Stress Symptoms

SCMS Journal o f Indian Management , July - September, 2013 95

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Key words: Students stress, academic factors, non-academic factors, Structural Equation Modelling

Stress Symptoms:Structural Equation Modelling

G.S. David Sam Jayakumar and A. Sulthan

n this modern scenario human beings are living inmidst of various events and they should adapt tothe various environmental factors for the purpose of

life existence. Before several decades, people in the worldwere stress free, because they were not much influenced bythe environmental factors such as technology, politics,economy and other social interactions. But today it is notlike that, every man and woman living in any culture or in anysociety are bounded by the major problem called Stress. Thisstress may be of different types and it is influenced accordingto the nature and position held by a person in the society orin an organization. This should be curtailed when we studythe reason for stress which influences a person in the studentlevel. Several studies have been undertaken to analyze thestress among the college students. Tara Smith and KimberlyRenk (2007) researched on Predictors of Academic-RelatedStress in College Students. Similarly, Bhavin U. Pandya et al(2007) studied the Impact of Academic Stress on MBA

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to throw light on different types of stress factors, stress symptom and their impactof stress on college students from three different major disciplines namely Arts, Engineering and Management inTiruchirapalli district, Tamil Nadu.Transition of students from school environment to College environment couldcause a psychological, academic and social shock to them, since the educational system has huge differences: thestudent will face new methods of teaching, new academic requirements, new type of relations between studentsand faculties and even new relations among students themselves. Due to these changes, students can potentiallyexperience different types of stress that can affect their mental health, social health and their academic achievements.Stress is one of the main aspects of our modern life, resulted from the rapid changes in human life, so this ageis called the age of stress, students suffer from academic stress resulted from testing, home works and othercollege requirements which may exceed their abilities, sometimes the same person suffers from different types ofstress at a same time.

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Dr. G.S. David Sam JayakumarAssistant Professor, Jamal Institute of ManagementTiruchirappalli 620 020South India, India. E-mail:[email protected]

A.Sulthan, Research Scholar ,Jamal Institute of ManagementTiruchirappalli 620 020, South India, IndiaE-mail:[email protected]


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Students of Gujarat Technological University. On the otherhand. Laura P. Womble (2009) made a study on Impact ofStress Factors on College Students Academic Performance.Maureen Johnson (2009) researched on Community CollegeStudents Perception of Stress. Moreover, Joseph E. Agollaet.al (2009) carried a case study of University of Botswanawhich is an assessment of academic stress amongundergraduate students. Reem Rachel Abraham et.al (2009)submitted a report on Stress among First Year Students in anIndian Medical School andAlicia A. Larkins (2010) evaluatedthe Impact of Stress-related and Culturally-specific Factorson College Alcohol Consumption.Cheng Kai-Wen (2010) hasinvestigated the sources of stress among college students inTaiwan. Similarly, Ahmad M. Thawabieh et al (2012) made anassessment on Stress among University Students.

2. Theoretical Framework of Stress

What is Stress? - The term Stress is borrowed from thediscipline of physics. Stress actually means pressure. Thisinner pressure is a psychological and physiological responseto events that upset our personal balance. Stress is simplydefined as the bodys non-specific response to any demandplaced upon it. The responses may be physical like headache, emotional like fear or sadness and behavioural increasedanxiety. If a person experiences a continuous state ofdepression due to stress over a prolonged period of time andcannot return to a relaxed state, then the stress becomesnegative and risky. Some destructive strategies to reduce thesestresses include using tobacco, drinking alcohol, taking illegaldrugs and overusing prescribed medications. All of thesestrategies can only bring a short term relief but at a high costof damage to both body and mind. Are all the stresses negativeor bad? Should everyone strive to stamp stress out of theirlife completely? The answer is definitely no! Positive stressserves some useful purposes in our lives. A positive stresssometimes drives a person towards his success. For example,stress is essential for learning because a research study saysthat learning takes place only under moderate conditions ofstress levels. So our goal must be to keep our stress at amoderate level, neither too low or stress free that we may feelbored nor so high that we are overwhelmed.

