Values, mianzi and coping in Singapore university students.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out how Singapore university students‘ endorsement of Singapore Chinese values (SCV) and mianzi affect their coping style. Band & Weisz (1988) framework of primary and secondary control coping was adopted to classify participants‘ coping styles. As primary control is often associated with better mental health, the present study aims to find out if Singapore students, like most collectivistic societies, use more secondary control coping in academic setting. Results suggested that Singapore students used more secondary control than primary control. Endorsement of SCV also significantly predicted mianzi in the students. In addition, Mianzi was also found to be a significant mediator between SCV and two types of control coping, primary and secondary (behavioral).