Stress Coping Measures among Undergraduates of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Abstract

Stress is a global public health problem experienced by people irrespective of class, colour, ethnicity, profession or academic background. Researchers observed that undergraduate students suffer from health problems such as slumping, depression and mental health challenges which ordinarily should not occur at their youthful ages. However, the study assessed stress coping measures among undergraduates of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Three research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study.  The cross sectional survey research was used for the study. The study population consisted of 24,458 undergraduates. The multi - stage sampling procedure was used to draw a sample size of 400 undergraduate students. A valid and reliable structured Stress Coping Measures Questionnaire -(SCMQ) was used for data collection. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyse and answer the research questions while chi - square statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at.05 level of significance. Results showed that undergraduates possessed high stress coping measures (82.4%). No significant difference existed in the stress coping measures of undergraduates based on gender (p - value = .332 >.05) while a significant difference existed on year of study ( p - value = .012<.05). However, curriculum developers should enrich the curriculum with appropriate strategies suitable for all undergraduates, especially during the orientation of new students for understanding and effective application of stress coping measures among them.