ABSTRACT
The study was undertaken with the aim to investigate stress
and coping strategies among first year students of the University of Cape
Coast. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The
study was guided by three research questions and six hypotheses. A sample size
of 300 first year students was selected for the study through cluster,
proportionate and simple random sampling procedures. The researcher and five
data collection assistants administered the adapted version of the Students
Stress Inventory and Stress Coping Style Inventory (SCSI) to the selected
respondents in their lecture theatres and it took us a period of two weeks to
finish with the data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive
statistics (means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics
independent samples t-test and One-Way ANOVA). The findings indicated
that there was high level of stress among the students. The study revealed that
environmental, financial and academic stressors were the major common stressors
to the students. Most students use active emotional-focused coping and active
problem-focused coping strategies. There was no significant difference in
gender in relation to stress. Males and females do not differ in stress coping
strategies. Students from the three faculties do no differ in their stress
level and also in the use of coping strategies. It was therefore recommended
that students should be educated on both emotional-focused coping strategies
and problem-focused coping strategies so that they can use them properly under
different situations.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The beginning of the 21st century is characterized by the
rise in globalization, a process which diminishes the necessity of a common and
shared territorial basis for social, economic and political activities,
processes and relations. Education, especially tertiary education is one major
aspect that has undergone changes in the face of globalisation. A country needs
to provide quality education open to individuals from all walks of life in
order to meet the demands of globalisation (Crane & Matten, 2010). Modern
society is characterised by overcrowded, noisy society that is often referred
to as the rat race. Human lives are run by deadlines, the clock, mobile phones,
computers, other demands and this is partly why stress is more of a problem
today.
Background to the Study
The concept of stress is familiar to most people and mostly
individuals associate stress with negative situations such as death of a loved
one, financial difficulties and being stuck in traffic jam etc. but that should
not be the case because there is positive stress (eustress) such as completing
school, preparing for a wedding etc. (Selye, 1976). Stress is part of life and
this is affirmed by the statement of Selye in 1976 that for one to be totally
free without stress is to be dead. The term “stress”, as it is currently used
was coined by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as the non-specific response
of the body to any demand for change.
According to Mundia (2010), stress is a non-specific
physiological reaction to internal and external demands made on the body.
Stress arises when individuals perceive a discrepancy between the physical or
psychological demands of a situation and the resources of his or her
biological, psychological or social systems (Sarafino, 2012). Folkman and
Lazarus (1980), define coping as the cognitive and behavioural efforts made to
master, tolerate, or reduce external and internal demands and conflicts among
them. O’Driscoll et al (Robotham, 2008) defined coping as “how an individual
seeks to: eliminate or reduce stressors in their environment, alter their
appraisal of the potential harmfulness of these stressors, or minimize the
extent of strain that they will experience as a result of these stressors” (p.
741). Thus coping refers to efforts to control, reduce or learn to tolerate the
events that lead to stress. To deal successfully with stress, a person may
require using different types of techniques. Clegg (2009) in a literature
review identified various stress coping strategies including problem-focused
coping, social support, seeking counselling and avoidance of self-medication.
Folkman and Moskowitz (2004) purport that more direct, and
potentially more positive ways of coping with stress could be put into two main
categories, namely emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies. In
emotion-focused coping, individuals try to manage their emotions during stress
situations, and seek to change the way they feel about or perceive the problem.
Examples of emotion-focused coping include seeking social support for emotional
reasons, positive reinterpretation and growth, acceptance, denial and mental
disengagement. Problem-focused coping on the other hand targets the causes of
stress in practical ways which tackles the problem or stressful situation that is causing
stress, consequently directly reducing the stress. Problem-focused strategies
aim to remove or reduce the cause of the stressor. Examples of Problem-focused
coping include problem-solving, time-management and obtaining instrumental
social support.
According to Feldman (2008), problem-focused coping tries to
modify the stressful problem or source of stress. This coping strategy leads to
changes in behaviour or to the development of a plan of action to deal with
stress. Among the examples of problem-focused coping are active coping,
planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, and seeking
social support for instrumental reasons. Attending university and embarking
upon an academic career is a pleasurable and exciting experience for many
people. For many students, however, the transition to university and pursuing
academic career may prove far more stressful than exciting (Bojuwoye, 2002;
Hystad, Eid, Laberg, Johnsen & Bartone, 2009). University students are
going through a transition period from adolescence to adulthood filled with
many challenges in life due to various changes and choices that they have to
make in order to get academic qualification. University provides students’
tertiary education and psychosocial development (Tao, Dong, Pratt, Hunsberger,
& Pancer, 2000). Besides pursuing knowledge in university, a student also
gets to socialize with different kinds of people and undergo psychological
development. Studies show that entering university may bring strain or stress
(Gall, Evans, & Bellerose, 2000). Many of them face culture shock as
university life is different from school life. This is because university
students face a changing education system, lifestyle, and social environment.
University seems to be stressful for some students because it is an abrupt change from Senior High School (S.H.S) and training colleges
where students do not attend classes after 4:00pm and students activities are
mostly regulated by bells and sirens. Most students are young adults who are in
the process of developing personal characteristics and identity in order to
function with a greater psychological and financial independence (Furnham,
2004). First year seems to be the most critical for university adaptation
because of the big numbers of possible adjustment difficulties it can generate
(Clinciu, 2013).