Stressors among College Students

Adolescence is a stage of human development that occursafter childhood, and specifically between the ages of 15 to 25years and viewed as a stage where young people experiences

a rapid growth both physically and mentally. All the collegestudents fall in this category of Adolescent stage. At thisstage the students will have fast physical changes and mentaldevelopment. However, students sometimes may experienceincompatibility of their mental development with theirphysical changes or with the social environment and thussuffer from problems or stress arising from inadequateadaptation. These stresses may further cause psychologicaltroubles and even induce deviant behaviours. Adolescence isthus a dangerous period of time where young peopleexperience self-organization and role confusion. For themstress mainly comes from academic tests, interpersonalrelations, relationship problems, life changes, hormonalchanges, career exploration and high expectations. Such stressmay usually cause physical, psychological and behaviouralproblems. College students are at a critical period of life,where they enter adulthood which decides their future lifeand career. They are expected to be the elites in the society.Thus, they should enhance their stress management abilitiesso as to live a healthy life after entering the society. Forcollege freshmen, they need not only to adapt themselves tothe new life and new environment but also be familiar withnew people, events and things. The life stress on them isconsiderable and tolerable. Therefore, understanding thesource of stress among them and how they can cope with thestress is very important.

Causes for college Students Stress

The potential causes of stress are numerous. It may be linkedto the outside factors such as the state of the world;environment in which one lives or works, or the family. Itmay come from ones own irresponsible behaviour, negativeattitudes, or feelings or unrealistic expectation. The causes ofstress are highly individual. They depends on the personalitygeneral outlook on life, problem solving abilities, and socialsupport system. Many different things cause stress-physicalto emotional. Identifying what causes stress is the first stepto deal with stress. For College Students, irrespective of theirdisciplines the stress is caused mainly due to two set of factorsnamely Academic factors and Non-academic factors.

Academic Factors - Academic pressure is a significant sourceof stress for many college students. Identified sources ofacademic-related stress have included fear of falling behindwith coursework, finding the motivation to study, timepressures, financial worries, and concern about academicability. Additionally, students report stress over struggling


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to meet academic standards, time management worries, andconcerns over grades. Additionally, these sources may existeasily throughout the span of college students academiccareers and may result in college students experiencing a greatdeal of stress during their college career. The following aresome of the common academic stress factors found in thestudents of all the three major disciplines i.e. Arts, Engineeringand Management students and hence the same are used in thequest ionnaire. They are Improper teaching, Lack ofinformation to be learnt, Competition for scoring marks,frequent examinations, Long hours of academic work, Barriersin communication, Heavy work load, Inadequate resources,Irregular attendance, Dilemma in choosing the Discipline andInsufficient library facilities.

Non-academic Factors - Apart from academic pressure thereare many other reasons which aggravate stress among students.They may be due to their personal inferior complex feelingsdue to lack of confidence, misguidance, undesirable habitsdue to wrong friendship, immaturity, sedentary lifestyle,misunderstanding with their parents, friends and relatives,financial problems, inconvenient environment in the societyand fear about their future. The following are some of thecommon non-academic stress factors found in the students ofall the three major disciplines i.e. Arts, Engineering andManagement students and hence the same are used in thequestionnaire. They are Inconvenient accommodation,Difficulty ofbeing social with same age group, Insufficienttime for recreation, Lack of health, Poor infrastructure, homesick, Financial problems, Uncertainty of job after graduationand High expectations from parents.

Stress Symptoms- Symptoms are some of the reactions andchanges due to stress. Every one reacts to stress differently.But there are common symptoms of stress. People may shakeuncontrollably, breathe faster, deeper than normal or evenvomit. Stress can trigger an asthma attack. Symptoms of stressin students may appear in many forms. Some symptoms willonly have impact on the individual who is direct lyexperiencing the stress, while the other symptoms of stressmay have an impact over their relationship with others.Perhaps some experiences both when their stress levelsare elevated.The three main stress symptoms of collegestudents are Physical symptoms- Headaches, Digestiveproblem, Sleep disturbance, Fatigue, High Blood pressure,Weightgain or loss and Asthma or shortness of breath.Emotional symptoms-Hypersensi t ive, Rest lessness,Depression, Anger, Irritation, Lack of confidence, Apathy

and Urge to laugh or cry at inappropriate times. Behavioralsymptoms-Eating more or less, Sleeplessness, Isolation,Neglecting responsibilities, Increased alcohol and drug use,Nervous habits, Teeth grinding or Jaw clenching, Overdoingactivities such as exercising or shopping, Losing temper andOverreacting to unexpected problem.

