Impact of Perceived Vulnerability on Student's Coping Strategies in Stressful Situations: An Appraisal of Health Belief Model

The recognition of effective psycho-social factors on individual’s reaction to stressful situations is very important for management and control of stress in early stages and prevention of its negative consequences. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between perceived vulnerability and coping strategies of students in framework of health belief model. This study conducted with a survey and cross-sectional method. Data were collected from 373 students of Yazd University, from seven educational groups. These students were selected with random quota sampling. Measuring tools were coping strategies scale and perceived vulnerable scale. There were significant negative correlation between perceived vulnerability and seeking social support (p<.01), problem-focused coping strategies (p<.01), and active coping strategies (p<.01). Also, there were significant positive correlation between perceived vulnerability and reappraisal/adjustment (p<.01), and emotion-focused coping strategies (p<.01). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that the perceived vulnerability variable explained for %16.6 of the variance in coping strategies. Students with lower levels of perceived vulnerability higher use of problem-focused coping strategies and individuals with higher levels of acute vulnerability using emotion-focused coping strategies.