Nearly 80% of students in higher education worldwide experience
psychological stress during their university life due to various stressors. Stress
among students can be viewed as the body’s reaction, both neurologically and
physiologically, to adapt to new conditions. Stress can lead to poor academic
performance and underachievement among students. The present study
assessed the levels of perceived stress, general self-efficacy, and their
association with socio-demographic factors among a selected group of
undergraduates at a higher educational institute. A descriptive cross-sectional
study was performed using stratified random sampling among 393
undergraduates. The data were collected through the Perceived Stress Scale
(PSS-10), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and a questionnaire to
determine the socio-demographic factors. The data were analyzed using IBM
SPSS version 23. The mean age of the sample (n=393) was 22.36±2.33 years.
The results showed a mean perceived stress score of 20.72±4.96, indicating
moderate perceived stress. The majority of the participants (79.4%) had
moderate perceived stress, followed by high stress (12.7%) and low stress
(7.4%). There was no significant difference between the stress levels of male
and female students. No significant association was observed between
perceived stress and socio-demographic factors assessed (age, gender, civil
status, residence status, financial status, the program of study, employment
prospects) using the chi-squared test. Spearman correlation showed a
statistically significant negative correlation between perceived stress levels
and general self-efficacy (p<0.001, r = -0.293). Intervention strategies to
reduce perceived stress and to improve general self-efficacy should be
implemented among the undergraduates. Further studies are needed to
understand the factors contributing to stress and their interrelations among
undergraduate students.
Keywords: Perceived stress, General self-efficacy, Higher education