Stress management strategies, a sense of perceived stress and assessment of depression risk in a group of students of the “Borderland University”

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between coping strategies, perceived stress and depression risk assessment in a group of students in the Polish-Czech borderland. 173 students from the University of Silesia participated in the study. The participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale and the Multidimensional Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress. The correlation analysis showed that strategies described as adaptive (e.g., active coping, positive reappraisal and development) are negatively related to the perceived stress and severity of depressive symptoms. In contrast, strategies that can be described as non-adaptive (e.g., disengagement, denial) presented opposite (i.e., positive) relationship effects with the perceived stress and depressiveness. In the light of the obtained data, it seems that the repertoire of coping methods presented by individuals to deal with stress may be reflected in their perception of situations as aggravating and in their assessment of the risk of depression. Thus, future psychopedagogical interventions should focus on building personal resources by shaping adaptive (and minimizing those nonadaptive) coping strategies to improve mental health among borderland students.