3.Methodology and Instrumentation

Sampling framework

The research is a sample survey to elevate the impacts ofacademic and non-academic factors of college students on thestress symptoms. For this the researcher adapted a Purposivesampling method.Moreover under the three disciplines namelyArts, Engineering and Management, the researcher has selectedthree Engineering Colleges namely PABCET, Saranathan andJJ Engineering College respectively for the purpose ofevaluating the College students stress symptoms in engineeringdiscipline. Similarly, for the purpose of analyzing the Collegestudents stress symptoms in arts discipline we selected IndiraGandhi College for women, Bishop Heber College and St.Joseph College respectively. In the same manner, in order tostudy the stress symptoms of the Management students theresearcher selected three famous colleges in Tiruchirapallidistrict they are Bishop Heber College, St. Joseph Collegeand JJ College respectively.

Determination of Sample Size

In order to determine the sample size for this research studythe following formula is used:

where, n is the sample size, z is the standard normal variatevalue (1.645) at 95% confidence level, e is the allowablesampling error at 5% and s is the standard deviation of theraw stress symptom score.

Based on the Pilot study, the standard deviation of the rawstress symptoms score of the college students based on thedisciplines namely Arts (0.04394), Engineering (0.265) andManagement (0.3274) are calculated. Now by substitutingthe above said values in the formula, we get the requiredsample size of the college students and each discipline isderived and it is the lower limit of the sample size used toanalyze the stress symptoms of the college students inTiruchirapalli District and it is given as follows Arts (209),Engineering (76), and Management (116).


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Data Collection and Instrumentation

A well-structured Questionnaire prepared by the researcherafter the completion of pilot study, is with rectifying theshort comings faced in the pilot study. The finalizedquestionnaire is divided into three parts, in which Part 1includes the questions regarding personal demographic profileof the college students; Part 2 elucidates the conceptualquestions under two dimensions namely academic factors (11)and non-academic factors (9). Similarly Part 3 exhibits thequestions regarding the stress symptoms of the studentswhich compressed (7) items. All these items were anchoredat five point likert scale (from 1 to 5). Finally secondaryinformation regarding the profile of the college students andrelated reviews are also collected by the researcher throughthe internet source. The researcher also visited all the

aforementioned colleges in Tiruchirapalli District for thepurpose of conducting some formal discussion with thefaculties and the students.

4. Data analysis and results

The data was analyzed with the help of standard statisticalpackage namely SYSTAT 13, IBM SPSS 20 and IBM SPSSAMOS 20. At first the collected data were organized andlogically tabulated. Cross tabulations were prepared accordingto the subject discipline of the students; with this one wayanova is also used to find the mean equivalence of theperception regarding the items under academic and non-academic factors according to the discipline. Secondly,Structural Equation Modelling is applied to propose a multi-dimensional model of evaluating stress symptoms of collegestudents in Tiruchirapalli District.

Table-1 Shapiro-wilk test of univariate normality

ItemsFactorArts Engineering Management Pooled

Test statistics

Academic Improper teaching 0.879 0.851 0.903 0.892Lack of information 0.816 0.803 0.797 0.836Scoring marks 0.885 0.871 0.87 0.892Frequent examinations 0.815 0.774 0.846 0.835More academic work 0.82 0.774 0.837 0.85Communication Barriers 0.868 0.844 0.897 0.859Heavy Workload 0.857 0.846 0.858 0.87Inadequate Resources 0.881 0.87 0.886 0.889Poor attendance 0.881 0.863 0.889 0.89Inappropriate specialisation 0.867 0.779 0.897 0.881Inadequate library facilities 0.866 0.841 0.868 0.875

