Moderating the Association Between Perceived Academic Stressors and Active Coping: The Role of University Students’ Good Practices

Abstract

University students face academic demands that may be associated with reduced use of active coping when perceived as stressful. This study examined whether feedback seeking, cooperative work, time management, and active learning moderated the association between perceived academic stressors and active coping. A cross-sectional, non-experimental design was used with 1014 undergraduates from the University of Extremadura. Participants completed measures of perceived academic stressors (E-CEA), active coping (A-CEA), and good practices (IBPEU). Four separate moderation models were estimated using PROCESS Model 1 with 5000 bootstrap resamples, adjusting for age, gender, year of study, and field of study. Perceived academic stressors were negatively associated with active coping, whereas all four good-practice dimensions were positively associated with it. All interaction terms were positive and statistically significant (B = 0.058–0.086, p = 0.017–0.046), but each accounted for only 0.34–0.49% of additional explained variance. Across all four models, higher reported levels of the corresponding good-practice dimension were associated with a less pronounced negative association between perceived academic stressors and active coping. The findings may inform the development and evaluation of student-support and instructional initiatives focused on feedback literacy, cooperative skills, time planning, and active engagement with learning. They also point to the relevance of educational conditions that may facilitate these practices within university learning environments.