Factors associated with perceived stress in university students
Abstract
Introduction: University students deal daily with various stressors that can negatively affect their physical and mental health. Objectives: To evaluate the perceived stress in university students and analyze the relationship between this and nutritional status, socioeconomic and demographic variables. Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study. Participants were 537 university students (25.27 ± 7.84 years) enrolled at Faculdade Barretos, from May 2015 to June 2017. The participants' socioeconomic and demographic information was collected. Perceived Stress Scale / PSS14 scale was used to assess perceived stress. Nutritional status was assessed by body mass index (BMI). Associations of interest were estimated using Chi-square test, considering a significance level of 5%. Results: Most participants were women (62.7%), single (78.4%), with economic level B (45.4%), residents with parents (72.5%), workers (80.7 %). The prevalence was overweight students (pre-obesity and obesity) (48.8%). Of the participants who presented weight variation, 62.2% gained weight during the undergraduate course. Factors associated with perceived stress in college students were gender, economic status, use of antidepressant and/or anxiolytic medications, course performance, and weight variation. Conclusion: Most participants are overweight (pre-obesity and obesity) and belong to the group with the highest stress, but in this study we found no relationship between the perceived stress in students and their nutritional status. Perceived stress was associated with the variables gender, economic level, use of medications, course performance and weight variation.
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