Differences in students stress experiences and associations with health. Results of a path analysis

Abstract

Background: According to recent studies, university students in Germany often report to perceive stress [12, 16, 38]. Rare studies have examined the associations between social background characteristics and the level of perceived stress [12, 16, 20, 27, 31, 38] as well as between perceived stress and health outcomes among university students [8, 13, 18, 28]. Objectives: This study focuses on the role of social background characteristics and the perceived level of stress on health indicators among university students. Further, this study examines whether the level of perceived stress mediates the association between social background characteristics and indicators of health. Materials and methods: A total of N = 1024 students participated in an online survey at the Technical University of Dortmund in 2018. Uni-, bi- and multivariate analyses included data from n = 850 students. Results: Around 50 % of students experienced a high level of stress, which is unequally distributed between students with low social support (Odds Ratio [OR] = 4.51), low subjective social status (OR = 2.35), insufficient finances (OR = 2.04), bilateral migration background (OR = 1.84) and chronic illnesses (OR = 1.64) and students of the reference groups. For students reporting a high level of stress, the likelihood of reporting a low life satisfaction (OR = 8.47), high psychosomatic health complaints (OR = 6.91), poor self-rated health (OR = 3.21) and an unhealthy diet behaviour (OR = 1.56) increases. The results indicate social inequalities in students’ health status indicators and, to a much lower extent, in indicators of health behaviour, which are mediated slightly or not at all by the level of perceived stress. Conclusions: This study highlights that social background characteristics and the level of stress are strongly related respectively to university student’s health status, with both factors having an independent association with health indicators. Regarding student health management at universities, target group-specific measures to strengthen the stress management among students are highly recommended to be implemented in future initiatives.