Study on the Stress and the Copying Strategies among the First-Year Students of the University of Jaffna

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the level of University Students‟ perceived stress, find the coping mechanism and suggest measures and strategies for successfully handling the stress of the first-year students of the University of Jaffna. The data is primarily garnered from a self-administrated questionnaire, nonetheless, as a caveat, a small-scale exploratory study conducted. The samples for the study were selected through the stratified random sampling technique; participants were selected from the First-Year Students both male and female of the three faculties (Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Management and Commerce, and Faculty of Sciences). The population of the study is 1359 first-year students and the sample size were 310 and 286 students responded. The student's stress analysis provided support for a six-factor model comprising the categories of academic, relationships, equity, parenting, practical, and health. The students‟ stress scale demonstrated good internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha (α = .824). Total Coping scale shows good consistency (α = .846) and individual item of active copying (α = .815) and passive copying (α = .730). The students‟ perceived stress ware significantly high among the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Management & Commerce. The Students from the Faculty of Arts show low stress. Similarly, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Management & Commerce students were showed a significantly higher level of active coping and Arts students show a high level in passive coping. The female students recorded a higher level of stress and copying strategy. Finally, most of the students adopted a positive coping style of active coping. Students‟ perceived stress and coping style were positively correlated and parental stress was negatively correlated. The findings will have many social implications. The social implications might be based on proper utilization of public funds, cost of well-being, and other pertinent social costs. Further, this study will be served as guidelines for Administrators of the University in the implementation of policies, for instance, in the counselling and training strategy and program.