Resumen: The university academic context can be a variable that induces stress
and mental health problems. Several motivational-affective variables,
¿ Corresponding author: Jesús de la Fuente, Ph D., Department of Psychology, Developmental
and Educational Psychology Area, Faculty of Psychology, University of Almería, Carretera
de Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain. E-mail: jfuente@ual.
es, tel: +34 950015354.
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28 J. de la Fuente, J. Manuel García Torrecillas and S. Rodríguez Vargas
such as coping strategies, can help buffer this problem. The present
research objective was to establish the relationship between coping
strategies, test anxiety, and academic burnout-engagement. A total of 200
university students participated (148 women and 52 men), from the
second and fourth years of a Psychology degree program. The mean age
of participants was 21.06 years (SD = 3.10). An ex post-facto
correlational and inferential design was used, with several Pearson
bivariate correlations and MANOVAs carried out among the different
variables. Coping strategies, focused on emotions vs. on the problem,
showed consistent associations (positive and negative, respectively) with
test anxiety, burnout and engagement. Levels (high, medium, low) of use
of emotion- vs. problem-focused coping strategies were interdependent
with levels of test anxiety and burnout, but not with engagement. This
information can help in the development of future interventions to
improve coping strategies in our students, within the university setting
