The relationship between achievement goal orientation and coping style: traditional vs. nontraditional college students

College Student Journal, March, 2003 by Emily A. Morris, Peggy R. Brooks, James L. May

Participants were tested in groups ranging in size from 5-20 students and were told that the purpose of the study was to learn about stress and it's relationship to traditional and nontraditional college students. Each participant was administered a packet containing the CISS, GI, and a demographic inventory. One hour was allotted for completion.

Results

Statistical analyses yielded significant correlations for a number of variables under consideration. See Table 1 for reported mean and standard deviations. Specifically, students' age and learning goal orientation raw scores were significantly correlated (r = .280, df = 98, p<.01). Grade point average was also correlated with learning goal orientation raw scores (r = .275, df = 98, p<.01). Significant correlations were also found between task-oriented coping raw scores and learning goal orientation raw scores (r = .693, df = 98, p<.01). Task-oriented coping raw scores correlated negatively with performance goal orientation raw scores (r = -.198, df = 98, p<.05). Emotion-oriented coping raw scores correlated to performance goal orientation raw scores (r = .380, df = 98, p<.01). Nontraditional college students differed substantially from traditional college students on learning goal orientation raw scores (t = -2.818, df = 98, p<.006). Nontraditional college students also differed considerably from traditional college students on task oriented coping raw scores (t = -2.359, df = 98, p<.02). Emotion-oriented coping was found to be more frequently endorsed by nontraditional college students and performance goal orientations were more often endorsed by traditional students, yet neither were statistically significant.

Discussion

Results support the hypothesis that traditional and nontraditional college students differ in both achievement goal orientations and coping styles. Our results additionally suggest that achievement goal orientations such as learning goals may be predictive of specific coping styles. The most significant finding in support of our hypothesis demonstrated that nontraditional college students more often endorsed a learning goal orientation, utilized task-oriented coping, and reported higher grade point averages. The finding that nontraditional college students more often endorsed learning goal orientations is consistent with Shield's (1993) study finding nontraditional college students placing more importance on learning for it's own sake. Given that grade point average and learning goal orientation correlated positively in our sample, a focus on academic performance may not necessarily lead to a higher grade point average, and a focus on the process of achievement may be more conducive to success. Learning goal orientations were also associated with increased use of task-oriented coping that may imply, for example, that a student who chooses to cope with stress more actively, setting up plans and mapping out solutions, may be more prone to focusing on the process of achievement and in turn attain higher grades, or vice versa. Potential reasons for why nontraditional college students more often utilize task-oriented coping include the possibility that having multiple roles increases the use of task-oriented coping by necessity, or that greater overall maturity increases the likelihood of more adaptive coping and a focus on learning for it's own sake. Results did reflect a relationship between age and the utilization of a learning goal orientation; as age increased so too did the use of learning goals. The predicted relationships between traditional college students' use of performance goal orientations and emotion-oriented coping was not supported by our data. The fact that nontraditional college students had higher levels of both task and emotion-oriented coping is in line with other research (Brooks, Morgan, & Scherer, 1990), suggesting that a larger repertoire of coping strategies is most effective.