2. TOPIC
Individual feelings regarding origins of stress among
college freshmen and student coping mechanisms.
What are some of the causes of stress among
college students and what are some ways students
combat stress.
3. Question/Hypothesis
What effect does stress have on social interactions
among college freshman?
We believe that stress will negatively impact
students’ social lives. The more stress students’ are
presented with, the less likely they will be to engage
in interpersonal activities.
4. Procedure
We surveyed 100 college freshmen at the University
of Michigan.
We asked them questions about their stress levels,
what causes stress, and how they cope with stress.
We also asked how this affects students’ social lives.
5. Procedure
Once we collected surveys, we entered the data onto
the computer to organize it.
We created graphs to represent the data and show
any trends that occurred.
We composed a presentation to showcase all of our
information.
We wrote a paper about our findings.
6. Year: ________
Credits This Semester: ________
Gender: ____________________________________
Concentration: __________________________
Survey
1. What makes you stressed? Check all that apply.
☐ Course load
☐ Financial issues
☐ New environment
☐ Being away from home
☐ Lack of sleep
☐ Forming new relationships
☐ Academic pressure
☐ Peer pressure
2. How stressed do you feel on a regular basis on a scale
of 1 -10 (1 being the least and 10 being the highest)
3.How do you cope with stress? (circle any that apply)
Seek help from others
Use campus resources
Nothing
Prescription drugs
Non-prescription drugs
Drink alcohol
Exercise
Listen to music
Shop
Distract myself
Eat
Sleep
Other _______________
4. What effect does stress have on you? (circle any that
apply)
It motivates me
It makes me overwhelmed
It keeps me awake at night
It makes me anxious
It changes my appetite
It makes me emotionally unstable
It causes me to do things I wouldn’t normally (drugs,
alcohol)
It makes me give up/ not complete assignments
Other: ______________
5. How does stress impact your social life? (does it make
you more social, less social, or have no effect?
6. When your are stressed do you make time for leisure
activities? (check the box)☐ Yes☐ No
7. 90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Course Load academic
pressure
lack of sleep Financial
Issues
Being away
from home
forming new
relationships
New
environment
peer pressue
81 73 56 29 27 20
13
10
What Makes You Stressed
8. 3
4
2
Stress Level (on a scale of 1-10)
5
9
21
20
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10. 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
When you are stressed do you make time for social leisure
activities?
Yes No
Number of Participants
Response
28
72
11. 25
20
15
10
5
0
Among Those with Stress Levels of 7 or higher, how many make
time for social leisure activities?
71.4%
28.57%
Yes No
Do You make time for social leisure
activities?
12. 45%
17%
38%
How Does Stress Impact your social life?
Less Social
More Social
No effect
13. Among those with stress levels of 7 or higher, How were students
20%
59%
21%
impacted socially?
more social
less social
no effect
14. 58
80
34
45
27
41
10
30
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
What Effect Does Stress Have on You?
It motivates me
It makes me overwhelmed
It keeps me awkae at night
It makes me anxious
It changes my appitite
It makes me emotionally unstable
It cause me to do things I wouldn’t normally do
It makes me give up/ not complete assignments
15. How do you cope with stress?
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
24
16
67
24
12
25
28
60
37
18
20
44
Seek help from others
use campus resources
nothing
prescription drugs
non prescription drugs
drink alcohol
exercise
listen to music
shop
distract myself
eat
sleep
16. Our Findings
Our data showed that course load
and academic pressure are the
main causes of stress.
70% of students reported having
a daily stress level between 6-10
Despite the high stress levels,
72% of students make time for
some social activity in their busy
lives
Stress makes the majority of
people less involved in
interpersonal relations
Only 24 people reported seeking
help from others when stressed,
even though interpersonal contact
can be the most helpful way to
relieve stress
Just 16 out of 100 people said
they use campus resources, like
CAPS(counseling and
psychological services) when
stressed
17. Conclusion
Factors such as course load and academic pressure have a profound
influence on the stress levels of college students. So much so that it
causes them to encounter less interpersonal interactions. While
observing our findings, we found it surprising that students who had
high stress level were less social while those who had low stress
levels were more social . Thus our hypothesis was correct. The
more stress students’ are presented with, the less likely they will be to
engage in interpersonal activities. In addition, more interpersonal
activities help to reduce stress.
18. Articles Related to Our Research
(for further consideration)
“The Effect of Stress on
Social Interest and Vice
Versa” By: J.E Crandall
“Determinants of Problem
Solving, Social Support
Seeking, and Avoidance”
Ming-hui Ling, Yanyun
Yang
“Depression and college
stress among university
undergraduates: Do
mattering and self-esteem
make a difference?” SK
Dixon, SER Kurpius
