Academic Stress and Coping Strategies among Postgraduate Students: Comparative Study of Universities in Imo State, Nigeria

Aims: The study aimed to identify and compare the prevalence of stress among postgraduate students in Imo State University (IMSU)and Federal University of Technology, Owerri(FUTO)using General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), to identify and compare their sources of academic stress using Postgraduate Stressor Questionnaire(PSQ); and to identify and compare the measures the students were using to cope with stress using Cope inventory.

Sample: All the postgraduate students admitted in 2015/2016 session in FUTO and IMSU were sampled for this study, with 10% and 8% attrition rates in IMSU and FUTO respectively.

Study Design: This is a comparative cross sectional study between the postgraduate students in IMSU and FUTO.

Place and Duration of Study: Imo State University (IMSU) and Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), between August 2017 to November 2017.

Methodology: All the postgraduate students admitted in 2015/2016 session in FUTO and IMSU were used for this study (121 were from IMSU while 832 were from FUTO). PSQ, GHQ-12 and COPE Inventory were for data collection used to collect data. Chi square was used to test the hypotheses and the significance level was p≤0.05.

Results: It was observed that 79% of FUTO students were under eustress while 36% of those at IMSU were under eustress. Majority (80%) of FUTO respondents were using positive coping strategies compared to 36% of IMSU students using positive coping strategies. There was significant difference in the prevalence of stress and coping strategies among the students in the two universities (<0.001*).

Conclusion: Academic stress leads to many physiological and mental illnesses. It results from the stressful situations that persist over time and produces negative health outcomes. Postgraduate students in Nigeria face a number of pressures that are distinct from the stresses that undergraduates face. If it is not managed with positive coping strategies it will leads to wearing effects on people.