Sources Of Stress Among College Students

College Student Journal, June, 1999 by Shannon E. Ross, Bradley C. Niebling, Teresa M. Heckert

Materials and Procedure

The Student Stress Survey was created for this study based on the Student Stress Scale (Insel, & Roth, 1985), the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (Taylor, 1953), and other potential sources of stress that were identified by the researchers. The survey consisted of 40 items that were divided into 4 categories of potential sources of stress: six items representing interpersonal sources of stress, 16 items representing intrapersonal sources of stress, eight items representing academic sources of stress, and 10 items representing environmental sources of stress. Interpersonal sources result from interactions with other people, such as, a fight with a boyfriend or girlfriend or trouble with parents, Intrapersonal sources result from internal sources, such as, changes in eating or sleeping habits. Academic sources arise from school-related activities and issues, such as, an increased class workload or transferring schools. Finally, environmental stressors result from problems in the environment, outside of academics, such as car or computer problems. Respondents checked each item they had experienced during the current school year.

Within these divisions, the stressors were identified as either daily hassles, like financial difficulties or being placed in an unfamiliar situation, or major life events, such as starting college or change in use of alcohol or drugs. Daily hassles comprised six interpersonal stressors, seven intrapersonal stressors, three academic stressors, and seven environmental. The Student Stress Survey was distributed at the beginning of a regularly scheduled fraternity meeting in the 1997 Spring semester.

Results and Discussion

The number of items checked ranged from 0 to 31, with a mean of 16.5 (SD = 4.62). The distribution of responses was as follows: 38% of the stressors were intrapersonal, 28% environmental, 19% interpersonal, and 15% academic. The number of responses to each item can be found in Table 1. Of the responses for interpersonal sources of stress, 100% were daily hassles. Daily hassles accounted for 88.2% of the environmental stressors. Daily hassles were responsible for 77.3% of the intrapersonal stressors, and 67.2% of the academic sources of stress. Overall, 81.1% of the identified stress sources could be classified as daily hassles.

Table 1 Number of College Students Reporting Each Source of Stress

Category                                        Total

Interpersonal
  Change in social activities                     71
  Roommate conflict                               61
  Work with people you don't know                 57
  Fight with boyfriend/girlfriend                 41
  New boyfriend/girlfriend                        36
  Trouble with parents                            21
Intrapersonal
  Change in sleeping habits                       89
  Change in eating habits                         74
  New responsibilities                            73
  Financial difficulties                          71
  Held a job                                      65
  Spoke in public                                 60
  Change in use of alcohol or drugs               39
  Outstanding personal achievement                35
  Started college                                 32
  Decline in personal health                      26
  Minor law violation                             14
  Change in religious beliefs                     13
  Death of a family member                        12
  Death of a friend                                6
  Severe injury                                    5
  Engagement/Marriage                              2
Academic
  Increased class workload                        73
  Lower grade than anticipated                    68
  Change of Major                                 24
  Search for graduate school/job                  21
  Missed too many classes                         21
  Anticipation of graduation                      20
  Serious argument with instructor                11
  Transferred schools                              3
Environmental
  Vacations/breaks                                82
  Waited in long line                             69
  Computer problems                               69
  Placed in unfamiliar situation                  51
  Messy living conditions                         50
  Put on hold for extended period of time         47
  Change in living environment                    46
  Car trouble                                     42
  Quit job                                         8
  Divorce between parents                          1