Stress Adaptation Profiles in Higher Education Students: Relationship with Coping and Burnout

This study sought to understand whether different stress and cognitive appraisal profiles corresponded to differences in students’ coping and burnout. The sample included 547 students from four university courses aged 17–52 years (M = 20.6; SD = 4.4). The assessment protocol included: the Stress Questionnaire for Students, the Primary and Secondary Cognitive Appraisal Scale, the Reduced Coping Inventory, and the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. The results showed that work overload and academic evaluation were the main sources of stress, and there was a higher use of adaptive coping strategies to cope with stress. Students with a higher stress profile and moderately positive cognitive appraisal profile used less adaptive coping strategies and showed higher levels of burnout. In summary, these findings may be used to develop intervention strategies focusing on students’ ability to manage stress and how they appraise their academic activity.