The review of the adjustment literature reveals numerous
relevant constructs linked with university/college adjustment, like anxiety,
depression, stress vulnerability, anger, mood, mental illness, indicative for
negative adaptation (Clinciu, 2013). All of these are counterbalanced by good
psychological adjustment, domain satisfaction, ability to develop new coping
strategies, a better sense of ego functioning (self-efficacy, self-esteem), and
well-being, indicative for positive adaptation. A good first-year transition
encompasses independent functioning including the ability to negotiate with a
new and complex world to develop internal motivation for learning, to have a
good time and money management, to attend classes and keep up assignments
(Mattanah, Handcock & Brand, 2004). Although some level of stress is
necessary for personal growth to occur, the level of stress can overwhelm a
student and produce adverse effect in the individual. For instance, most
students do not have adequate knowledge about the nature and the demands of the
programmes they want to pursue, infrastructural inadequacies and the
corresponding physical strain they are to encounter on campus. Psychosocial
stress is high among freshmen, women, and international students because of the
adjustment they must make in their social, academic, and cultural lives in a new environment, having left all previous support persons
such as parents, siblings, and high school friends (Seyedfatemi, Tafreshi &
Hagani, 2007). Stress is idiosyncratic in that what is stressful to one
individual in one situation may not be stressful to another person or to the
same person in a different situation. This dynamic nature of stress and coping
poses many challenges and requires that researchers pay adequate attention to
the personal and situational context in which stress and coping occur.
Globally, the incidences of stress and stress-related
illnesses such as anxiety and depression among students, trainees, and qualified
physicians have increased and received significant attention in literature
(Voltmer, Kieschke, Schwappach, Wirsching & Spahn, 2008; Dyrbye, Thomas
& Shanafelt, 2006; Stucky, Dresselhaus & Dollarhide, 2009). Many
studies highlighted mental health issues in young adult, particularly alcohol
use disorders, are common during their studying years at university (Blanco,
Okuda, Wright, Hasin, Grant, Liu, Olfson, 2008; Milojevich & Lukowski,
2016). According to health surveys, young people from 12 to 25 years old suffer
from an insufficient level of psychological health (Windfuhr et al., 2008;
Thapar, Collishaw, Pine & Thapar, 2012). Some studies also show that
compared to individuals of the same age (Adlaf, Demers & Gliksman, 2005;
Boujut, Koleck, Bruchon-Schweitzer & Bourgeois, 2009) and in general, to
any other population (Blanco et al., 2008; Walsh, Feeney, Hussey &
Donnellan 2010; Moreira & Telzer, 2015), students have more psychological
problems. Students' psychological discomfort is reflected in several ways
including depression, anxiety, stress, and sleeping disorders (Petrov,
Lichstein Baldwin 2014; Milojevich & Lukowski, 2016). This
discomfort has been the subject of many investigations. In fact, depression is
common in students from 15 to 24 years olds (Lafay, Manzanera, Papet, Marcelli
& Senon 2003). According to a French study (Boujut, Koleck,
Bruchon-Schweitzer & Bourgeois 2009), 27, 18, and 3% of college students
suffer from mild, moderate and severe depression, respectively. More than 83%
of students from the University of Lodz suffer from fatigue (Maniecka-Bryła,
Bryła, Weinkauf Dierks, 2005). According to the 2005 National Survey of
Counselling Centre Directors, 154 students committed suicide in America. In
addition, according to two French studies, 15% of students had suicidal
thoughts (Lafay et al., 2003) while 3% had a suicidal tendency (Boujut et al.,
2009). In Ghana, the suicide case was not different as fourteen (14) people
committed suicide within the first three month in 2017 (Ghanaweb, 2017)
Furthermore, another study found that 60% of first-year
students of a business school (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce) had significant
levels of psychological distress and low self-esteem (Strenna, Chahraoui &
Vinay, 2009). Their coping strategies were principally based on withdrawal
(Strenna et al., 2009). Humphris et al., (2002) found that more than 30% of
European dental students reported significant psychological distress and 22%
reported a high level of emotional exhaustion. These mental health issues among
students are of growing concern (Castillo & Schwartz, 2013; Milojevich
& Lukowski, 2016). These could also be associated with the broader concept
of “stress,” that involves all aspects of life's difficulties, including
psychological discomfort. Every student deals with the same stress differently
(Boujut, 2007). A French study showed that 79% of students reported being
stressed (Vandentorren et al., 2005) Factors such as year of study, gender and background influence students’ experience of stress (McInnis,
2001). Therefore there was the need to examine some of these factors in the
Ghanaian stetting. Ghanaians also face similar stress as people of other
countries also face stress. According to Akussah, Dzandu & Osei-Adu,
(2012), highly educated records staff of PRAAD experienced lower stress levels
compared to their counterparts who were not highly educated in Ghana.
In Ghanaian universities, the issue of stress is not all that
different from what is happening in other countries. For instance during the
2010/2011 academic year 280 out of 398 newly admitted undergraduate students
offering educational psychology at University of Cape Coast perceived
university life to be moderately stressful whilst 14 (3.5%) also perceived life
to be highly stressful (Amponsah & Owolabi, 2011). Studies conducted on
distance education in Ghana reveal that students face problems such as
combining full time work and family demands with studies. Studies on distance
education indicate that many students are stressed as they have a lot of
responsibilities to meet while meeting the academic demands of their learning institutions
(Kwaah & Essilfie, 2017). Additionally, distance education students have
the problem of combining work, family demands, and other commitments with
packed academic work (Panchabakesan, 2011).There could be a wide range of
factors that pose stress to students such as academic workload, high frequency
of examinations, financial, problems family/marriage problems. As stress is
part of human live, gender and age of a person all play important role as to
whether a particular situation will be perceived as stressful or not as well as
the coping mechanism to use and it was in this direction that this study was
carried out to find out the level of stress, stressors and coping strategies
among first year students at University of Cape Coast.
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