Perfectionism and Academic Adjustment among Undergraduates: The Coping Strategy as a Mediator

Abstract

The high dropout rate among undergraduates has drawn the concerns of policymakers and educators. Studies suggested that the dropout is relevant to poor academic adjustment, and to poor academic adjustment is associated with perfectionism and coping strategies. This study adopts the personality-coping-outcome theory as a framework to examine whether coping strategies mediate the effects of perfectionism on academic adjustment. Two hundred eleven undergraduate students participated in the online survey through the purposive sampling method. They were asked to fill in the Short-Almost perfect scale, simplified coping style questionnaire and academic adjustment scale. The results showed that both perfectionism and coping strategies are associated with academic adjustment, and perfectionism is associated with coping strategies. Besides, coping strategies are statistical mediators for the effects of perfectionism on academic adjustment. The findings support the application of personality-coping-outcome theory in the areas of academic adjustment. Workshops can be provided to students to train their use of appropriate coping strategies while facing academic adjustment issues.