Non-Academic Inconvenient accomadation 0.912 0.899 0.89 0.901Introversion 0.893 0.895 0.883 0.89Insufficient time for Recreation 0.855 0.862 0.804 0.844Poor health 0.861 0.87 0.813 0.859Inadequate infrastructure 0.853 0.839 0.815 0.868Homesick 0.91 0.878 0.892 0.911Financial problems 0.853 0.826 0.873 0.86Fear about future 0.823 0.777 0.89 0.838High expectation from parents 0.833 0.84 0.767 0.841Nervous Indigestion 0.836 0.826 0.826 0.815

Stress Symptoms Feeling and anxiety 0.855 0.849 0.86 0.845Drinking and smoking 0.871 0.864 0.894 0.848Breathing problem 0.878 0.862 0.902 0.886Continuous thinking 0.88 0.869 0.903 0.874Trouble in concentration 0.897 0.899 0.896 0.883Counter Medications for relax 0.834 0.818 0.859 0.835


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Table-2 Multivariate test of normality

Test nameManagement

(n=116)Arts

(n=209)Engineering

(n=76)Pooled (n=401)

Mardias Skewness 16,180.884* 15,269.426* 5,604.495* 5,832.196*

Mardias Kurtosis 5.332* 7.565* 1.642 -2.839*

Henze-Zirkler 4.678* 4.861* 1.584* 1.434*

Table-3 . Personal and demographic factors of students based on discipline

CategoryFactorsArts

(n=209)Engineering

(n=76)Management

(n=116)Pooled

(n=401)

Discipline

Gender Male 58(27.75) 43 (56.57) 69(59.48) 170(42.39)Female 151(72.24) 33(43.42) 47(40.51) 231(57.60)

Age above21 128(61.24) 46(60.520) 71(61.20) 245(61.09)below21 81(38.75) 30(39.47) 45(38.79) 156(38.90)

Members below5 143(68.42) 42(55.26) 71(61.20) 256(63.84)above5 66(31.57) 34(44.73) 45(38.79) 145(36.16)

Degree UG 135(64.59) 47(61.84) 69(59.48) 251(62.59)PG 74(35.40) 29(38.15) 47(40.51) 150(37.40)

Problems Headache 121(57.89) 33(43.42) 55(47.41) 209(52.12)Muscular tension 46(22.01) 22(28.94) 26(22.41) 94(23.44)Chest pain 1(0.47) 4(5.26) 4(3.44) 9(2.24)Fatique 32(15.31) 16(21.05) 28(24.13) 76(18.95)Not applicable 9(4.30) 1(1.31) 3(2.58) 13(3.24)


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Fig.1 Structural model of Arts students Stress symptoms


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Table-4: Multi-dimensional effect of Academic and Non Academic factors on Stress symptoms of Arts students

DependentIndependent

Indicators Improper teaching Academic 1.623 0.224 0.678 7.235 0Lack of information 1.499 0.198 0.73 7.563 0Scoring marks 0.814 0.139 0.5 5.867 0Frequent examinations 1.17 0.192 0.526 6.091 0More academic work 0.731 0.152 0.389 4.805 0Communication Barriers 1.683 0.223 0.725 7.532 0Heavy Workload 1.058 0.186 0.481 5.695 0Inadequate Resources 1.276 0.169 0.731 7.567 0Poor attendance 0.946 0.15 0.55 6.298 0Inappropriate specialisation 1.07 0.185 0.491 5.786 0Inadequate library facilities 1 - 0.556 - -Inconvenient accommodation Non 1 - 0.586 - -

AcademicIntroversion 0.199 0.164 0.094 1.211 0.226Insufficient time for Recreation 0.647 0.13 0.42 4.994 0Poor health 0.451 0.127 0.285 3.551 0Inadequate infrastructure 1.104 0.168 0.602 6.59 0Home sick 0.465 0.149 0.247 3.116 0.002Financial problems 1.858 0.248 0.744 7.499 0Job 1.427 0.198 0.689 7.196 0High expectation from parents 0.8 0.204 0.318 3.921 0

Constructs Physical stress Academic 0.883 0.261 0.619 3.384 0Non Academic -0.662 0.252 -0.481 -2.632 0.008

Emotional stress Academic -0.05 0.101 -0.08 -0.498 0.619Non Academic 0.096 0.104 0.16 0.928 0.353

