salvatore; Ciencias de la Salud; Osasun Zientziak
The SRL vs. ERL TheoryTM predicts that regulation-related factors in the student and in
the context combine to determine the student's levels in emotional variables, stress, and
coping strategies. The objective of the present research was to test this prediction in the
aspect of coping strategies. Our hypothesis posed that students' level of self-regulation
(low-medium-high), in combination with the level of regulation promoted in teaching
(low-medium-high), would determine the type of strategies students used to cope with
academic stress; the interaction of these levels would focus coping strategies either
toward emotions or toward the problem. A total of 944 university students completed
validated questionnaires on self-regulation, regulatory teaching, and coping strategies,
using an online tool. ANOVAs and MANOVAs (3 1; 3 3; 5 1) were carried out, in
a quasi-experimental design by selection. Level of self-regulation and level of regulatory
teaching both had a significant effect on the type of coping strategies used. The most
important finding was that the combined level of self-regulation and external regulation,
on a five-level scale or heuristic, predicted the type of coping strategies that were used.
In conclusion, the fact that this combination can predict type of coping strategies used
by the student lends empirical support to the initial theory. Implications for the teaching-
learning process at university and for students' emotional health are discussed.
