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- Title
Perceived Stress Among Graduate Students: Roles, Responsibilities, & Social Support.
- Authors
Johnson, Beth; Batia, Abigail S.; Haun, Jolie
- Abstract
This qualitative study examined perceived stress among graduate students with regard to roles, responsibilities, and social support. Twelve graduate students responded to interview questions regarding personal and academic responsibilities, stress levels, and coping strategies. Participants experienced role conflict between academic and personal responsibilities. Difficulty balancing these responsibilities resulted in increased stress levels. Changes in graduate students' levels of social support upon entering graduate school prevented them from using it as a means to cope with stress. Inadequately coping with stress caused symptoms of burnout, which lead some participants to consider leaving their programs before completing their degrees. Stress results from conflicting roles in an individual's life that produce competing demands over time (Hudd, Dumlao, Erdmann-Sager. Murray, Phan, Soukas, & Yokozuka, 2000). Conflict emerges when responsibilities and expectations of one role conflict with the expectations of another role (Dyk, 1987; Ross, et al., 1999; Sciacca & Melby, 1992). Graduate students often experience inter-role conflict between their personal and academic roles. These conflicts often occur in the physically and psychologically demanding environment of higher education (Neumann, Finaly-Neumann, & Reichel, 1990), causing stress among students (Abouserie, 1994: Deckro, Ballinger, Hoyt, & Wilcher, 2002: Geraghty, 1997; Goldman & Wong, 1997: Kanters, Bristol, & Attarian. 2002: Ross, Niebling, & Heckert, 1999; Sciacca & Melby. 1992). If graduate students cannot cope with stress that results from inter-role conflict, then physical and psychological health problems can occur. Physical health problems associated with stress include headaches (Deckro, Ballinger, Hoyt, & Wilcher, 2002: Duenwald, 2002); upset stomach (Duenwald, 2002); sleep disturbances (Deckro, Ballinger, Hoyt, & Wilcher, 2002; Duenwald. 2002; Hudd, Dumlao, Erdmann-Sager, Murray, Phan, Soukas, et al, 2000). Psychological health problems include anxiety attacks (Duenwald, 2002), depression (Dixon & Reid, 2000; Frazier & Schauben, 1994; Geraghty, 1997), and burnout (Neumann, Finaly-Neumann, & Reichel, 1990: Vaez & Laflamme, 2003; Zalenski, Levey-Thors, & Schiaffino, 1998; Bruce, Conaglen, & Conaglen, 2005; Jenkins & Elliot, 2004; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001; Peiro, Gonzalez-Roma, Tordera & Manas, 2001). Thus, graduate students must find ways to cope with stress to prevent these health problems from occurring. Social support can create a buffer between stress and graduate students (Bolt, 2004, Jenkins & Elliot, 2004; Jung, 1997; Lawson & Fuehrer, 1989; Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992), particularly for students already under intense stress (Jenkins & Elliot, 2004; Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992). The stress-buffering theory helps explain how social support helps people cope with adverse life events, thereby decreasing stress levels. Decreased stress that accompanies increased social support reduces the likelihood that students will develop stress-induced physical (Bolt, 2004) and psychological illnesses (Kanters, Bristol, & Attarian, 2002; Lawson & Fuehrer, 1989; Clara, Cox, Enns, Murray, & Torgrude, 2003; Hodges, 2002) Burnout, a common psychological health problem associated with stress, involves "exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, http://www.m-w.com/ dictionary/burnout, February 2007)". Burnout poses a particular challenge in higher education because research indicates burnout can lead to attrition among graduate students (Christie, Munro, & Fisher, 2004; Golde, 1998; Herzig, 2004; Reed & Giacobbi, 2004; Spicuzza & De Voe, 1982; Pines & Keinan, 2005).…
- Subjects
PSYCHOLOGICAL stress; GRADUATE students; RESPONSIBILITY; SOCIAL support; PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation; ROLE conflict; PATHOLOGICAL psychology
- Publication
Virginia Journal, 2008, Vol 29, Issue 3, p31
- ISSN
0739-4586
- Publication type
Article