Personal, Health, Academic, and Environmental Predictors of Stress for Residence Hall Students

TLDR

The authors surveyed 964 randomly selected undergraduate residence‑hall students with a 76‑item questionnaire and weighted the responses to match the university’s demographic profile. Women, US citizens, chronic illness, depression, anxiety, seasonal affective disorder, mononucleosis, sleep difficulties, alcohol use, roommate conflict or satisfaction, and faculty conflict predicted higher stress, whereas drug use predicted lower stress.

Abstract

The authors studied contributors to stress among undergraduate residence hall students at a midwestern, land grant university using a 76-item survey consisting of personal, health, academic, and environmental questions and 1 qualitative question asking what thing stressed them the most. Of 964 students selected at random, 462 (48%) responded to the survey. The authors weighted data to reflect the overall university-wide undergraduate population (55% men, 12% minority or international, and 25% freshmen). Women and US citizens experienced greater stress than did men and non-US citizens, respectively. Frequency of experiencing chronic illness, depression, anxiety disorder, seasonal affective disorder, mononucleosis, and sleep difficulties were significant stress predictors. Although alcohol use was a positive predictor, drug use was a negative predictor of stress. Both a conflict and a satisfactory relationship with a roommate, as well as a conflict with a faculty or staff member, were also significant predictors of stress.