IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v11y2014i12p12088-12107d42722.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Symptoms and Health Complaints and Their Association with Perceived Stressors among Students at Nine Libyan Universities

Author

Listed:
  • Walid El Ansari

    (Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Gloucestershire, Gloucester GL2 9HW, UK)

  • Khalid Khalil

    (Faculty of Medical Technology, Misrata, Libya)

  • Christiane Stock

    (Unit for Health Promotion Research, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg 6700, Denmark)

Abstract

University students are exposed to many stressors. We assessed the associations between two stressors (educational related and general overall), socio-demographic characteristics (five variables), health behaviours/lifestyle factors (six variables), as well as religiosity and quality of life as independent variables, with self-reported symptoms/health complaints as dependent variables (eight health complaints). A sample of 2100 undergraduate students from nine institutions (six universities, three colleges) located in seven cities in Libya completed a general health questionnaire. The most prevalent symptoms were headaches, depressive mood, difficulties to concentrate and sleep disorder/insomnia that have been reported by 50%–60% of the students. The majority of students (62%) reported having had three or more symptoms sometimes or very often in the last 12 months. There was a positive association between perceived stressors and health symptoms, which remained significant after adjustment for gender and many other relevant factors for headache (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.15–2.02), depressive mood (OR 2.20; 95% CI 1.64–2.94) and sleep disorder/ insomnia (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.19–2.03). Other factors independently associated with most health symptoms were female gender and poor self-perceived health. Stress management programmes and a reduction of educational related stressors might help to prevent stress-related symptoms and health complaints in this student population.

