Vulnerability To Stress And Coping Strategies Among Undergraduate Students In Baghdad City

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to determine the level of vulnerability to stress perceived by students and thesources of stress, identify strategies do students frequently use to relieve their stress, and find out theassociation between study variables and vulnerability to stress.MethodologyDesign: A cross-sectional, descriptive design was applied on present study.Participants: A purposive "non-probability" sample of 335 undergraduate students who were recruited fromsix colleges at Bab Al-Mu'aadham region which are college of Arts, Languages, Fine Arts, Medicine,Pharmacy and Nursing college.Results: The mean age of the participants in the study was 21.92 years (SD = 3.7), ranging from 17 to 34years. Female and male students accounted for 68.7% and 31.3% of the study sample, respectively. The resultsdescribe that about three quarter of study participants has serious vulnerability to stress, the most stressfulitems were (I take quiet time for myself during the day, I attend regularly the social activities, I give andreceive affection regularly, and I have at least 1 relative within different areas on whom I can rely) relativesufficiency (0.76, 0.76, 0.73) respectively. The result demonstrates that the most used coping strategies were(Develop new hobbies or recreations, Take your mind off unpleasant thoughts, Try other solutions to yourproblems if your first solutions don’t work, Do something positive for yourself when you are feelingdiscouraged, and Keep from feeling sad) relative sufficiency (0.80, 0.77, 0.77, 0.76, 0.75) respectively. Therewere highly significant association between rank among brothers and sister, sex, and coping strategies andvulnerability to stress (p-value=.002), (p-value=.004) (p-value=.019) respectively.Conclusion: Stress disorders are very widespread among university students. In the process of preparingstudents for their future professions, a great deal is needed than absolute professional skills and necessaryknowledge.Recommendations: The researcher recommends the following: Initiating university-based psychologicalcounseling services that teach students trying other solutions to problems that students experience and enablethem to regulate their times during the day which in turn help students in performing academic tasks andrequirements, besides their activities of daily life and provide them the chance to attend regularly the socialactivities. Emphasizing the role of religion and non-governmental organizations in allying levels of stress andcope with it.