Predictors of perceived stress among medical and nonmedical college students, Minia, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, stress has been tagged a global phenomenon. Many undergraduate students undergo considerable stress, and a variety of sources of stress have been identified among university students. The aim of this study is to identify the level of perceived stress and its predictors among medical and nonmedical Minia University students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study comparing between medical and nonmedical students in Minia University, conducted during the period from March to April 2017. The sample consisted of 314 medical and 291 nonmedical students chosen through cluster random sampling as a section was chosen randomly from each academic year and collectively form the final sample. Data were collected through interview by a questionnaire inquiring about sociodemographic data, common stressors as academic, financial, family, and transportation stressors and Cohen Perceived Stress Scale 10. Results: The prevalence of perceived stress was slightly higher (88.9%) among medical students than among nonmedical students (83.5%). Severe stress was found among (18.8%) of medical students compared to (12.4%) among nonmedical students ( P < 0.05). The significant predictors of perceived stress were academic stressors, no exercise and being female among medical students, and were academic and financial stressors among nonmedical students. Conclusions: Medical students perceived more stress than nonmedical students. The academic stressors were significant predictors among all students; hence, there is a need for the establishment of students counseling unit, to facilitate coping with the stress of study and examination.

Mental Health Problems and Needs among Transitional-Age Youth in Indonesia

“…Academic stressors, such as time management for daily schedules, time management for exams preparation, stress control during exams, learning difficulties, task and academic burdens, were reported by over 90% of respondents in this transition age. Consistent with prior study, academic reason was the most common stressor among medical and nonmedical students [27]. Besides academic stressors, around 86% of our respondents had an issue because they were far from home and family.…”

“…Previous studies that investigated this factor of these psychiatric problems varied in the result. A study showed that perceived stress was slightly more common among medical students than nonmedical students (88.9% vs. 83.5%), while other research reported nonmedical students accounted for a larger percentage of depressive symptoms than their medical counterparts (59% vs. 48.4%) [27,28]. Despite the differences, the high prevalence of depression and anxiety among students in our result and this study agreed with the past studies, which showed depression and anxiety were higher among students than the general population [29][30][31].…”

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“…Specifically, significant differences in the PSS score were observed in all cases. In terms of gender specification, female students suffer from stress more than male students, which is in line with the findings of many studies [32,47,49,51]. Drachev and colleagues [43] also emphasized the gender characteristics, and, together with the socio-economic status of students, play an important role in similar research involving the PSS diagnostic tool.…”

“…In another international study of nursing students, Slovak, Polish and Spanish students reported similar mean values for the 10-item PSS score, which indicated moderate stress (Slovak Republic = 18.66, Poland = 18.60, Spain = 18.55) [45]. In this context, several studies have revealed that medical students are at higher risk of stress compared to non-medical students [46,47]. On the other hand, the evidence shows that the 10-item PSS score also varies from country to country.…”

“…At the same time, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that the dominance of female students in the obtained higher level of stress measured by the 10-item PSS tool has been proven in many studies [32,47,49,51], and thus gender characteristics play an important role in similarly focused research [52,53]. In this area, it is also appropriate to take into account income, which may be related to the psychological well-being of young-adult students [54], while in several studies, the PSS score increased with lower income of the general population [55,56].…”