Coping with Academic Stress: Ambiguity and Uncertainty Tolerance in College Students

Objective: Stress is a barrier to academic success for college students and the unique resilience effects of ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance have yet to be explored. We hypothesized that tolerance of ambiguity and tolerance of uncertainty relate to academic stress differently. Participants: We recruited 158 undergraduate participants from a medium-size public university in the Midwestern United States. Method: Participants completed measures of ambiguity tolerance, uncertainty tolerance, and academic stress coping strategies. Three separate regression analyses were conducted to predict approach coping, avoidance coping, and social support coping. Results: Results indicated that intolerance of ambiguity is a stronger predictor of approach and avoidance academic stress coping strategies compared to intolerance of uncertainty. Conclusion: These findings will allow for a better understanding of the dynamics underlying coping with academic stress that will be helpful to consider in vocational as well as mental health counseling for college students.