Stressors and coping mechanism among university students

Background: Stress is a global public health challenge that affects all ages especially students, it is responsible for major psychological breakdown and considered to be a silent killer. This study aimed at investigating the factors influencing stress among students with emphasis on socio-demographic profile, stressors, the effects and coping mechanism. Methods: Cross-sectional study design was utilized, with 230 subjects from different colleges at the Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation (VMUF), Pangasinan, Philippines; Data was retrieved using semi structured questionnaire and analyzed using the frequency distribution table, percentage, average mean, the weighted mean and the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Result: The result showed that most respondents were 17-19 years old (38.3%), males (63.0%), Roman Catholic (64.3%), in the Allied Health Sciences (53.0%), 2nd year level (39.6%) whose parents were married (88.3%), mostly working in the private section (mothers: 33.0%) and (fathers; 51.3%), earning more than Php10,000.00 (48.7%) per month. Students are moderately stressed by various stressors as evident by the symptoms though developed various coping strategies however, these stressors could be physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral in nature. A relationship exists between age, sex, program of study, parent’s occupation and stressors, while the effects of stress is positively related to age, sex, religion, year level, marital status and parents occupation. Nevertheless there was a positive relationship with various coping mechanism. Conclusion: In conclusions, stress is an inevitable aspect of life with various effects on students, it is important to develop policies to evaluate the impact among students to avoid its consequences.