Suggested Citation

  • Walid El Ansari & Khalid Khalil & Christiane Stock, 2014. "Symptoms and Health Complaints and Their Association with Perceived Stressors among Students at Nine Libyan Universities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:12:p:12088-12107:d:42722
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/12/12088/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/12/12088/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walid El Ansari & Christiane Stock, 2010. "Is the Health and Wellbeing of University Students Associated with their Academic Performance? Cross Sectional Findings from the United Kingdom," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Shaher H. Hamaideh, 2012. "Gender differences in stressors and reactions to stressors among Jordanian university students," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 58(1), pages 26-33, January.
    3. Walid El Ansari & Reza Oskrochi & Ghollamreza Haghgoo, 2014. "Are Students’ Symptoms and Health Complaints Associated with Perceived Stress at University? Perspectives from the United Kingdom and Egypt," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Denton, Margaret & Prus, Steven & Walters, Vivienne, 2004. "Gender differences in health: a Canadian study of the psychosocial, structural and behavioural determinants of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 2585-2600, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nowall Al-Sayegh & Khazna Al-Enezi & Mohammed Nadar & Elizabeth Dean, 2020. "Health Status, Behaviors, and Beliefs of Health Sciences Students and Staff at Kuwait University: Toward Maximizing the Health of Future Health Professionals and Their Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Janet Junqing Chu & Mobarak Hossain Khan & Heiko J. Jahn & Alexander Kraemer, 2015. "Comparison of Subjective Health Complaints between Chinese and German University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Carlos Freire & María del Mar Ferradás & José Carlos Núñez & Antonio Valle & Guillermo Vallejo, 2018. "Eudaimonic Well-Being and Coping with Stress in University Students: The Mediating/Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam, 2020. "Is Achieving the Guidelines of Four Forms of Physical Activity Associated with Less Self-Reported Health Complaints? Cross-Sectional Study of Undergraduates at the University of Turku, Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam, 2020. "Is Achieving the Guidelines of Four Forms of Physical Activity Associated with Less Self-Reported Health Complaints? Cross-Sectional Study of Undergraduates at the University of Turku, Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Clémence Kieny & Gabriela Flores & Jürgen Maurer, 2021. "Assessing and decomposing gender differences in evaluative and emotional well-being among older adults in the developing world," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 189-221, March.
    3. Gyeong-Suk Jeon & Sung-Il Cho & Kyungwon Choi & Kwang-Sim Jang, 2019. "Gender Differences in the Prevalence and Correlates of Elder Abuse in a Community-Dwelling Older Population in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, January.
    4. Castro, Damaris & Bleys, Brent, 2023. "Do people think they have enough? A subjective income sufficiency assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    5. Kyungwon Choi & Gyeong-Suk Jeon & Kwang-Sim Jang, 2020. "Gender Differences in the Impact of Intergenerational Support on Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-13, June.
    6. Fritzell, Sara & Ringbäck Weitoft, Gunilla & Fritzell, Johan & Burström, Bo, 2007. "From macro to micro: The health of Swedish lone mothers during changing economic and social circumstances," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 2474-2488, December.
    7. Lee, Chioun & Ryff, Carol D., 2016. "Early parenthood as a link between childhood disadvantage and adult heart problems: A gender-based approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 58-66.
    8. Kirsi Talala & Taina Huurre & Hillevi Aro & Tuija Martelin & Ritva Prättälä, 2008. "Socio-demographic Differences in Self-reported Psychological Distress Among 25- to 64-Year-Old Finns," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 323-335, April.
    9. Orfila, Francesc & Ferrer, Montserrat & Lamarca, Rosa & Tebe, Cristian & Domingo-Salvany, Antonia & Alonso, Jordi, 2006. "Gender differences in health-related quality of life among the elderly: The role of objective functional capacity and chronic conditions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(9), pages 2367-2380, November.
    10. Fabio Ferretti & Andrea Pozza & Maurilio Pallassini & Lorenzo Righi & Fulvia Marini & Sabrina Adami & Anna Coluccia, 2019. "Gender invariance of dignity in non-terminal elderly patients with chronic diseases: a multicentric study," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1645-1656, May.
    11. Soad Albahar & Jing Li & Mustafa Al-Zoughool & Ali Al-Hemoud & Janvier Gasana & Hassan Aldashti & Barrak Alahmad, 2022. "Air Pollution and Respiratory Hospital Admissions in Kuwait: The Epidemiological Applicability of Predicted PM 2.5 in Arid Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-10, May.
    12. Macleod, John & Davey Smith, George & Metcalfe, Chris & Hart, Carole, 2005. "Is subjective social status a more important determinant of health than objective social status? Evidence from a prospective observational study of Scottish men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 1916-1929, November.
    13. Robert Stefko & Beata Gavurova & Viera Ivankova & Martin Rigelsky, 2020. "Gender Inequalities in Health and Their Effect on the Economic Prosperity Represented by the GDP of Selected Developed Countries—Empirical Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-26, May.
    14. Silver, Michelle Pannor & Dass, Adrian Rohit & Laporte, Audrey, 2020. "The effect of post-retirement employment on health," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    15. Angela Rauch & Anja Burghardt & Johannes Eggs & Anita Tisch & Silke Tophoven, 2015. "lidA–leben in der Arbeit. German cohort study on work, age and health [lidA–leben in der Arbeit. Kohortenstudie zu Gesundheit und Älterwerden in der Arbeit]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 195-202, October.
    16. Éva Bíró & Sándor Kovács & Ilona Veres-Balajti & Róza Ádány & Karolina Kósa, 2021. "Modelling Health in University Students: Are Young Women More Complicated Than Men?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-12, July.
    17. Prus, Steven G., 2011. "Comparing social determinants of self-rated health across the United States and Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 50-59, July.
    18. Dyene Aparecida Silva & Ana Elisa Madalena Rinaldi & Catarina Machado Azeredo, 2019. "Clusters of risk behaviors for noncommunicable diseases in the Brazilian adult population," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(6), pages 821-830, July.
    19. Dona Ghosh & Jaydeep Sengupta & Aviral Kumar Tiwari, 2020. "Revisiting the Role of Gender in Health Taxonomy: Evidence from the Elderly in India," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 24(2), pages 104-133, June.
    20. Weden, Margaret M & Astone, Nan M & Bishai, David, 2006. "Racial, ethnic, and gender differences in smoking cessation associated with employment and joblessness through young adulthood in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 303-316, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:12:p:12088-12107:d:42722. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.