The Relationships between Academic Stress and Adjustment at University Life in Korean University Students

Nam Hyun Cha

doi:10.12799/jkachn.2016.27.2.124

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Cha: The Relationships between Academic Stress and Adjustment at University Life in Korean University Students

Original Article

J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs 2016;27(2):124-131.

Published online: 12 June 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2016.27.2.124

The Relationships between Academic Stress and Adjustment at University Life in Korean University Students

Nam Hyun Cha

Department of Nursing, College of Natural Science, Andong National University, Andong, Korea

Corresponding author: Cha, Nam Hyun Department of Nursing, College of Natural Science, Andong National University, 1375 Gyeongsong-ro, Andong 760-749, Korea. Tel: +82-54-820-7314, Fax: +82-54-820-6730, E-mail: yeoreo@anu.ac.kr

Received 13 March 2016 Revised 12 May 2016 Accepted 16 May 2016

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to identify the correlations among academic stress and adjustment at university life in university students.

Methods

A total of 489 subjects aged 17 and 36 were selected through convenient sampling. Data were collected with a self reported questionnaire from September 2 to November 30, 2015. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN.

Results

There were statistical differences between academic stress and adjustment at university life. Academic stress were significantly different according to gender, grade, economic status, health status major department of study, drinking and smoking. Adjustment at university life were significantly different according to gender, economic status, health status. 25.4% of variance in adjustment at university life were explained by academic stress, major department of study, health status.

Conclusion

The finding of this study may be useful in understanding the academic stress expression of university students and developing more specific programs on adjustment at university life.

Keywords: Students, Emotional stress, Social adjustment

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Table 1.

General Characteristics of Subject (N=489)

Characteristics	Variables	n (%) or M±SD
Age (year)	(Range: 17~36)	20.21±0.16
Gender	Male	195 (39.8)
Gender	Female	294 (60.2)
Grade	1~2 grade	437 (89.3)
Grade	3~4 grade	52 (10.7)
Economic status	High	74 (15.2)
	Middle	354 (72.3)
	Lower	61 (12.5)
Health status	Good	263 (53.7)
	Average	204 (41.8)
	Bad	22 (4.5)
Religion	Catholic	48 (9.7)
	Buddhism	81 (16.6)
	Protestantism	55 (11.3)
	None	305 (62.4)
Major department of study	Nursing course	203 (41.3)
	Humanities,	139 (28.5)
	social course
	Natural course	94 (19.3)
	Engineering course	53 (10.9)
Parent's working together	Yes	341 (69.8)
Parent's working together	No	148 (30.2)
Drinking	Yes	247 (50.5)
Drinking	No	242 (49.5)
Smoking	Yes	62 (12.7)
Smoking	No	427 (87.3)

Table 2.

Scores of Academic Stress and Adjustment at University Life

Variables	Range (score)	Mean (score)	SD
Academic stress	42~210 (1~5)	112.81 (2.70)	21.78
Adjustment at university life	27~135 (1~5)	90.40 (3.18)	10.45

Table 3.

Differences in Academic Stress and Adjustment at University Life to General Characteristics of the Subjects (N=489)

Characteristics	Subcategories	Academic stress		Adjustment at university life
Characteristics	Subcategories	M±SD	t or F (p)	M±SD	t or F (p)
Gender	Male	107.44±24.19	−4.42 (＜.001)	92.43±12.23	3.31 (＜.001)
	Female	116.40±19.27		88.99±8.99
Grade	1~2 grade	113.91±21.47	2.85 (.005)	90.10±10.37	−1.43 (.155)
	3~4 grade	104.75±22.91		92.31±11.52
Economic status^†	High	102.01±23.92	11.15 (＜.001)	93.44±11.83^b	3.36 (.036)
	Middle	113.88±21.28		89.96±10.14^a
	Lower	118.96±18.83		89.45±11.12
Health status^†	Good	108.59±1.52^ab	10.75 (＜.001)	92.09±10.85^b	7.82 (＜.001)
	Average	117.35±18.14^a		88.52±9.73^a
	Bad	121.00±16.44^b		86.75±10.49
Religion	Catholic	113.11±22.70	1.37 (.242)	91.32±10.59	1.48 (.207)
	Buddhism	112.00±21.41		91.31±9.80
	Protestantism	110.73±18.69		92.80±11.74
	None	113.71±22.13		89.51±10.48
Major department ofstudy^†	Nursing course	119.54±19.21^ab	6.89 (＜.001)	91.15±8.74	1.85 (.077)
Major department ofstudy^†	Humanities, social course	112.24±22.75^b		88.85±11.74
	Natural course	112.24±22.76^b		89.89±10.51
	Natural course	112.24±22.76^b		89.89 10.51
	Engineering course	106.72±15.83^a		87.80±10.71
Rank betweenbrothers	First born	113.63±22.91	1.29 (.273)	90.35±9.70	1.15 (.335)
Rank betweenbrothers	Middle born	109.95±23.37		89.97±11.59
	Last born	112.62±19.94		90.58±11.12
	Single	116.64±17.48		89.52±10.17
Parent's workingtogether	Yes	112.01±21.70	−1.11 (.267)	91.00±10.69	1.61 (.109)
Parent's workingtogether	No	114.51±21.58		89.25±10.10
Drinking	Yes	110.83±21.76	−2.07 (.039)	90.58±10.43	0.54 (.587)
	No	115.03±21.65		90.05±10.59
Smoking	Yes	106.70±24.89	−2.40 (.017)	92.61±13.17	1.49 (.142)
	No	113.85±21.14		89.99±10.01

^†Scheffé test.

Table 4.

Correlation among Academic Stress and Adjustment at University Life

Variables	Academic stress	Adjustment at university life
Academic stress	1
Adjustment at university life	−.47 (＜.001)	1

Table 5.

Factors Influencing the Adjustment at University Life of Subjects

Variables	B	SE	β	t	p
(Constant)	123.42	4.32		28.59	＜.001
Academic stress	−0.23	0.02	−.48	−10.74	＜.001
Grade	1.14	1.44	.03	0.79	.429
Health status	−1.83	0.80	−.10	−2.29	.022
Economic status	−0.44	0.92	−.02	−0.48	.631
Major department of study	−0.98	0.22	−.20	−4.47	＜.001
Drinking	0.76	0.90	.04	0.85	.396
Smoking	−1.32	1.33	−.43	−0.99	.322
			Adj. R=.25, F=22.01, p＜.001

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