Stress and Subjective Well-Being Among First Year UK Undergraduate Students

By Andrew Denovan, A. Macaskill. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2016

231 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Transition to university is stressful and successful adjustment is imperative for well-being. Historically research on transitional stress focussed on negative outcomes and ill health. This is the first UK study applying a positive psychology approach to investigate the characteristics that facilitate adjustment among new university students. A range of psychological strengths conceptualised as covitality factors, shown individually to influence the stress and subjective well-being (SWB) relationship were assessed among 192 first year UK undergraduates in week three of their first semester and again 6 months later. Path analyses revealed that optimism mediated the relationship between stress and negative affect (a component of SWB) over time, and academic self-efficacy demonstrated significant relationships with life satisfaction and positive affect. Contrary to predictions, stress levels remained stable over time although academic alienation increased and self-efficacy decreased. Optimism emerged as a key factor for new students to adjust to university, helping to buffer the impact of stress on well-being throughout the academic year. Incorporating stress management and psycho-educational interventions to develop strengths is discussed as a way of promoting confidence and agency in new students to help them cope better with the stress at university.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, General Health Professions, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8ab1a5e6767b239fa6baea011d3b32f5a5ce2183

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Applied Psychology

1. Faidra Papanikolaou
2. Sacha Epskamp
3. Eiko I. Fried
4. Andrew Denovan

In General Health Professions

1. A. Pitt
2. Eiko I. Fried
3. G. Tapia
4. F. Oprescu
5. Marion Gray
6. Andrew Denovan
7. Neil Dagnall

In Social Psychology

1. A. Pitt
2. Sacha Epskamp
3. Eiko I. Fried
4. G. Tapia
5. F. Oprescu
6. Marion Gray
7. Andrew Denovan
8. Neil Dagnall

Citations in the corpus

• Evaluating the Perceived Stress Scale among UK university students: implications for stress measurement and management (2019, background): “…accurate measurement and conceptualisation of perceived stress is vital because high stress levels are associated with a range of negative outcomes, including depression (Zhang et al. 2015), suicidal ideation (Abdollahi et al. 2015), and lower subjective wellbeing (Denovan and Macaskill 2016).”
• An exploratory study of students’ weekly stress levels and sources of stress during the semester (2018, result): “However, contrary to those previous findings, Denovan and Macaskill (2017) showed that stress scores measuring at different time points (i.e. the beginning of the academic year and 6 months later) remained relatively stable over the first academic year.”
• Mental Health and Social Contact During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study (2020, background): “…2005), and many studies have documented that students report consistently higher levels of mental health problems than the general population (Denovan & Macaskill, 2016; Gaspersz et al., 2012; Mortier, Auerbach, et al., 2018; Stallman, 2010; Tomoda et al., 2000; Tran et al., 2017; Williams…”