The Relationships of Coping, Negative Thinking, Life Satisfaction, Social Support, and Selected Demographics With Anxiety of Young Adult College Students

PROBLEM: Understanding young adults' anxiety requires applying a multidimensional approach to assess the psychosocial, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of this phenomenon. METHODS: A hypothesized model of the relationships among coping style, thinking style, life satisfaction, social support, and selected demographics and anxiety among college students was tested using path analysis. A total of 257 undergraduate students aged 18-24 years completed an online survey. The independent variables were measured using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Brief Students' Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale, the Brief COPE Inventory, the Positive Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Cognition Checklist-Anxiety. The outcome, anxiety, was measured using the Anxiety subscale of the 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. FINDINGS: Only negative thinking and maladaptive coping had a direct relationship-with anxiety. Negative thinking was the strongest predictor of both maladaptive coping and anxiety. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that helping undergraduates manage their anxiety by reducing their negative thinking is critical. Designing and testing interventions to decrease negative thinking in college students is recommended for future research.