Proactive coping skills and depression of women teacher students

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between proactive coping skills and depression among teacher students of Bentolhoda Teacher Education Center of Boushehr, Iran. The sample (N=120) was randomly selected from the teacher students and stratified on the basis of their training fields in to five groups: Mathematics Teaching, Primary School Teaching, Experimental Sciences, Religion and Arabic Teaching, and Social Studies Teaching. The age range of the participants was between 18 and 21 years. Two validated instruments (Proactive Coping Inventory & Beck Depression Inventory) were used in collecting data. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and multiple regression were utilized to analyze data. As correlations results indicate all the proactive coping skills had significant negative relationship with depression, barring avoidance coping. [Proactive coping (r= -.47, P<0.01), reflective coping (r= -.32, P<0.01), Strategic coping (r= -.19, P<0.05), preventive coping (r= -.30, P<0.01), Instrumental support seeking (r= -.28, P<0.01) and emotional support seeking (r=-.24, P<.01)]. Also, the regression analysis revealed that proactive coping was the most important factor which predicted depression. The results are discussed in the light of available theoretical and empirical evidence and the implications for intervention are suggested.