How do college students who are parents feel anxiety, stress, and depression during their examination preparation?

Abstract

Anxiety, stress, and depression are elements of everyday life for some people. Situations and choices such as attending higher education institutions make these states even more difficult. Parallel employment and increased family obligations are thought to burden the mental states of students. This study purposed to highlight the increased levels of anxiety, stress, or depression experienced by college students who are also parents. It also explored the sources of these adverse mental states and probed how students with children tackled them. It was assumed that students who were parents would be more burdened by these mental states than other students. The administered questionnaire was based on the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) with added questions regarding the sources of anxiety, stress, or depression and the ways participants dealt with them. However, the original hypothesis was rejected because the data obtained from the study sample of 94 participants revealed that students without children experienced more anxiety than students who were parents. No difference was found in the stress and depression levels reported by the two groups. Participants also highlighted how educational institutions can burden the mental state of students, for instance, through the number of assigned tasks and the examination period. Participants reported that they turned to their family members and friends or stayed at home to reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. Therefore, studies should be conducted to discover the probable reasons for higher levels of anxiety, stress, or depression sensed by college students who are not parents and how students who are parents mitigate these states.

Keywords

Anxiety / Stress / Depression / Student / Parent / Emotional relaxation / Higher education

Funding

None.

Conflict of interest

Paraskevi Theofilou is an Editorial Board Member of this journal and Guest Editor of this special issue, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

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