TOPIC

Individual feelings regarding origins of stress among

college freshmen and student coping mechanisms.

What are some of the causes of stress among

college students and what are some ways students

combat stress.

Question/Hypothesis

What effect does stress have on social interactions

among college freshman?

We believe that stress will negatively impact

students’ social lives. The more stress students’ are

presented with, the less likely they will be to engage

in interpersonal activities.

Procedure

We surveyed 100 college freshmen at the University

of Michigan.

We asked them questions about their stress levels,

what causes stress, and how they cope with stress.

We also asked how this affects students’ social lives.

Procedure

Once we collected surveys, we entered the data onto the computer to organize it.

We created graphs to represent the data and show any trends that occurred.

We composed a presentation to showcase all of our information.

We wrote a paper about our findings.

Survey

Year: ________

Credits This Semester: ________

Gender: ____________________________________

Concentration: __________________________

1. What makes you stressed? Check all that apply.

☐ Course load

☐ Financial issues

☐ New environment

☐ Being away from home

☐ Lack of sleep

☐ Forming new relationships

☐ Academic pressure

☐ Peer pressure

2. How stressed do you feel on a regular basis on a scale of 1 -10 (1 being the least and 10 being the highest)

3.How do you cope with stress? (circle any that apply)

Seek help from others

Use campus resources

Nothing

Prescription drugs

Non-prescription drugs

Drink alcohol

Exercise

Listen to music

Shop

Distract myself

Eat

Sleep

Other _______________

4. What effect does stress have on you? (circle any that apply)

It motivates me

It makes me overwhelmed

It keeps me awake at night

It makes me anxious

It changes my appetite

It makes me emotionally unstable

It causes me to do things I wouldn’t normally (drugs, alcohol)

It makes me give up/ not complete assignments

Other: ______________

5. How does stress impact your social life? (does it make you more social, less social, or have no effect?

6. When your are stressed do you make time for leisure activities? (check the box)☐ Yes☐ No

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Course Load academicpressure

lack of sleep FinancialIssues

Being awayfrom home

forming newrelationships

Newenvironment

peer pressue

81 73 56 29 27 2013

10

What Makes You Stressed

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3

4

2

5

9

21

20

10

5

0

Stress Level (on a scale of 1-10)

37%

63%

Gender of People Surveyed

Male

Female

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Yes No

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

Response

When you are stressed do you make time for social leisure activities?

28

72

0

5

10

15

20

25

Among Those with Stress Levels of 7 or higher, how many make time for social leisure activities?

71.4%

28.57%

Yes NoDo You make time for social leisure

activities?

45%

17%

38%

How Does Stress Impact your social life?

Less Social

More Social

No effect

20%

59%

21%

Among those with stress levels of 7 or higher, How were students impacted socially?

more social

less social

no effect

58

80

34

45

27

41

10

30

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

What Effect Does Stress Have on You?

It motivates me

It makes me overwhelmed

It keeps me awkae at night

It makes me anxious

It changes my appitite

It makes me emotionally unstable

It cause me to do things I wouldn’t normally do

It makes me give up/ not complete assignments

How do you cope with stress?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

24

16

67

24

12

2528

60

37

1820

44

Seek help from others

use campus resources

nothing

prescription drugs

non prescription drugs

drink alcohol

exercise

listen to music

shop

distract myself

eat

sleep

Our Findings

Our data showed that course load and academic pressure are the main causes of stress.

70% of students reported having a daily stress level between 6-10

Despite the high stress levels, 72% of students make time for some social activity in their busy lives

Stress makes the majority of people less involved in interpersonal relations

Only 24 people reported seeking help from others when stressed, even though interpersonal contact can be the most helpful way to relieve stress

Just 16 out of 100 people said they use campus resources, like CAPS(counseling and psychological services) when stressed

Conclusion

Factors such as course load and academic pressure have a profound influence on the stress levels of college students. So much so that it causes them to encounter less interpersonal interactions. While observing our findings, we found it surprising that students who had high stress level were less social while those who had low stress levels were more social . Thus our hypothesis was correct. The more stress students’ are presented with, the less likely they will be to engage in interpersonal activities. In addition, more interpersonal activities help to reduce stress.

Articles Related to Our Research

(for further consideration)

“The Effect of Stress on

Social Interest and Vice

Versa” By: J.E Crandall

“Determinants of Problem

Solving, Social Support

Seeking, and Avoidance”

Ming-hui Ling, Yanyun

Yang

“Depression and college

stress among university

undergraduates: Do

mattering and self-esteem

make a difference?” SK

Dixon, SER Kurpius

Thanks for Listening!

Any Questions?