Why would matching coping to the stressor matter for sleep?
The logic behind the question is that the same coping move can be helpful or unhelpful depending on the situation. One study of college students in China frames coping as maladaptive when the stressor is not controllable, and asks why exposure to the same stressors produces burnout in some students but not others [1]. That framing implies a fit between strategy and situation, though the study measured sleep quality directly without testing whether coping was matched to controllable academic stressors [1].
A second study of university students ties self-efficacy and coping strategies to sleep quality, and its discussion raises the distinction between controllable and uncontrollable stressors [3]. That is the closest the evidence comes to the matching idea, but the stressors discussed are not specifically academic ones, and the study does not test a match between coping style and stressor controllability [3]. So the mechanism is discussed, not demonstrated.
What the coping-and-sleep studies actually measured
In youth, an experience-sampling study examined how coping styles relate to sleep quality in daily life, including coping that involves diverting oneself from the stressor and arousal during school versus vacation [5]. This directly measures sleep quality and coping, but it does not address controllable academic stressors, so it cannot tell us whether matching matters [5].
A physical education-based coping training for vocational students tested whether teaching coping skills changed stress perceptions and quality of sleep [4]. That is a test of coping training as a whole, not of matching a style to a stressor's controllability, so it speaks to whether coping can affect sleep at all rather than to the matching question [4].
Academic stress and sleep are linked, but coping is left out
Among graduate students in the Philippines, most respondents (60.7%) were classified as poor sleepers, and academic stress was experienced at a moderate level [2]. Academic stress was significantly and negatively correlated with academic resilience and was a significant individual predictor of it, while sleep quality showed no significant relationship or predictive value [2]. That study did not examine coping styles or controllable academic stressors, so it tells us academic stress and sleep are both salient in student life without answering whether matching coping to stressor type changes sleep [2].
Taken together, these studies establish that coping and sleep quality are connected in student and youth populations [1][3][5], and that academic stress is common alongside poor sleep [2]. None of them isolates the specific comparison the question asks about: whether a coping style that fits a controllable stressor produces better sleep than one that does not.
What would it take to answer the question properly?
To test the matching idea, a study would need to measure three things at once: whether a given academic stressor is controllable, which coping style the student used, and sleep quality as an outcome. The existing studies each cover part of that picture. The Chinese burnout study measures sleep quality and coping but not the match [1]; the self-efficacy study discusses controllability but not academic stressors [3]; the youth study measures coping and sleep in daily life but not controllability [5]; the training study tests coping skills and sleep but not matching [4]; and the graduate-student study measures academic stress and sleep but not coping [2].
Until a study combines those elements, the honest answer is that matching coping to a controllable or uncontrollable academic stressor is a reasonable hypothesis about sleep, not an established predictor. The current evidence is consistent with coping and sleep being related, but it does not show that the match itself is what improves sleep.
Sources used in this answer
The role of active coping in the relationship between learning burnout and sleep quality among college students in China
Among college students in China, the study examines learning burnout, coping style, and sleep quality, framing coping as maladaptive when a stressor is not controllable, but it does not test whether coping is matched to controllable academic stressors.
Sleep Quality and Academic Stress as Predictors of Academic Resilience Among the Graduate Students of the School of Counseling and Psychology at San Pedro College
Among Filipino graduate students, 60.7% were poor sleepers and academic stress negatively predicted academic resilience, while sleep quality showed no significant relationship with resilience; coping styles and stressor controllability were not examined.
Association of self-efficacy and coping with sleep quality and disturbances with an emphasis on mediating role of eating behaviors and body mass index: A structural …
In university students, self-efficacy and coping strategies were associated with sleep quality, and the discussion raises the controllable-versus-uncontrollable stressor distinction, but academic stressors and coping-stressor matching were not specifically tested.
Effects of a physical education-based coping training on adolescents' coping skills, stress perceptions and quality of sleep
A physical education-based coping training for Swiss vocational students assessed effects on coping skills, stress perceptions, and sleep quality, but did not analyze matching coping style to controllable academic stressors.
Coping and sleep quality in youth: An Experience Sampling study
An experience-sampling study of youth examined associations between daily coping styles and sleep quality, including coping by diverting from the stressor and arousal during school versus vacation, but did not address controllable academic stressors.