Stressful experiences of first year students of selected universities in South Africa

Abstract

When students come into the university and become members of the institution for the first time they usually face a number of adjustment problems, the result of stressful experiences they are subjected to by the conditions, events, or situations in their new environment. This study was, therefore, an attempt to find out the nature of students' experiences by finding out aspects (conditions and or events) of the university they assessed as stressful especially during their early days in the university. A 40-item questionnaire, with statements clustered into five categories of stress-induced factors of university, was used to collect relevant data. The subjects responded to the questionnaire in terms of their assessment of their experiences of the different aspects of the university presented to them on the questionnaire. The results revealed that factors associated with Financial Difficulties, Demands of the University Environment and the University Administrative Process (in that descending order) were assessed as stressful. While data analysis revealed significant sex differences in the assessment of stressful experiences with various aspects of the university, no significant differences were found on the basis of subjects' age groups and institutional affiliations.