Behavioural stress Academic -0.29 0.179 -0.499 -1.621 0.105Non Academic 0.111 0.144 0.199 0.773 0.44

Indicators Nervous Indigestion Physical stress 1 0.628Breathing problem 0.103 0.153 0.069 0.672 0.501Feeling and anxiety Emotional stress 1 - 0.335 - -Continuous thinking 0.591 0.438 0.151 1.35 0.177Trouble in concentration 2.331 0.732 0.638 3.186 0.001Drinking and smoking Behavioural stress 1 0.312

Constructsname

Un-standardisedco-efficient

Standarderror

Standardisedcoefficient

Criticalratio

P-value

RMR=.213 GFI=.530 AGFI=.447 PGFI=.450 RMSEA=.207LL (RMSEA) =.201 UL(RMSEA) 90=.214 PCLOSE=.000


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Fig.2 Structural model of Engineering students Stress symptoms


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Table-5: Multi-dimensional effect of Academic and Non Academic factors on Stress symptoms of Engineering students


Indicators Improper teaching Academic 5.93 9.458 0.406 0.627 0.531Lack of information 4.473 7.218 0.322 0.62 0.535Scoring marks -1.047 2.204 -0.092 -0.475 0.635Frequent examinations 1.705 3.163 0.13 0.539 0.59More academic work 7.123 11.294 0.481 0.631 0.528Communication Barriers 5.412 8.63 0.407 0.627 0.531Heavy Workload 7.955 12.613 0.482 0.631 0.528Inadequate Resources 11.462 18.023 0.783 0.636 0.525Poor attendance 8.045 12.686 0.611 0.634 0.526Inappropriate specialisation 4.698 7.595 0.313 0.619 0.536Inadequate library facilities 1 - 0.083 - -Inconvenient accommodation Non Academic 1 - 0.538 - -Introversion 7.794 0.327 0.342 2.43 0.015Insufficient time for Recreation 0.23 0.263 0.113 0.873 0.383Poor health 0.775 0.278 0.405 2.792 0.005Inadequate infrastructure 0.716 0.299 0.336 2.394 0.017Home sick 2.05 0.518 0.853 3.956 0Financial problems 0.923 0.374 0.348 2.466 0.014Job 0.309 0.359 0.112 0.862 0.389High expectation from parents -0.831 0.347 -0.335 -2.393 0.017

Constructs Physical stress Academic -1.042 3.089 -0.076 -0.337 0.736Non Academic -0.385 0.415 -0.177 -0.928 0.353

Emotional stress Academic -3.567 6.021 -0.331 -0.592 0.554Non Academic -0.664 0.375 -0.391 -1.772 0.076

Behavioural stress Academic 0.308 1.039 0.077 0.297 0.767Non Academic -0.333 0.306 -0.528 -1.09 0.276

Indicators Nervous Indigestion Physical stress 1 - 0.748 - -Breathing problem 0.063 0.169 0.057 0.373 0.709Feeling and anxiety Emotional stress 1 - 0.624 - -Continuous thinking -0.131 0.246 -0.084 -0.531 0.597Trouble in concentration 0.445 0.261 0.286 1.707 0.088Drinking and smoking Behavioural stress 1 - 0.288 - -Counter Medications for relax -2.652 2.449 -0.599 -1.083 0.279

Constructsname


Standarderror


Criticalratio

P-value

RMR=.190 GFI=.565 AGFI=.484 PGFI=.476 RMSEA=.168 LL(RMSEA)=.=.156 UL(RMSEA)=.=.180 PCLOSE=.000


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Fig.3 Structural model of Management students Stress symptoms


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Table-6: Multi-dimensional effect of Academic and Non Academic factors on Stress symptoms of Management students


