A Review of First-Year Student Stress and Social Support

Abstract

The present paper reviews empirical literature on stress and social support relative to first-year post-secondary students, published between 1996 and 2020. Empirical studies included in the literature search focused on stress, coping, and social support specifically among first-year undergraduate students while studying in countries adopting North American higher education models comparable to the United States and Canada. This review examines contextual and psychological antecedents and correlates of stress, as well as associated demographic and achievement variables. Furthermore, this review extends to studies on social support categorized by source (peers, family, faculty, institution, and multiple sources of support). A synthesis and critique of the literature explores the themes in the empirical research presented, as well as considerations for future research.

SETTLE DOWN: Preliminary investigations and development of an online toolkit to support student self-regulation in higher education

“…The literature also suggests university students feel a higher level of stress in comparison to their friends and family who do not attend university (Nerdrum et al, 2006). Stress can manifest as anxiety and depression (Maymon and Hall, 2021), and rates of psychological distress in students have been shown to at least equal (Macaskill, 2013), if not surpass those in the general population (Khawaja and Dempsey, 2008;Browne et al, 2017). Unsurprisingly, researchers have determined negative relationships between student stress and wellbeing (Pascoe et al, 2020), stress and academic performance (Pluut et al, 2015) and wellbeing and dropout rates in higher education (HE) (Mistler et al, 2012), and have identified a connection between attrition rates and levels of support offered to students (Ricks et al, 2014;Cherastidtham and Norton, 2018), Many stressors have the potential to tax student coping.…”

“…Unsurprisingly, researchers have determined negative relationships between student stress and wellbeing (Pascoe et al, 2020), stress and academic performance (Pluut et al, 2015) and wellbeing and dropout rates in higher education (HE) (Mistler et al, 2012), and have identified a connection between attrition rates and levels of support offered to students (Ricks et al, 2014;Cherastidtham and Norton, 2018), Many stressors have the potential to tax student coping. A major finding is that the first year of university is the most difficult for students to adjust to Garett et al (2017) and Maymon and Hall (2021). These students are focused on the change in their environment including new relationships, managing finances and possibly moving away from the family home, as well as encountering the developmental challenges that arise as they enter young adulthood.…”

“…The first months of HE study can be especially unsettling (Lin and Huang, 2014). Those who are isolated and who are not able to normalise their student experience can be at increased risk of greater stress levels; membership in a minority group (e.g., racial minorities, sexual minorities, Indigenous students, first-in-family students, and international students) can act as a risk factor (Kwan et al, 2021;Maymon and Hall, 2021). Changes to diet, sleep patterns (Garett et al, 2017) and exercise regimes can all contribute to the level of stress a student experiences as can the challenge of determining a workable life balance between study, work commitments, relationships, and recreation (Gomathi et al, 2012;Pluut et al, 2015;Pitt et al, 2018).…”

“…As students shift into the world of adult learning, there is increased accountability for autonomous and selfdirected learning engagement (Agonács and Matos, 2019),a competency that has perhaps become more prominent in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the institution of education. It can be challenging to navigate this transition while also adjusting to the increased academic demands of HE such as exams and assessment submission, as well as the stressors of workload and difficulty of program content, all which act as major contributors to student stress levels (Garett et al, 2017;Maymon and Hall, 2021). Progress in academic study is often a function of competition within student cohorts, heightening performance pressure on students that increase the stakes of individual assessments and the likelihood 10.3389/feduc.2022.957328 that students question their self-efficacy relative to their peers (Pitt et al, 2018).…”

“…The impact of stressors on an individual's self-concept must therefore be carefully considered within the context of a student's capacity for self-directed learning. As aforementioned, the effect of student stress can be expressed through student mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, as well as the associated issues of low self-esteem, low self-worth and even suicidal ideation (Garett et al, 2017;Maymon and Hall, 2021). Impairment to cognitive capacity arising from fatigue and diminished concentration and the implications of this impairment for learning and memory lead to poor academic performance, which in turn contributes to greater levels of stress (Pitt et al, 2018).…”