ADAPTIVE COPING WITH TEST SITUATIONS - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This article reviews research on students' coping with test situations and the relation between coping efforts and adaptational outcomes. Fu rther, conceptual and methodological issues related to research on cop ing and adaptive outcome variables are discussed. Overall, this articl e lends support to a number of tentative generalizations about the cop ing process in exam situations. First, adaptive coping in exam situati ons involves a flexible repertoire and combined use of alternative cop ing strategies, including task-oriented and emotion-oriented forms of coping. Coping strategies in exam situations are found to work with mo dest effects and make a difference, mainly with respect to affective o utcomes. With respect to cognitive outcomes, coping has little meaning ful influence on exam performance. Furthermore, coping with a stressfu l exam situation is a process; it is a transaction between a person an d an event that plays across time and changing circumstances, with the relevance of a coping reaction varying with the phase of the stressfu l examination considered. Furthermore, research suggests that coping p atterns should fit both the context and the individual, with coping in variably interacting with situational parameters in impacting upon bot h adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. At present, there is no consensus about which coping strategies are most effective and adaptive in prom oting positive outcomes in exam situations. It is not clear whether co ping influences adjustment, whether coping tactics covary with adjustm ent, or whether coping and distress are mutually intertwined reflectio ns of yet some other human condition or characteristic. Future researc h on the effectiveness of coping strategies in examination contexts sh ould include more precise theoretical statements, continuous and longi tudinal data collection, and the inclusion of situational and personal variables. Further research is needed to clarify how a coping strateg y resolves problems, relieves emotional distress, and prevents future difficulties.