1. Authors: Megan Fuller and Doneé Piacitelli
HEALTH SCIENCES
Relationship between College Students’ Stress Levels and Their Ways to Cope with Stress
Authors: Megan Fuller and Doneé Piacitelli

2. Introduction What is stress?
HEALTH SCIENCES
Introduction
What is stress?
According to the American Institute of Stress The term stress was introduced by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change.”
Stress is highly subjective it can be real stress, or stress that is just perceived.
Both psychological and physiological problems can occur if a person remains stressed.

3. Introduction Problem/Rational
HEALTH SCIENCES
Introduction
Problem/Rational
College student stress levels are on the rise. (Gnilka, Ashby, Matheny, Chung, & Cheng, 2015, p. 234)
Not many studies focus on the stress levels of college females, specifically within a private university.

4. HEALTH SCIENCES
Research Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of stress between college junior and senior females and various factors influencing those levels and their coping strategies. In additional, we looked at correlation between the students’ levels of stress and stress coping techniques.

5. Topics: Stress prevalence, causes, coping methods
HEALTH SCIENCES
Literature Review
Topics: Stress prevalence, causes, coping methods
Stress levels
College students stress has been on the rise in recent decades. 13% low stress levels, 75% moderate stress levels, and 12% high stress levels. (Gnilka, Ashby, Matheny, Chung, & Cheng, 2015, p. 234)
Causes
Academic pressure, financial burden, male-to-female ratio, technology, and lifestyle. (Kruisselbrink Flatt, 2013, p. 2).
Coping methods
Social interactions, eight or more hours of sleep, calming hobbies, balanced diet, regular exercise, contact with family, listening to music, avoiding substance abuse, etc. (Welle & Graf, 2011, p. 101)

6. Method HEALTH SCIENCES
Research Design: It was a descriptive research design that measured the stress levels amongst female college students in relationship to employment status and number of units taken. Subjects: Convenience sampling of 55 female participants that were recruited from a private university in Southern California. Procedures: During October 2015, students were recruited at various locations across campus to volunteer in taking a multi-page anonymous survey that included Cohen’s PSS that asked a variety of questions regarding their level of stress. Instrumentation: PSS is a 10-item scale that contains 6 negative statements and 4 positive statements. Data analysis plan: Key variables included stress, causes and coping mechanisms were analyzed using descriptive statistics. To test the hypothesis we used Pearson correlation between the levels of stress and coping strategies.
Describe the PSS 10 item

7. Results: Part I—Demographic Information
HEALTH SCIENCES
Results: Part I—Demographic Information
From those who were employed, 3.6%(n=2) worked between 1-10 hours, 23.6%(n=13) worked between hours, 25.5%(n=14) worked between hours, and 14.5%(n=8) worked 30 hours or more.

8. Results Part II: Research Findings
HEALTH SCIENCES
Results Part II: Research Findings

9. Results Part II: Research Findings
HEALTH SCIENCES
Results Part II: Research Findings

10. Results Part II: Research Findings
HEALTH SCIENCES
Results Part II: Research Findings

11. HEALTH SCIENCES
Research Hypothesis
There was statistical significance between level of stress and recreational drug use; r= -.284, p= .035

12. Discussion & Conclusions
HEALTH SCIENCES
Discussion & Conclusions
1. Cohen’s PSS revealed that juniors had a mean stress score of 16.4 and seniors From our results we can conclude that the top two main causes for stress among college junior and senior were: 1) Financial obligations 2) School 3. The top two coping strategies that we observed were: 1) Music 2) Watching television

13. HEALTH SCIENCES
Recommendations
Potentially contacting school administration to address the concern for student recreational drug usage.
Using social networking more effectively to advertise to students ways to manage stress (counseling center, etc.)

14. References
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