Indicators Improper teaching Academic 7.099 6.822 .658 1.041 .298Lack of information 6.067 5.837 .628 1.039 .299Scoring marks 2.330 2.382 .271 .978 .328Frequent examinations 3.824 3.763 .391 1.016 .310More academic work 4.717 4.593 .466 1.027 .304Communication Barriers 5.828 5.628 .560 1.035 .300Heavy Workload 6.794 6.548 .595 1.038 .299Inadequate Resources 6.086 5.853 .637 1.040 .298Poor attendance 4.776 4.648 .470 1.028 .304Inappropriate specialisation 1.780 2.023 .166 .880 .379Inadequate library facilities 1.000 - .108 - -Inconvenient accommodation Non Academic 1.000 - .114 - -Introversion 2.326 2.468 .225 .943 .346Insufficient time for Recreation 2.438 2.463 .303 .990 .322Poor health 1.824 1.908 .241 .956 .339Inadequate infrastructure 3.540 3.546 .325 .998 .318Home sick 3.859 3.826 .361 1.009 .313Financial problems 8.551 8.197 .743 1.043 .297Job 7.502 7.207 .639 1.041 .298High expectation from parents 1.585 2.006 .129 .790 .429

Constructs Physical stress Academic 1.313 1.918 .175 .684 .494Non Academic -3.675 3.800 -.492 -.967 .333

Emotional stress Academic .913 1.826 .095 .500 .617Non Academic -3.875 4.033 -.407 -.961 .337

Behavioural stress Academic -.030 1.467 -.003 -.020 .984Non Academic -.022 1.520 -.002 -.014 .989

Indicators Nervous Indigestion Physical stress 1.000 - .642 - -Breathing problem .156 .197 .109 .790 .430Feeling and anxiety Emotional stress 1.000 - .733 - -Continuous thinking -.037 .159 -.029 -.236 .814Trouble in concentration .365 .154 .290 2.366 .018Drinking and smoking Behavioural stress 1.000 - .707 - -Counter Medications for relax -.871 .187 -.563 -4.654 -

Constructsname


Standarderror


Criticalratio

P-value

RMR=.208 GFI=8.609 AGFI=.541 PGFI=.518 RMSEA=.144 LL(RMSEA)=.135 UL(RMSEA)=.153 PCLOSE=.000


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Fig.4 Structural model of pooled students Stress symptoms


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Table-7: Pooled analysis of Multi-dimensional effect of Academic and Non Academic factors on Stress symptoms among


Indicators Improper teaching Academic 2.405 .363 .710 6.621 0.00Lack of information 2.087 .316 .701 6.601 0.00Scoring marks .827 .171 .333 4.844 0.00Frequent examinations 1.398 .247 .447 5.654 0.00More academic work 1.073 .211 .363 5.096 0.00Communication Barriers 2.162 .331 .671 6.530 0.00Heavy Workload 1.473 .261 .446 5.651 0.00Inadequate Resources 1.623 .261 .571 6.226 0.00Poor attendance 1.773 .215 .414 5.458 0.00Inappropriate specialisation 1.392 .264 .386 5.267 0.00Inadequate library facilities 1.000 - .356 - -Inconvenient accommodation Non Academic 1.000 - .367 - -Introversion .627 .194 .203 3.239 .001Insufficient time for Recreation .532 .154 .221 3.467 0.00Poor health .609 .156 .259 3.899 0.00Inadequate infrastructure 1.548 .265 .543 5.833 0.00Home sick 1.036 .223 .336 4.638 0.00Financial problems 2.295 .374 .639 6.128 0.00Job 2.220 .359 .669 6.191 0.00High expectation from parents .859 .240 .230 3.573 0.00

Constructs Physical stress Academic .924 - .326 - -Non Academic -.855 - -.317 - -

Emotional stress Academic 1.109 - .761 - -Non Academic .495 - .565 - -

Behavioural stress Academic -.097 - -.532 - -Non Academic 1.000 - 1.151 - -

Indicators Nervous Indigestion Physical stress .026 .031 .034 .822 .411Breathing problem 1.000 - .860 - -Feeling and anxiety Emotional stress .104 .086 .071 1.203 .229Continuous thinking .377 .130 .269 2.905 .004Trouble in concentration 1.000 - .200 - -Drinking and smoking Behavioural stress -6.332 3.218 -.827 -1.968 .049Counter Medications for relax

