Life satisfaction, social support and stress among university students
Life satisfaction, social support and stress among university students

Summary/Abstract: This study explored the life satisfaction, perceived stress, and social support among university students, attempting to identify the main stressors experienced by the students, and to verify if age, gender, study level (bachelor and master), relation status, professional status (unemployed, part-time and full-time employee) are significant predictors of life satisfaction. A sample of 144 students participated in the study, aged between 19-25 years old (mean age 21.7 years), 113 female (78.5%) and 31 male (21.5%), enrolled in bachelor (72.2%) and master (27.8%) study programs, having various specializations and coming from several Romanian universities. The data were collected using Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ), and Multi-Dimensional Support Scale (MDSS). The findings revealed that the most frequent sources of stress are represented by the requirements and responsibilities arising from the academic activities, negative beliefs regarding self-efficacy and lower appearance satisfaction, and also by the conflicts and difficulties related to social relations with parents, friends, and colleagues. In addition, the regression results showed that students' occupation, study level and social support are significant predictors for life satisfaction. Further research is necessary to identify other particular characteristics of the students who are experiencing low levels of life satisfaction in order to develop appropriate health promotion programs.

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