Sources of stress for first year students and their perception of the university employed support services

Abstract

This study aimed at developing a profile of first year students at the Lebanese American University (LAU) with respect to their primary sources of stress; examined the main academic and non-academic support services used by the students and offered by the university in order to help reduce stress; and examined the students' perception of these support functions.;Undergraduate newly admitted first year students were approached among which 235 taking English courses consented to taking a self-administered questionnaire and of which 21 students were interviewed using a semi-structured interview.;The majority of respondents were males between 17 and 20, living with their parents and not regular practitioners of religious activities. Most are full timers with a declared major. All are single with the vast majority not working, and many are sojourners.;Results indicated that the main sources of stress for first-year students corresponded to academic factors, decision-making, and time pressure issues. Males experienced more stress than females, in the area of "Developmental Challenges", first generation students experienced less stress than did those students who were not first generation in the areas of "Developmental Challenges" and "Social Problems", and students who did not have a declared course of study (mostly males) had more stress than those students who had a declared course of study. Working students' stress came from various areas such as time constraints, personal issues, transportation and financial concerns, while non-working students had more social stress. The majority of students are religiously affiliated. Yet, the majority of religious students were females and had less stress than did non-religious students.;Students stressed the importance of communicating with faculty and advisors. Peer interaction was the main non-academic service used by students although it did not reduce the stress for all students equally, for some it actually increased it.