Stress among college students

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Stress is unavoidable, no matter the situation, location, or time; stress is always present. College students, especially freshmen, are a group particularly prone to stress due to the transitional nature of college life (Ross, Niebling, & Heckert 1999). The need to please their parents, the thought of success in life, and being able to sustain a reasonable income in the future, all of which fall on the shoulders of college students who are making decisions for a large portion of their lives. They also must adjust to being away from home for the first time, maintain a high level of academic achievement, and adjust to a new social environment. College students, regardless of year in school, often deal with pressures related to academics, finding a job and a potential life partner. These stressors do not cause anxiety or tension by themselves. Instead, stress results from the interaction between stressors and the individual's perception and reaction to those stressors. The amount of stress experienced may be influenced by the individual's ability to effectively cope with stressful events and situations. If stress is not dealt with effectively, feelings of loneliness and nervousness, as well as sleeplessness and excessive worrying may result. It is important that stress intervention programs be designed to address stress of college students. However, in order to design an effective intervention, the stressors specific to college students must be determined. With various stressors present on college campuses and such high standards set in place for college students to achieve, stress is rampant in their lives, causing their bodies to be completely out of sync.

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Ross, Niebling, & Heckert (1999) studied the stressors present am...

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...tudents' stress under current economic downturn. College Student Journal, 45(3), 536-543.

Hicks, T., & Heastie, S. (2008). High school to college transition: a profile of the stressors, physical and psychological health issues that affect the first-year on-campus college student. Journal Of Cultural Diversity, 15(3), 143-147.

Hudd, S. S., Dumlao, J., Erdmann-Sager, D., Murray, D., Phan, E., Soukas, N., … Yokozuka, N. (2000). Stress at college: effects on health habits, health status and self-esteem. College Student Journal, 34(2).

Paukert, A. L., Pettit, J. W., Perez, M., & Walker, R. L. (2006). Affective and attributional features of acculturative stress among ethnic minority college students. Journal Of Psychology, 140(5), 405-419.

Ross, S. E., Niebling, B. C., & Heckert, T. M. (1999). Sources of stress among college students. College Students Journal, 33(2).

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