İbrahim KARAKAYA, Fırat AKDENİZ, Ferihan TANRIKUT
Experimental Biomedical Research - 2026;9(4):275-289
Aim: To examine the mediating role of psychological resilience between coping styles and anxiety in young adults. Methods: The study included a total of 225 university students enrolled at Cappadocia University. All the participants completed the Sociodemographic Information Form, the Brief Coping Styles Scale (Brief-COPE), the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). To examine the mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between coping styles and anxiety, 3 separate simple mediation analyses were conducted, in each of which one coping dimension (avoidant/dysfunctional, emotion-focused, or problem-focused) served as the independent variable, anxiety as the dependent variable, and psychological resilience as the mediator. Results: Psychological resilience partially mediated the relationship between coping styles and anxiety. Avoidant/dysfunctional coping was negatively associated with psychological resilience (B = -0.89, p < 0.001) and positively associated with anxiety (B = 0.69, p < 0.001). Both emotion-focused coping (B = 1.01, p < 0.001) and problem-focused coping (B = 1.96, p < 0.001) were positively associated with psychological resilience and indirectly contributed to lower anxiety levels (p < 0.01). Gender comparisons showed that female participants reported significantly higher anxiety levels than males (t(223) = 3.26, p = 0.001, d = 0.50), whereas no significant gender differences were found in psychological resilience (t(223) = -0.52, p = 0.601) or coping styles (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: It can be said that psychological resilience acts as a protective mediating variable in the relationship between coping styles and anxiety among young adults.
