THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HARDINESS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTACHMENT STYLES AND STRESS COPING STRATEGIES AMONG PALESTINIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
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Date
2024-09-19
Authors
Abu Alia, Sara
Journal Title
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Publisher
An-Najah National University
Abstract
Background:
University students face a considerable amount of stress, whether it was academic,
social, or mental based stress, but it’s crucial to note that their families at home is the
first environment in which they grow up learning about the world around them, and the
way they interact with surrounding events is especially affected by their relationships
with their parents, which are regarded as the greatest influence to individuals when it
comes to their personality development; due to the intimate bonds that tie the family
members together, also known as attachments. This research focuses on the attachment
theory of John Bowlby, which focuses on the notion that people’s abilities to build
physical and emotional relationships are affected by their levels of feeling secure.
Accessibility of parents or caregivers provide their children a secure base to explore,
knowing that if they encounter distress, their caregivers will provide them with help and
emotional support. Eventually, as children grow up, they pick up certain strategies to
regulate their inner distress and cope with stressful life-events. One Personality trait that
is affected by attachment relationships between family members is psychological
hardiness; because it influences what strategies they utilize to cope with stress.
Aim: This study aimed to examine the mediating role of psychological hardiness in the
relationship between attachment styles and stress coping strategies among students of
Palestinian universities.
Method:
Data was collected using The Yarmouk Scale of Attachment Styles The Short
Psychological Hardiness Scale, and The Stress Coping Strategies for a sample of 200
Palestinian university students. The collected data was analyzed using SPS version 25.0.
Results: The results of the study revealed that there was a negative relationship
between attachment styles and stress coping strategies, a negative relationship between
attachment styles and psychological hardiness, and a positive relationship between
psychological hardiness and stress coping strategies among Palestinian university
students. The results also showed that attachment styles and psychological hardiness
explain (53%) from each other, while stress coping strategies and psychological
hardiness explain (70%) from each other. Additionally, there weren’t any significant
differences in attachment styles, psychological hardiness, and stress coping strategies
means among Palestinian university students according to gender, age, university, and
birth order.
Recommendations:
The study recommends that, in Palestine, universities provide
more counselling centers, arrange free workshops to spread awareness on the influences
of parent-child interactions on children’s psychological hardiness, and provide training
courses to teach students efficient strategies of coping with stress. Finally, the
researcher recommends further research on this topic in the Palestinian context.
Keywords:
Attachment, Attachment styles, coping, stress coping strategies,
psychological hardiness.