This research paper attached here titled "Perfectionism, Coping Styles and Academic Adjustment: Their Relationships among UTAR Kampar Undergraduate Students" was prepared and submitted by "Ang See Sin, Phi Chean Ni and Tan Kok Wei" as partial fulfillment application for the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) Psychology is hereby accepted. The results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between adaptive perfectionism and positive coping. Maladaptive perfectionism and negative coping were found to be significantly negatively related to academic adjustment.
The findings also showed that adaptive perfectionism and positive coping were positive predictors of academic adjustment. Therefore, this study can help fill the gap in the literature in the Malaysian context and serve as a guideline for students to gain a deeper understanding of factors affecting their academic adjustment. 4 Correlation matrix of all variables (adaptive perfectionism, maladaptive perfectionism, positive coping, negative coping and academic adjustment).
1 Multiple correlation model to examine the relationship between perfectionism, coping styles, and academic adjustment among undergraduates. 2 Multiple regression model to examine the prediction of perfectionism and coping styles on academic adjustment among undergraduates.
Introduction
A positive coping style is a positive reinterpretation that would increase a person's level of academic adjustment (Rahat & Ilhan, 2016). However, most studies focused on the relationship between coping strategies and academic adjustment were done in the Western context (Cousins et al., 2016; Iruloh & Ukaegbu, 2017). This indicates the lack of studies focusing on coping styles and academic adjustment among students in Malaysian culture.
Researchers tend to focus only on the relationship between perfectionism and academic adjustment through other mediating factors such as. H2a: There is a significant positive relationship between adaptive perfectionism and academic adjustment among UTAR Kampar students. H2b: There is a significant negative relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and academic adjustment among UTAR Kampar students.
H3a: There is a significant positive relationship between positive coping style and academic adjustment among UTAR Kampar students. H3b: There is a significant negative relationship between negative coping style and academic adjustment among UTAR Kampar students.
Literature Review
Results showed a positive relationship between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies along with academic adjustment. For the emotion-focused coping strategy, a non-significant relationship was found between it and academic adjustment. Overall, most studies reported a positive relationship between problem-focused coping and academic adjustment.
At the same time, a non-significant correlation was found between emotion-focused coping and professional adjustment. Meanwhile, there is a significant relationship between coping styles and academic adjustment (Bukhari & Ejaz, 2020; Iruloh & Ukaegbu, 2017). It showed that perfectionism and coping styles are independent variables and academic adjustment is the outcome variable.
Multiple correlation model to examine the relationship between perfectionism, coping styles and academic adjustment among undergraduate students. Multiple regression model to examine the prediction of perfectionism and coping styles on academic adjustment among undergraduate students.
Methodology
After data cleaning, 41 responses did not meet the study's inclusion criteria, which a (1) Malaysian and (2) UTAR Kampar undergraduate students were removed from the dataset. Due to the inability to perform randomness in the selection of samples from a large population in UTAR, a purposive non-probability sampling, a method where the selection of participants is based solely on the judgment of researchers (Showkat & Parveen, 2017), selected. In addition, there are several advantages to using this method, including low expenses, easy availability, and convenience, which best suit the study's requirement.
First, the study was approved by the UTAR Scientific and Ethical Review Committee (SERC) (U/SREC see Appendix B). For data collection, an online survey was created using Qualtrics and distributed using a QR code or a link via social media platforms to the target audience. Participants then had to read and accept the online survey informed consent (see Appendix C).
Participants could leave the research if they did not agree to participate in the research. The inclusion criteria for this study were that the participant must be Malaysian and a student of UTAR Kampar. Then, the instruments included in the study are the Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS), the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) and the Academic Adjustment Scale (AAS).
There are two subscales, with each subscale comprising four items, including standards (e.g., I have high expectations of myself) and deviance (e.g., I never seem to give enough.) A high score on the standards dimension indicates adaptive perfectionism, high and a score in the discrepant aspects indicates maladaptive perfectionism. This instrument was created by Xie (1998) based on the Coping Styles Questionnaire (1985) with the concepts of problem focus and emotion focus.
There are three subscales in this instrument, including academic lifestyle (e.g., I enjoy the lifestyle of a university student), academic performance (e.g., I am satisfied with my ability to learn at university), and also academic motivation (e.g., I expect to successfully complete my studies within the usual allotted time frame.) with three items each. The score is obtained by the sum of three subscores ranging from 9 to 45. In the current study, the Cronbach's alpha for the entire scale is .69, which falls short of the acceptable level.
Results
The results showed that adaptive perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism had a significant relationship with academic adjustment. Adaptive perfectionism was significantly and positively correlated with academic adjustment (r p < .001), and maladaptive perfectionism was significantly and negatively correlated with academic adjustment. Students with a strong tendency to practice negative coping styles are said to have low levels of academic adjustment.
This study found that adaptive perfectionism was positively related to academic adjustment, while the opposite relationship was found between maladaptive perfectionism and. There was a positive correlation between positive coping style and academic adjustment, and a negative correlation between negative coping style and academic adjustment in the current study. This is in agreement with a previous study by Montgomery et al. 2017), which also supported that adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism were significant predictors of academic adjustment.
Constantly focusing on striving for excellence without feeling satisfied reduces academic adjustment (Zarenezhad et al., 2013) as they tend to be more anxious. One explanation is that maladaptive perfectionism not only contributes to lower academic adjustment in terms of satisfaction, but also causes high levels of stress. Overall, the research objectives of this study have been achieved through the relationship between perfectionism, coping styles and academic adjustment among UTAR Kampar.
According to this study, it was found that adaptive perfectionism positively predicts academic adjustment, while maladaptive perfectionism predicts academic adjustment inversely. Moreover, based on the current study, positive coping was a positive predictor of academic adjustment, while negative coping was a negative predictor of academic adjustment among UTAR Kampar students. Furthermore, both coping styles, either positive or negative coping styles, were reported as significant predictors of academic adjustment.
Therefore, this study provided insight for future researchers on the relationship between perfectionism, coping styles and also academic adjustment in Malaysia. Personality types, demographic variables and academic adjustment of fresh undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Adolescent psychological and academic adjustment as a function of discrepancy between actual and ideal self-perceptions.
Perfectionism, stress and social (dis)connection: a short-term study of hopelessness, depression and academic adjustment among honors students. On the differential relations between perfectionism and academic adjustment: the mediating role of passion and affect.
Part A-Demographic Information
Part B-Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS)
Part C-Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ)
Part D-The Academic Adjustment Scale (AAS)
