Level and Sources of Stress: Evidence from College Students

Abstract

Stress has a detrimental effect on our physical and psychological wellbeing. Educational institutions and family have a great role to play in reducing stress in the students. For this, it is very important to identify the level and sources of stress among the students which is the purpose of the study. This study has a sample of 214 college students from Hooghly district of West Bengal. A standardized scale has been used to collect data and measure the level of stress. Those students who have scored high on stress have been interviewed to find out the sources of their stress. The study has adopted a mixed method approach where quantitative approach has been used in determining the level of stress and qualitative descriptions for enumerating the sources of stress. The study has found out that most of the students have moderate level of stress. Male students are higher in stress than their female counterparts with reference to pressure dimension of stress. Rural students have higher stress than their urban counterparts with reference to physical stress dimension of stress. Among the sources of stress various concerns related to academics, interference of family, poor economic conditions and worry about career are prominent.