The relationship between stress, coping, perceived social support and mental health among university students within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Literature on students’ mental health acknowledges that, globally, university students are vulnerable to stress for various reasons. Research also points to relationships between the variables of stress, coping, perceived social support and mental health. Given the recent advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, research seeking to understand how students’ stress, coping strategies, perceived social support and mental health manifest in the context of the pandemic, has increased. However, within the South African context, still little is known about the effects of the pandemic on the relationships between these variables. With data having been collected during the time of the reintroduction of blended teaching and learning (with some lectures still taking place in an online format), the present study aimed to quantify the nature of the relationship between stress, coping, perceived social support and mental health among university students within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was done by analysing data collected from 152 university students aged 18 years and older, across all faculties and years of study at a university in the Western Cape, through an online questionnaire that included five instruments: a demographic questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the Mental Health Inventory – 5 (MHI-5). I obtained ethics approval for the present study from the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (BMREC) of the University of the Western Cape, and institutional permission for the use of university students as research participants from the Office of the University’s Registrar. The study also adhered to the guidelines of the Protection of Personal Information Act (Act 4 of 2013) and the University of the Western Cape’s Research Policy and Data Management Policy.