Somatic Symptoms Evoked by Exam Stress in University Students: The Role of Alexithymia, Neuroticism, Anxiety and Depression

AbstractObjectivesUniversity students with pain face unique physical, psychological, social and academic challenges, but research on this is limited. The main aim of this study was to examine how pain, disability and perceived social support relate to psychological and academic outcomes in students with pain. It also compared students with pain and students without pain on measures of depression, anxiety and perceived social support.MethodsThree hundred and eleven students enrolled in Chinese universities took part in the study, 198 with pain (102 reported acute pain and 96 chronic pain) and 113 without pain. They completed measures of perceived social support, depression, anxiety, pain (intensity, frequency, duration), disability and pain interference with academic functioning.ResultsStudents with chronic pain reported higher levels of anxiety and depression and lower levels of perceived social support than students without pain. There were no significant differences between students with acute and chronic pain, and between students with acute pain and those without pain. In the pain sample (containing both acute and chronic pain group), greater interference with academic functioning was predicted by higher levels of pain and disability, and disability also predicted higher levels of depression. After controlling for effects of pain and disability, lower levels of perceived social support predicted higher levels of both anxiety and depression.ConclusionsThese results highlight the role of pain and disability in academic functioning and the role of perceived social support in psychological functioning of students with pain.

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A three-wave longitudinal study on the relation between commuting strain and somatic symptoms in university students: exploring the role of learning-family conflicts

BMC Psychology ◽

10.1186/s40359-021-00702-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mathias Diebig ◽

Jian Li ◽

Boris Forthmann ◽

Jan Schmidtke ◽

Thomas Muth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

University Students ◽

Indirect Effect ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Systematic Change ◽

Effect Estimate ◽

Family Conflicts ◽

Individual Level

Abstract Background We examine the role of learning-family conflicts for the relation between commuting strain and health in a sample of medical university students. The first goal of the study was to investigate the mediating role of learning-family conflicts. The second goal was to extend the temporal view on relations between study variables. Therefore, we differentiated long-term systematic change among variables over a period of two-years from a dynamic perspective with repeated commuting events on the individual level of analyses. Methods We applied a multilevel research design and collected survey data from 128 medical students on three points in time (N = 339 measurement points). Participants informed about commuting strain, learning-family conflicts, somatic symptoms, as well as commuting distance and time. Results Bayesian multilevel analyses showed that results differed with regard to level of analysis: while learning-family conflicts mediated the relation between commuting strain and somatic symptoms on a systematic aggregation-level perspective of analysis (indirect effect estimatebetween = 0.13, SE = .05, 95% CI [0.05; ∞), Evidence Ratio = 250.57), this was not the case on the dynamic event perspective (indirect effect estimatewithin = 0.00, SE = 0.00, 95% CI [− 0.01; ∞), Evidence Ratio = 0.84). Conclusions We demonstrated that learning-family conflicts explain why commuting may have unfavorable effects on health for medical students. We also showed that it is the long-term commuting experience that is related to health complaints and not the single commuting event. This means that short-term deviations from general levels of commuting strain do not cause somatic symptoms, but general high levels of commuting strain do instead.

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Perceived Barriers to Meditation Among College Students: The Role of Personality Traits

Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal ◽

10.18061/bhac.v3i1.6678 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Samantha Whitford ◽

Keith Warren

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Online Survey ◽

Clinical Intervention ◽

Perceived Barriers ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Practice Meditation ◽

The Relationship ◽

University Setting

Background: Meditation is likely to be a useful intervention for anxiety and depression, and is increasingly common as a clinical intervention and informal practice among university students. However, meditation dropout rates are high, and it is likely that perceived barriers to meditation play a role. While neuroticism is known to predict dropout, there has been no study relating personality traits to these barriers.Aim: To better understand the barriers to meditation practice that university students experience.Methods: We used online survey data to analyze the relationship between personality traits, whether students practice meditation, time spent on academic and other work, and university students’ perception of barriers to meditation.Results: We found a nonlinear relationship between neuroticism and perceived barriers; the number of perceived barriers increased with increased neuroticism but eventually flattened out. Participants who meditate perceive more barriers than those who do not. We found no relationship between time spent in other activities and perception of barriers.Conclusions: Those students who would benefit most from meditation may have the most trouble continuing. Clinicians applying meditation as an intervention in a university setting should be ready to work with students on barriers to practice.

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