Constructsname


Standarderror


Criticalratio

P-value

RMR=.174 GFI=.665 AGFI=.603 PGFI=.561 RMSEA=.141 LL(RMSEA)=.136 UL(RMSEA)=.145 PCLOSE=.000


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Table no.1 visualizes the result of the Shapiro-Wilk test forchecking the univariate normality of the items under threedifferent dimensions such as Academic factors (11), non-academic factors (9) and stress symptoms of students (7)respectively. From the table, Shapiro-Wilk Test confirmedthat the items under dimensions based on different disciplineare purely departed from univariate normality at 1%significance level. This shows the perception score of thestudents about their stress symptoms are not normallydistributed and it followed an abnormal distribution. Hencethe researcher assumed all the items followed the univariatenormal distribution. Table no.2 exhibits the result ofmultivariate test of normality such as Mardias multivariateSkewness, Mardias multivariate kurtosis and Henze-Zirklertest respectively. These tests are valid under the assumptionall the items are inter correlated. The result of the testconfirmed that the items are deviated from normality and itfollowed a multivariate non normal distribution. Hence, theresearcher assumed all the items followed a multivariatenormal distribution and this assumption was carried out todo further analysis about the stress of the students. Tableno.3 visualizes the personal and Demographic Factors ofstudents based on Discipline. As far as Arts students areconcerned a majority of the respondents are female. About61.24% of students are of the age group of above 21, and68.42% of students having below 5 members in their family.The majority of 64.59% of respondents are UG students. Inthis case a majority of Arts students are affected by headaches,which is fol lowed by muscular tension and fat iguerespectively. As for engineering students 56.5% of studentsare male respondents and 43.5% of students are femalerespondents. Majority of the students are of the age group ofabove 21 and 55% of students have family member s below 5.The majority of 61.81% of respondents are UG students. Asfar as problem concern engineering students are highly affectedby headaches which are followed by muscular tension andfatigue. As far as management students concern 59.4% ofstudents are male and 40.6% of students are female. Most ofthe students are at the age group of above 21 and 61.2% ofstudents have family members below 5.The majority of therespondents of management students are UG students. Incase of problems concern, majority of the students are affectedby headaches which is followed by fatigue (24.13%) andmuscular tension(22.4%).The pooled results show, themajority of respondents are female(57.6%)and 42.4% of male.Most of the respondents are at the age group of above 21.Themajority of the students have family member below 5 and

36.16% of students have more than 5 members in their family.The majority of the respondents are UG students. In case ofproblems concern, headache is the major problem among thestudents (52.12%) which is followed by muscular tension(23.44%) and fatigue (18.95%). Table no.4 describes themultidimensional influence of Academic and Non Academicfactors for Arts students. The result of the confirmatory factoranalysis and measurement model of analysing the studentsstress symptoms reveals that the academic factors influencedthe physical stress of Arts students with the un-standardizedcoefficient of 0.883 followed by the non-academic factorswith the positive co-efficient of 0.096 and 0.11 which alsopositively increase the emotional stress and behavioural stressof the students. Moreover, if the physical stress increasesthe Arts students suffer from breathing problem followed bythe emotional stress which leads and disturbs the studentsconcentration. Similarly, the above said factors and theirinfluence are also statistically significant at 1% level basedon the critical ratio test. As far as model fitness is concerned,the Root Mean residual (RMR) (0.213), Goodness of fitIndex (GFI) is more than fifty percent, Root Mean squareerror of approximation (RMSEA) is also close to 0 andProbability (p-close) of the estimated RMSEA is alsosignificant at 1% level which are the additional evidence whichleads the researcher to finalize the proposed multidimensionaland structural model of students stress symptoms as a validmodel for evaluating and measuring the students, stress forArts students in Tiruchirapalli. Similarly,Table no.5 describesthe multidimensional influence of Academic and Non Academicfactors for engineering students. The result of the confirmatoryfactor analysis and measurement model of analysing thestudents stress symptoms reveals that the academic factorsinfluenced the physical stress of engineering students withthe un-standardized coefficient of 0.308 increasing thebehavioural stress of the students. Similarly the above saidfactors and its influence are also statistically significant at1% level based on the critical ratio test. As far as model fitnessis concerned, the RMR (0.190), GFI is more than fifty percent,RMSEA is also close to 0 and p-close of the estimated RMSEAis also significant at 1% level which are the additional evidencewhich leads the researcher to f inal ize the proposedmultidimensional and structural model of students stresssymptoms as a valid model for evaluating and measuring thestudents stress for engineering students in Tiruchirapalli. Asfar as Table no.6 is concerned its describes the multidimensionalinfluence of Academic and Non Academic factors forManagement students. The result of the confirmatory factoranalysis and measurement model of analysis the students


