Negative self-esteem and preferred coping strategies in Slovak university students

The choice of a specific coping strategy in situations of psychological stress is associated with the type of situation as well as with available personality and social coping resources. In the research presented here we determined, using the NSE scale, the level of negative self-esteem based on which we created extreme groups for the entire sample and for men and women separately. To determine the preference of specific coping strategies we used the Multidimensional Coping Questionnaire (COPE). The sample consisted of 166 students in their third year at the university with various majors; 75 women and 91 men, 20-23 years of age. Subjects scoring higher in negative self-esteem claimed to use maladaptive coping strategies more frequently (behavioral and mental disengagement, focusing on emotions and their expressions, denial). Subjects with a lower score in negative self-esteem preferred humor, positive reinterpretation and growth as coping strategies. Women achieved a higher level of negative self-esteem, they focused more on emotions and sought instrumental and emotional social support more frequently than men. Men concentrated more on the problem than emotions. Humor had a special effect on coping with stress in our sample. In women it correlated with lower level of negative self-esteem and the use of adaptive coping strategies and in men with the use of maladaptive strategies of denial and mental disengagement.