Assessment of the level of stress among Students at Moi University, Kenya

Abstract

People and students alike often suffer a great deal of stress as a result of day to day life happenings and commitments like work place requirements, uncertainty of career choices and future prospects, family commitments, fear of academic failure among other factors. It is difficult to gauge stress because different people respond differently to different situations under different circumstances. It was against this background that the present study was envisaged. The study was to assess the level of stress among Moi University students. The study was conducted at Moi University, Eldoret. A casual comparative research design was adopted and the study was based on Selye's theory on stress. The sample constituted students from School of Education that were sampled through stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Data was collected using a questionnaire that was administered to 100 postgraduate and 100 undergraduate students. The data collected was coded and analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included mean scores and standard deviations while inferential included t-test, Pearson Product moment correlation and Analysis of Variance. The analysis was done at .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the level of stress among Moi University student is the same regardless with the level of education. It was also revealed that gender affects the level of stress among students. However, the present study indicated that marital status does not influence the level of stress among the students. Also there is no statistical relationship between age and level of stress among the students. Lack of money for fees and upkeep was the major factor causing stress. To cope up with this stressor, students go for loans from financial institutions. The findings were to assist in setting up functional social support mechanism to handle stress amonguniversity students.