This study examines the relationship between college students' stress coping strategies, career decision self-efficacy, career preparation behavior, and college life adjustment, and determines the relative influence of these factors on college life ad...
This study examines the relationship between college students' stress coping strategies, career decision self-efficacy, career preparation behavior, and college life adjustment, and determines the relative influence of these factors on college life adjustment to establish the basis for developing a program for healthy college life adjustment. The purpose is to prepare data.
The subjects of the study were 465 second, third, and fourth year students at S University located in Gyeonggi-do who participated in the survey. The measurement tool used was Amirkhan's (1990) Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI), adapted and validated by Shin Hye-jin and Kim Chang-dae (2002), to measure stress coping strategies, and to measure career decision self-efficacy. CDMSES-SF (Betz, Klein & Taylor, 1996), a shortened version of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSES) developed by Taylor and Betz (1983), was used, adapted and validated by Lee Ki-hak and Lee Hak-ju (2000). The measurement tool for career preparation behavior was the tool developed by Kim Bong-hwan (1997), modified and supplemented by Choi Yun-kyung and Kim Seong-hoe (2012), and the measurement tool for college life adaptation was the scale of Moon Eun-sik (2002).
For the statistics of the final data collected for this study, descriptive statistics for each variable were calculated using the SPSS 19.0 program, and Pearson's product-moment correlation was used to determine the correlation between each variable, differences between groups, and explanatory power between variables. Analysis, t test, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed.
The results confirmed through this study are as follows.
First, as a result of analyzing the correlation between stress coping strategies, career decision self-efficacy, career preparation behavior, and adaptation to college life, all correlations between variables showed positive (+) significant correlations. These results confirm that there is some type of meaningful relationship between variables, and by understanding this correlation, we can find ways to effectively change other scales by intervening in one scale. In addition, in the correlation between sub-variables, it was confirmed that only avoidance had no correlation with some job-related factors, and significant correlations were confirmed for all other variables.
Second, in the analysis of differences according to demographic variables, women were found to be higher than men in affective life adjustment, a sub-variable of college life adjustment according to gender, and seeking social support, a sub-variable of stress coping strategies according to age, was 24 years old. It was higher in those aged 22 to 23 than in those aged 22-23 or older, and academic life adjustment, which is a sub-variable of adaptation to college life according to age, was higher in those aged 24 or older than in those aged under 21. The variable problem-solving focus was higher in the arts and physical sciences field than in the natural sciences field. Academic life adjustment, a subvariable of college life adjustment, was higher in the humanities field than in the arts and physical education field. Social life adjustment, a subvariable of college life adjustment, was higher in the humanities field than the science field. This appeared high. In self-evaluation and future planning, which are sub-variables of career decision self-efficacy according to major, the humanities majors were higher than the arts and physical education majors.
Third, as a result of examining the relative influence of college students' stress coping strategies, career decision self-efficacy, and career preparation behavior on the lower-level factors of college life adaptation, the variable that affects academic life adjustment was problem-solving focus among the lower-level variables of stress coping strategies. This was found to have the greatest explanatory power, followed by self-evaluation among the sub-variables of career decision self-efficacy, followed by self-understanding behavior among the sub-variables of career preparation behavior, and job information among the sub-variables of career decision self-efficacy. appear. The variable with the greatest relative explanatory power on social life adaptation was found to be problem solving-oriented among the sub-variables of stress coping strategies, followed by self-evaluation among the sub-variables of career decision self-efficacy, and among the sub-variables of stress-coping strategies. It is the pursuit of social support, and lastly, among the sub-variables of career preparation behavior, job ability improvement behavior and job world exploration behavior appeared in that order. The variable with the greatest relative explanatory power on affective life adjustment was the pursuit of social support among the sub-variables of stress coping strategies, followed by problem-solving focus among sub-variables of stress-coping strategies, and vocational ability among sub-variables of career preparation behavior. It appeared in the order of improvement behavior.
The above research results showed that the higher the stress coping strategy, the higher the career decision self-efficacy, and the higher the career preparation behavior, the higher the adaptation to college life. In addition, the sub-factors that have the most influence on adaptation to college life are problem-solving focus and seeking social support in stress coping strategies, job information and self-evaluation in career decision self-efficacy, and self-understanding behavior and job ability improvement in career preparation behavior. It appeared in action and job world exploration behavior. The results of this study can help us understand the stress that college students experience in the process of deciding their career path, how they cope with stress, and how they adapt to school life. Additionally, educational institutions that support college students can provide important information to help college students develop successful careers. In addition, it is meaningful in that it can be used as basic data for specific educational measures in the college counseling field to understand and provide counseling help to college students who are having difficulty adjusting to college life.
Keywords: College students, Stress coping strategies, Career decision self-efficacy, Career preparation behavior, Adaptation to college life.