Coping styles and attitudes toward counselling among University students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the students` coping styles and attitudes toward counselling. 10,370 university students at the University of Malta were contacted. 585 students participated in this study. Data was collected by means of an online structured questionnaire that was distributed to all students at the University of Malta. This was done using SPSS Version 22. Since the current study seeked to investigate group differences, associations/relationships between variables, and to predict changes in variables, a quantitative research strategy was deemed suitable to meet the aims and objectives set out by the study. A descriptive design was adopted. Chi-Square testing and the ANOVA tests were conducted to test hypotheses and make inferences. For both tests a 0.05 level of significance was used. Four predictors were found to be positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. These were use of instrumental support, behavioural disengagement, gender and self-distraction.