Extracurricular Factors Influence Perceived Stress in a Large Cohort of Colombian Dental Students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of extracurricular factors including socioeconomic status and career choice with perceived stress in dental school in a large cohort of Colombian dental students. Participants in the study were 5,700 students enrolled in seventeen Colombian dental schools. The study employed a Spanish adaptation of the Dental Environment Stressors (DES30-Sp) questionnaire and recorded an array of demographic, socioeconomic, career choice, and dental studies-related information. Data analyses relied on descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate methods based on multi-level mixed-effects linear regression and post hoc estimation of predictive margins. "Fear of failing a course or year" emerged as the highest ranked item. Male students consistently reported less perceived stress than females, and stress scores were higher among seniors. Independent of gender, age, and study year, having dentistry as one's irst career choice, relying on inancial support, and belonging to higher socioeconomic strata were associated with lower stress levels. Academic environment interventions aimed to improve students' educational well-being will need to account for the individual heterogeneity among them. These data from a robust cohort of predoctoral dental students underscore the importance of considering students' educational experiences in a broader social and economic context.

Sources and Severity of Perceived Stress Among Iranian Medical Students

“…Students in clinical phase perceived stress 2.25 times more than student in the basic sciences' phase. This result is in compliance with the findings of some other studies ( 33 , 34 ).…”

Perceived Stress and Associated Factors in Russian Medical and Dental Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in North-West Russia

“…In the present study, a lower subjective SES was associated with higher PSS-scores, which is in line with other reports [54,55]. In 2007, Taiwanese researchers found that medical students whose mothers had a lower SES reported a higher stress [54].…”

“…In 2007, Taiwanese researchers found that medical students whose mothers had a lower SES reported a higher stress [54]. In 2012, a Colombian study also observed a significant association between a lower subjective SES and a higher level of psychological distress in a large cohort of dental students [55]. One may speculate that distal extracurricular factors, such as SES, are important and independent determinants of perceived stress in medical and dental students.…”

Symptoms and Health Complaints and Their Association with Perceived Stressors among Students at Nine Libyan Universities

“…Likewise, our finding of the high importance to religiosity needs to be viewed in the context that Libya is of predominantly Muslim faith, where it is customary to pray five times each day, and for public modesty, many/most women might wear loose traditional dress (abayas) covering the body and not revealing the silhouette, or at least a Hijab for their heads concealing the hair and neck. Similarly, the higher proportion of females in the Libyan sample reflects what seems to be a reality at higher education institutions globally, and is in agreement with the gender distributions of university student samples from other higher income countries e.g., England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Sweden, Ireland, Korea [ 27 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], or lower income countries e.g., Colombia or Egypt [ 2 , 38 ]. We also agree with Iran, where across 300 students, 91% were single 71% lived in dormitories, 26% lived at home with their families and only 3% lived alone in rental properties [ 17 ].…”