Abstract

PREVALENCE OF STRESS AND ITS IMPACT ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Mounika Malineni*, Srikanth Bandarupalli, Umamahesh Venkat Arthimalla, Gavini Siva Bharath and Rama Rao Nadendla

ABSTRACT

Background: This epidemiological study is to estimate the prevalence of stress and its impact on undergraduate students with the age of 18 to 24 years. This study was done to predict the stress severity and its impact on academic performance of students and the effect of career related stress. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of stress in undergraduate (UG) students, the risk factors for stress, about career related stress and their impact on academic performance of students. Materials and Methods: the study was designed to be a cross-sectional study. It was conducted among undergraduate students from various colleges in Guntur over six months from November 2020 to April 2021 which includes 1022 students. Students are enrolled based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Specially designed data collection form is used to obtain data required for the study. Results: In our study we collected data from 1022 students where 392 (38.35%) were males and 630 (61.64%) were females. Stress risk was assessed using Perceived stress scale (PSS-10).Results showed that stress has impact on academic performance of the students. Conclusion: We came to the conclusion that most of students have moderate to low risk of developing stress and less students have high risk of developing stress. Further more studies are required to clearly estimate the prevalance of stress and its impact on undergraduate students.

Keywords: Perceived Stress Scale(PSS-10), Undergraduates, Stress, Prevalence.