PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF PERCEIVED STRESS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN A MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY

Authors

  • Jia YF Centre for Commercial Law and Justice, Sunway University Business School, Sunway University, 47500 Selangor, Malaysia
  • Loo YT Department of Social and Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords:

Prevalence, Stress, Students, Logistic Regression

Abstract

Introduction: Studying in a university can be stressful for any undergraduate student, and the excessive stress is associated with physical and mental health problems. The purpose of the study was to examine the prevalence and determinants of perceived stress among undergraduate students in a Malaysian university.  Methods: 456 undergraduate students participated in this study. The Perceived Stress Scale and the Student Stress Survey ( SSS) were implemented as indicators; PSS as a global measure of perceived stress, and the SSS for the identification of the sources of stress.  Results: The prevalence rate of perceived stress among the undergraduate students was 37.7%. The overall PSS mean score was 27.5 ( SD 4.763), with a cut-off value of perceived stress at 28. Multivariate logistic regression model identified that the female student (OR 1.995, 95% CI 1.313-3.031) and the first year student (OR = 2.383, 95% CI 1.047-5.422) perceived more stress than the others. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated a high prevalence rate of perceived stress among undergraduate students in general, and the female and the first year undergraduate students in particular. There is a need for further studies on the borderline stress of the undergraduate students and the sources of stress.

Keywords: Prevalence, Stress, Students, Logistic Regression 

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Published

2018-04-30

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Research article

License

All authors agree that the article, if editorially accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 to allow others to freely access, copy and use research provided the author is correctly attributed, unless otherwise stated. All articles are available online without charge or other barriers to access. However, anyone wishing to reproduce large quantities of an article (250+) should inform the publisher. Any opinion expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not reflect that of the University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.