A Comparative Study of Perceived Stress and Resilience among University Students Pursuing Yoga and Other Courses

There a number of universities in India which are now offering professional yoga courses, wherebystudents can pursue their desire to become a yoga specialist or for their own spiritual growth. Studentspursuing yoga courses undergo in-depth study of principles of yoga; both theoretical and practical. Thesestudents practice yoga on a regular basis as part of their curriculum. Students develop high levels of stressbecause of academic pressure and future professional plans. The present study aims to focus onidentifying and comparing stress, resilience, and self-efficacy among the university students pursuingyoga and other courses. It is hypothesized that there will be a significant difference in the stress levels,resilience and self-efficacy among the students practicing yoga and students pursuing other courses. Datawas collected through 120 students pursuing yoga and 124 students pursuing other courses (n=244) fromdifferent parts of the country. The tools used are: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Connor-DavidsonResilience Scale (CD-RISC). The results indicate that there are significant differences in the level of stressamong students who pursue yoga as a course and students who pursue other courses. No significantdifference in resilience was found. Limitations, future implications and suggestions for further study arealso discussed.