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stress symptoms reveals that the Non Academic factorsinfluenced the physical stress of management students withthe un-standardized coefficient of 1.313 followed by whichincreasing the emotional stress of the academic factor withthe positive co efficient 0.913.Moreover the emotional stressincreases for management students and are suffered by lackof concentration. Similarly the above said factors and itsinfluence are also statistically significant at 5% level basedon the critical ratio level. As far as model fitness is concerned,the RMR (0.208), GFI is more than fifty percent, RMSEA isalso close to 0 and p-close of the estimated RMSEA is alsosignificant at 1% level which are the additional evidence whichleads the researcher to finalize the proposed multidimensionaland structural model of students stress symptoms as a validmodel for evaluating and measuring the students stress formanagement students in Tiruchirapalli.In Table no.7 thepooled analysis of multidimensional influence of Academicand Non Academic factors for students are shown. The resultof the confirmatory factors analysis and measurement modelof analysing the students stress symptoms reveals that theacademic factors influenced the physical stress of pooledstudents with the un-standardized co-efficient of 0.924 andemotional stress is 0.435 co-efficient of the students.Moreover, if the emotional stress is more than the physicalstress of the pooled students, the students are led to sufferand disturbed from concentration and continuous thinkingfollowed by the Behavioural stress due to which they takecounter medication to relax. Similarly, the above said factorsand the influence are also statistically significant at 1% levelbased on the critical ratio test. As far as model fitness isconcerned, the RMR (0.174), GFI is more than fifty percent,RMSEA is also close to 0 and p-close of the estimated RMSEAis also significant at 1% level which are the additional evidencewhich leads the researcher to f inal ize the proposedmultidimensional and structural model of students stresssymptoms is a valid model for evaluating and measuring thestudents stress, for students in Tiruchirapalli.

5. Conclusion

This study is an evidence that irrespective of their disciplineseither arts or engineering or management, all the collegestudents are experiencing stress but their levels may differ.To get rid of this stress, not only the students but also theparents, faculties and the College Management do have their

part to play. Parents must be aware of their childs problemsand should not force their high hopes on the students. TheFaculties may pay attention to students problems withlearning and apply appropriate strategies to enhance theirlearning effectiveness to relieve from their academic stresses.In addition, Management of the College Institutions/Universities shall also provide courses on life stress copingon a regular basis to consolidate students psychology andteach them how to relax themselves along with stressmanagement skills to deprive then from their non-academicstresses. The main strength of this comparative study is thepoint-of-view of the researcher. We feel glad that if this studycontributes to students academic performance and their lifeafter graduation to an appreciable extent.

References

Ahmad. et.al (2012) Assessing Stress among UniversityStudents. American International Journal ofContemporary Research, Vol. 2 No. 2, 110-116.

Alicia A. Larkins (2010), Impact of Stress-related andCulturally-specific Factors on College AlcoholConsumption

Bhavin U.Pandya (2007), Impact of Academic Stress on MBAStudents of Gujarat Technological University.

Cheng Kai-Wen (2010), The sources of stress among collegestudents in Taiwan.

Joseph E. Agolla et.al : The case of University of Botswana,Educational Research and Review, Vol. 4 (2), 063-070,

Laura P. Womble (2009), Impact of Stress Factors on CollegeStudents Academic Performance.

Maureen Johnson (2009), Community College StudentsPerception of Stress.

Reem Rachel Abraham, et.al (2009) A report on stress amongfirst year students in an Indian medical school SouthEast Asian Journal of Medical Education, Vol. 3 no. 2,78-81.

Tara Smith et.al (2007) Predictors of Academic-Related Stressin College Students: An Examination of Coping, SocialSupport, Parenting, and Anxiety NASPA Journal, Vol.44, no. 3, 405-431.

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Stress Symptoms