Stress among University Students - Desklib

Running head: STRESS
Title: Stress among University Students
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STRESS
This research, approved by the institutional ethical committee, was conducted within
selected universities in the urban areas in Australia. The study had a sample size of 1200
students with convenience sampling using as the sampling technique. Engineering, dental and
medical students were used for the study. A total of five colleges participated in the study
with two of them being engineering colleges, two dental colleges and one medical college.
The questionnaire did not include names of any student or institution for anonymity. The
engineering students outnumbered the medical students and therefore mechanical engineering
students were randomly selected from the engineering colleges to ensure comparability.
A self-administered questionnaire, created by published literature and finalized after a
pilot study, and online survey were used as the instruments of study (Bedewy & Gabriel,
2015). The questionnaire had three sections. The first part was the sociodemographic factors
which included gender, parents’ occupation and education background, where the student
was brought up and the students’ educational background. The second part included the
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) which had to be approved by researchers as
a sociodemographic conditions screening instrument. The stress scale could be used to
determine irritability, relaxing difficulties and tension and gave results corresponding to
generalized anxiety disorder symptom criteria. The DASS-21 classified stress as either
normal (absent), mild, moderate or severe. Questions designed to determine the cause of
stress made up the third section. These questions to determine possible stressors were
categorized into three groups. These categories included, stress caused by academic factors,
stress due to social and environmental factors and stress as a result of lifestyle and health
factors.
The study designed questions on the academic factors based on the fact that most
stress and anxiety cases in students are reported during examination periods due to high work
load, long examination duration and lack of physical activity (Bedewy & Gabriel, 2015). The

STRESS
study considered academic factor such as if the student failed in school, choice of courses,
quality of college education, study related problems and satisfaction with teaching criteria.
The study stressed on long examination durations and high workloads as they carry more
weight than the other two academic factors. The questions considered whether parents and
teachers contribute to stress in students in school. This is because teachers’ expectations and
parental pressure are factors that influence students during choosing of careers, in their study
and maybe during examinations. Students who chose a certain career as a result of parental
pressure could be in great fear to face their parents after failing in an examination. The
questionnaire also captured on the academic perception of the students. These self-perception
factors include the student’s past academic achievements intelligence, personality academic
psychological and economic factors. Sometimes students underestimate their capabilities
while others overestimate the consequences of failing which might lead to anxiety and poor
performance.
Environmental factors were incorporated in the questionnaire as the environment
plays a big role in determining a student’s life in school. Social and environmental factors
accessed in this study were the students’ residential and college environment, recreational
activities, family, social, emotional and economic problems and also the students’
relationship with one another. It is true that every person has to adapt to the environment they
find themselves in. some factors captured here were lack or short time for breaks whereby the
student has little time to rest. Students’ living conditions and unfamiliar situations in school
were also considered. The study thought that the living conditions might directly affect the
well-being of a student. This included where and how the students lived. Students might find
themselves being victims of some unusual situations in school which might disturb the
students. The study considered divorce of parents as an environmental factor. The student
finds himself in a situation whereby the parents are divorced.