College Stress Impacts Mental Health and Relationship Satisfaction
Abstract
This present study explored how college stress impacts mental health functioning and relationship satisfaction. The transition into college may pose novel challenges such as increased responsibilities, changes in finances and interpersonal relationships (Darling et al., 2007), and academic overload (Pozos-Radillo et al., 2014). As such, college students may endure psychological distress that manifests into anxiety, depression, and stress (Milojevich & Lukowski, 2016). These mental health issues may subsequently influence an individual’s relationship functioning by reducing satisfaction levels. It is anticipated that financial stress will be the most influential stressor, while undergraduate students will endure more college stress than graduate students. Additionally, it is expected that anxiety will have a greater impact on relationship satisfaction when a student is encountering college stress. Lastly, women will have lower relationship satisfaction. The findings from this study revealed that academic and social stressors predominately influence mental health, specifically through anxiety. Yet, depression is the common mediator between college stress and relationship functioning, while gender does not affect said relationship satisfaction.
Subject Area
Counseling Psychology|Educational psychology|Mental health|Social psychology
Recommended Citation
Kelly Campbell,
"College Stress Impacts Mental Health and Relationship Satisfaction"
(2021).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI28156438.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI28156438