Stress and self-esteem among college students

Abstract

The present study examines the relationship between the level of stress and self-esteem among college students with different majors studying at the University of Balamand, North Lebanon. The students’ levels of stress were measured by a research study conducted by Nahas & Williamson (2009), and were used for this research study. Nahas et al.’s study identified 84 potentially stressful events among 584 students at the University of Balamand. Students’ self-esteem scores were obtained using Echelle toulousaine d’estime de soi (ETES) questionnaire. Correlation was calculated between the levels of stress and levels of self-esteem for each of the 84 events in order to determine whether a relationship exists between them, and if so, for which stressful event this relationship was apparent. A statistical ANOVA was then used to compare the means of the levels of stress among the two groups of self-esteem, namely high and low, for each of the 84 potentially stressful events, in order to find out whether students with high self-esteem experienced lower levels of stress than students with low self-esteem, and if so, for which stressful events was this more or less evident. The results showed a negative correlation between the college students’ self-esteem and the level of stress that resulted from various academic and personal potentially stressful events. Moreover, whenever the differences in means were significant, students with high self-esteem reported a lower level of stress than students with low self-esteem. These findings indicate that the students’ self-esteem may have an influence on the level of stress in academic and personal issues, and it may also be an indication that the students’ self-esteem is affected by the level of stress that they experience in their college life. These findings allow for a better understanding of college students behavior under what they perceive as stressful, towards the development of stress reduction strategies and measures in colleges, both through the isolation and treatment of highly stressful events, and through self-esteem improvement among college students.