HOW DO HIGH-SCHOOL AND COLLEGE-STUDENTS COPE WITH TEST SITUATIONS

This paper reports data on high school and college students' coping st rategies and compares and contrasts their respective responses. Specif ically, we examine the relationship between personal variables, coping , and affective outcomes in 100 high school and 241 college students p reparing for an important exam. Test anxiety, coping resources and sit uational coping strategies served as predictor variables whereas resul tant state anxiety during the exam period served as the criterion meas ure in the analyses. The data show that both high school and college s tudents used combinations of most of the available forms of problem-fo cused and palliative coping, although problem-focused coping was obser ved to be more prominent than palliative coping. Compared to high scho ol students, college students reported more frequent use of problem-fo cused coping whereas high school students reported more frequent avoid ance coping than their collegiate counterparts. Overall, highly simila r patterns of relations were observed between anxiety and predictor va riables in high school and college students. Students with richer copi ng resources and low trait text anxiety evidenced lower state anxiety in an evaluative encounter. Whereas problem-focused coping was not pre dictive of anxiety in either group, palliative strategies (i.e., emoti on-focused coping and avoidance) were significantly related to affecti ve outcomes. At both high school and college levels dispositional test anxiety was significantly predictive of palliative coping strategies, which were, in turn, related to affective outcomes. Coping strategies were not meaningful moderators of the relationship between personal r esources and state anxiety in either group. Overall, this study sugges ts that personality variables influence the coping strategies students select and these strategies, in turn, influence subsequent affective outcomes. The results are discussed in light of coping theory and prio r research.