Life's Stress Events That American River College Students Experience.

This study investigated stress levels and the sources of stress upon students enrolled at American River College (California), a community college of 20,000 students. Participants responded to a questionnaire measuring degrees of stress experienced in 43 life events within the past 12 months. Each individual's stress weights were then summed to yield a total stress event score. Data were collected on a sample of 2,615 students, 64% of whom were female, with a mean age of 22. Primary findings revealed that 16% of the sample had stress event scores that placed them at least one standard deviation above the mean. While no statistically significant difference between the total stress event means of male and female students were found, there were gender differences in the rates of endorsement for several individual items making up the scale. The students who had significantly higher total stress event means displayed one or more of the following characteristics: (1) under the age of 24; (2) non-white; (3) carrying 7-11 units; and (4) lower GPAs (1.99 or less). The most stressful item was being raped, which was indicated by 7.7% of the sample. The most frequently marked item was lack of sleep, at 91%. This document includes an explanation of the study, the survey used, descriptions of the project sample and stress event score results, and recommendations to faculty for intervention. Tables 1-10 contain student stress event data. Contains 13 references. (AS)