Association of Coping Strategies and Quality of Life with Lifetime Traumatic Events among University Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Research on psychological trauma has primarily focused on evaluating the psychological effects of specific incidents. Individuals who have experienced a traumatic event are at a higher risk of exposure to multiple traumatic events in the future. Coping models typically distinguish between three main categories: task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping. Physical, psychological, social, and environmental factors all affect Quality of Life (QoL), and trauma frequently leads to distress and reduced wellbeing. Aim: To evaluate the association between coping strategies and QoL in relation to lifetime traumatic events among university students. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted at NITTE (Deemed to be University), NITTE Institute of Physiotherapy, Mangalore, Karnataka, India. The study was conducted at the university wellness centre between March 2024 and March 2025. The study enrolled college students aged 18 years and above. The Brief Trauma Questionnaire (BTQ) was used to differentiate between students who screened positive and negative for lifetime traumatic events. This was followed by assessing coping strategies using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations and QoL using the World Health Organisation (WHO) Quality of Life Brief version (WHOQoL-BREF). A total of 189 participants were screened, of whom 94 were included and 95 were excluded. Data were analysed using Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v29.0.10, with descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), likelihood ratio tests, and the Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient. A p-value