IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i19p6892-d1254988.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resilience, Positivity and Social Support as Perceived Stress Predictors among University Students

Author

Listed:
  • Kamila Litwic-Kaminska

    (Faculty of Psychology, Kazimierz Wielki University, 85-867 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Aleksandra Błachnio

    (Faculty of Psychology, Kazimierz Wielki University, 85-867 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Izabela Kapsa

    (Faculty of Political Science and Administration, Kazimierz Wielki University, 85-671 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Łukasz Brzeziński

    (Faculty of Pedagogy, Kazimierz Wielki University, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Jakub Kopowski

    (Faculty of Computer Science, Kazimierz Wielki University, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland)

  • Milica Stojković

    (Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia)

  • Darko Hinić

    (Department of Psychology, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia)

  • Ivana Krsmanović

    (Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia)

  • Benedetta Ragni

    (Department of Humanistic Studies, Learning Science Hub, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy)

  • Francesco Sulla

    (Department of Humanistic Studies, Learning Science Hub, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy)

  • Pierpaolo Limone

    (Department of Humanistic Studies, Learning Science Hub, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy)

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have been trying to identify which personal resources can contribute to minimizing the mental health costs in students incurred due to the restrictions that disrupted safety and predictability in their academic lives. The aim of the study was to verify if and how individual factors (resilience and positivity) and socio-environmental factors (social support and nationality) allow prediction of the level of perceived stress. University students ( n = 559) from Poland, Serbia, and Italy were surveyed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), the Positivity Scale (PS), and the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL-12). Personal resources—positivity, resilience, and support—were found to be positively interrelated and significantly associated with stress levels. Additionally, gender and nationality differentiated stress levels. A general linear model (GLM) showed that levels of perceived stress are best explained by resilience, positivity, tangible support, and gender. The results obtained can strengthen students’ awareness of personal resources and their protective role in maintaining mental health, as well as contribute to the creation of prevention-oriented educational activities. Nationality was not a significant predictor of the level of perceived stress, which highlights the universality of examined predictors among university students from different countries and suggests that interventions aimed at enhancing these resources could benefit students across different cultural contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Kamila Litwic-Kaminska & Aleksandra Błachnio & Izabela Kapsa & Łukasz Brzeziński & Jakub Kopowski & Milica Stojković & Darko Hinić & Ivana Krsmanović & Benedetta Ragni & Francesco Sulla & Pierpaolo Li, 2023. "Resilience, Positivity and Social Support as Perceived Stress Predictors among University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(19), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:19:p:6892-:d:1254988
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6892/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6892/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karina Cicha & Paulina Rutecka & Mariia Rizun & Artur Strzelecki, 2022. "Distance Learning Support Measures for Teachers in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar & Mythily Subramaniam & Esmond Seow & Sherilyn Chang & Rajeswari Sambasivam & Nan Luo & Swapna Verma & Siow Ann Chong & Rob M. van Dam, 2022. "Youth Positive Mental Health Concepts and Definitions: A Systematic Review and Qualitative Synthesis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Alicja Lisiecka & Dorota Chimicz & Agnieszka Lewicka-Zelent, 2023. "Mental Health Support in Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study and Recommendations for Practice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Ann T. Skinner & Leyla Çiftçi & Sierra Jones & Eva Klotz & Tamara Ondrušková & Jennifer E. Lansford & Liane Peña Alampay & Suha M. Al-Hassan & Dario Bacchini & Marc H. Bornstein & Lei Chang & Kirby De, 2022. "Adolescent Positivity and Future Orientation, Parental Psychological Control, and Young Adult Internalising Behaviours during COVID-19 in Nine Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Mayuri Gogoi & Adam Webb & Manish Pareek & Christopher D. Bayliss & Lieve Gies, 2022. "University Students’ Mental Health and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the UniCoVac Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-15, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Eric Yee & Changhwa Jung & Derrick Cheriberi & Minjune Choi & Wonsick Park, 2022. "Impacts of Transitioning to an Online Curriculum at a Graduate School in South Korea Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Kata Morvay-Sey & Melinda Trpkovici & Pongrác Ács & Dávid Paár & Ágnes Pálvölgyi, 2022. "Psychological Responses of Hungarian Students during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Elena Korneeva & Wadim Strielkowski & Raisa Krayneva & Anna Sherstobitova, 2022. "Social Health and Psychological Safety of Students Involved in Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Chonggao Wang & Wangqian Fu & Kangjie Geng & Yan Wang, 2023. "The Relationship Between Deaf Adolescents’ Empathy and Subjective Well-Being in China During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Inconsistent Role of Peer Support and Teacher Support," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1913-1940, October.
    5. Harshi Gunawardena & Alexander Voukelatos & Sham Nair & Shane Cross & Ian B. Hickie, 2023. "Efficacy and Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Wellbeing Interventions in Australia: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(15), pages 1-22, August.
    6. Chiara Buizza & Clarissa Ferrari & Giulio Sbravati & Jessica Dagani & Herald Cela & Giuseppe Rainieri & Alberto Ghilardi, 2023. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Well-Being, Social Relationships and Academic Performance in a Sample of University Freshmen: A Propensity Score Match Evaluation Pre- and Post-Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(15), pages 1-19, July.

    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:20:y:2023:i:19:p:6892-:d:1254988. 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.