Perceived Stress Levels of Fresh University Students in Ghana: A Case Study

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the number of higher education students in Ghanaian universities has steadily increased. The rapid changes in the lives of fresh university students, some of which are adolescents and particular challenges associated with education at this level may expose them to stress. There is however limited information on stress perceived by fresh undergraduate students in Ghanaian universities. The aim of this study was to therefore investigate stress levels of fresh undergraduate students at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The case study design was adopted and information was on perceived stress levels among newly admitted educational psychology students and the extent to which these could be linked to such background characteristics as age, gender and work experience or time spent awaiting university admission after graduation from high school. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was administered on 398 respondents and data were analysed with the frequency distribution and t-Test statistics. Findings indicated that 70% of the students had moderate level of perceived stress whilst 3.5% demonstrated high level of stress. Results also indicated that female fresh undergraduates had significantly higher perceived stress levels than their male counterparts. There was a significant difference between the mean perceived stress of fresh undergraduate students admitted within two years of their graduation from senior high school and those who waited longer before they were admitted. Employment statuses before admission and age have no significant influence on perceived stress levels. Implications of the findings for future research, lecturers, school administrators, counsellors and health workers were discussed and recommendations were made.