Home⇛International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research⇛vol. 6 no. 9 (2025)

Psychological Well-Being and Social Support as Moderators of the Stress Coping–Performance Relationship Among University Students

Heather Faith B. Uy | Peter G. Narsico | Joel L. Estudillo | Jinky R. Delantar | Lalaine O. Narsico

Discipline: Psychology and Health

 

Abstract:

This study investigated whether stress coping skills predict academic performance among university students. Using data from 348 partici-pants, a simple linear regression analysis was conducted. The results showed that stress coping significantly predicted academic perfor-mance, with the model explaining 12.4% of the variance (R² = .124). The overall regression was statistically significant, F(1, 346) = 49.00, p < .00001. The coefficient for stress coping was positive and significant (β = 0.184, SE = 0.026, t = 7.00, p < .00001), indicating that for each one-unit increase in coping ability, academic performance increased by 0.184 units on average. The intercept was also significant (β = 2.936, SE = 0.090, t = 32.62, p < .00001), representing the expected academic per-formance score when coping is at its average level. These findings sug-gest a meaningful positive relationship between students’ ability to manage stress and their academic outcomes. Students who use effective coping strategies, such as emotional regulation and proactive problem-solving, tend to perform better academically. This supports the idea that coping skills contribute to academic resilience and success. Further analysis showed that both psychological well-being and social support significantly strengthened the positive effect of stress coping on aca-demic performance. Psychological well-being had a slightly stronger moderating effect (β = 0.067, p = .0005) compared to social support (β = 0.061, p = .0025), indicating that internal emotional resilience more robustly enhances coping’s impact on performance. Based on these findings, universities should implement programs that promote psy-chological well-being, such as wellness workshops and counselling ser-vices, alongside initiatives that build social support networks like peer mentoring and group activities. These interventions can help students develop stronger coping skills and improve academic outcomes. Over-all, the analysis confirms that stress coping is a significant predictor of academic performance, highlighting the importance of fostering adap-tive coping mechanisms supported by emotional and social resources.



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