ERIC Digest 85-1. Students Stress is experienced by college students at different educational levels, but colleges can help reduce its destructive forms. Situations that are stressful for undergraduates, and for graduate, law, and medical students and residents are cited. Students who do not feel helpless will adopt their own coping strategies.
Stress is any situation that evokes negative thoughts and feelings in a person.
The same situation is not evocative or stressful for all people, and all people do not experience the same negative thoughts and feelings when stressed. One model that is useful in understanding stress among students is the person- environmental model. When students appraise their education as a challenge, stress can bring them a sense of competence and an increased capacity to learn. When education is seen as a threat, however, stress can elicit feelings of helplessness and a foreboding sense of loss. A critical issue concerning stress among students is its effect on learning.