COVID-19 and university students: Development of the Robust – Pandemic Coping Scale (R-PCS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked an increase in both psychopathological symptoms and negative emotions. Examining how university students coped with the pandemic can give indications about how to intervene to support them. Coping is a multi-component process referring to all the actions marshaled to face the traumatic impact of stressful events. We studied how university students coped with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, by developing the Robust – Pandemic Coping Scale (R-PCS), deputed to measure coping strategies related to epidemics/pandemics. We involved 2,987 Italian university students who participated to an online survey, including the R-PCS and the Power to Live with Disasters Questionnaire (PLDQ). We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which supported the goodness of a 4-factor model (i.e., Despair, Adjustment, Proactivity, Aversion) for the R-PCS, invariant across gender and age. Then, we applied the Rasch analysis. The correlations with the PLDQ supported also the criterion validity of the scale. Therefore, we described the development of a new, brief, and psychometrically sound instrument to assess students’ coping strategies related to epidemics/pandemics. Our study revealed also gender and age differences: Scores were higher for Despair, Adjustment, and Proactivity for females; for Aversion for males; and for Proactivity for students older than 23 years. At the applied level, the R-PCS could be used to investigate the efficacy of evidence-based interventions aiming at supporting students during the pandemic or to monitor their reactions. And it could also be a basis for developing further scales for assessing coping related to other disasters.