Stress and Anxiety among College Students and Mother’s Working Status: Is There a Link?

Abstract

Background: Mother Child relationship is significant in the development of human beings. She is a vital factor in the physical, social, and cognitive growth and independence of a child. This study is aimed to assess the stress and anxiety levels among adolescent students and their relationship with their mother's employment status. Objective: To assess an association between stress and anxiety of adolescents and the working status of mothers. Methods: It was a cross-sectional survey. The data were collected from three private sectors and three government sector intermediate colleges, including male and female students. Analysis was conducted on the software SPSS, version 22. Results: Overall 59% of participants were male and 41% were female students. Females had a higher frequency of stress and anxiety as compared to male students using the Perceived Stress Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) respectively. Around 83% of the students had staying-at-home mothers. There was no statistically significant difference identified between the stress and anxiety levels among the children of working mothers and non-working mothers. Conclusion: Mothers' working status is not associated with stress and anxiety among college students. It is required to conduct further studies to gain more detailed insight into the associations between the mental health of students and their mothers' working statuses. Keywords: Working mothers, adolescents, College Students, Stress, Anxiety.