Examining the Relationships between Basic Psychological Needs and Wellness in College Students: The Mediating Role of Stress Coping Styles

Abstract

College students face a diverse range of difficulties that risk their wellness. Therefore, understanding factors affecting college students’ wellness would be important for preventing and intervening strategies. This study examined the mediating role of coping styles on the relationships between basic psychological needs and wellness in Turkish college students. A total of 599 college students participated in the study by filling out self-reported questionnaires on basic psychological needs, coping styles, and wellness. A path analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. The findings showed positive direct effects of basic psychological needs on wellness. The results also revealed that self-confident, optimistic, and helpless coping styles were partial mediators between basic psychological needs and wellness. However, social support-seeking and submissive coping styles did not play any significant mediation role. Specifically, satisfaction of basic psychological needs was associated with self-confident and optimistic styles, which is in turn positively associated to college students’ wellness. These findings advance our understanding of the association of basic psychological needs with wellness via coping styles. The limitations and practical implications, along with the future research directions, were discussed.