Background: Stress and low physical activity (PA) levels are linked to illness. No studies have been found examining them among refugee school students. Aim: Investigate level of PA and perceived stress and the correlation between them among refugee school students. Method: Cross-sectional study with a descriptive, correlative design. Refugee school students completed one questionnaire on perceived stress: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); and two questionnaires on PA level: Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale (SGPALS) and indicator questions for physical activity (SIFA) from the Swedish National board of health and welfare. Results: Altogether 59 students were included. The adult WHO/ FYSS recommended PA levels was met by 55.9%. Median SGPALS was 2 (some light physical activity for at least 4hours/week) out of 4 with 35.6% reported being sedentary during leisure time. Median PSS is 22 out of 40. No significant correlation between SIFA, SGPALS and PSS was found in the population. Conclusion: Over half of the refugee students met the adult WHO/FYSS recommended PA levels and over a third report being sedentary in their leisure time. Initiatives to promote PA among refugee students should be implemented to reduce illness and inactivity. / Bakgrund: Stress och låg grad av fysisk aktivitet (PA) är kopplade till ohälsa. Inga studier har påträffats som undersöker stress och PA hos flyktingar som deltar i svenskundervisning. Syfte: Undersöka PA nivå och upplevd stress och sambandet däremellan hos skolelever med flyktingbakgrund. Metod: Tvärsnittsstudie med deskriptiv, korrelerande design. Deltagarna fyllde i frågeformulär om upplevd stress: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); och två frågeformulär om PA nivå: Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale (SGPALS) och Socialstyrelsens indikatorfrågor om fysiskaktivitet (SIFA). Resultat: Totalt 59 elever inkluderades. WHO/FYSS rekommenderade PA nivå för vuxna nåddesav 55,9 procent. Medianen för SGPALS blev 2 (Någon fysisk aktivitet på fritiden under minst 4 timmar per vecka) av 4 med 35,6% som uppgav stillasittande fritid. Medianen för PSS blev 22 av 40. Ingen signifikant korrelation mellan SIFA, SGPALS och PSS påträffades i populationen. Konklusion: Drygt hälften av deltagarna i studien nådde WHO/FYSS rekommenderade PA nivå för vuxna och drygt en tredjedel uppgav att de var stillasittande på fritiden. Initiativ för att främja PA hos skolelever med flyktingbakgrund bör sättas in för att minska ohälsa och stillasittande.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Literature identified Psychology students to be vulnerable to the stress associated with professional postgraduate studies and the nature of multiple processes. Less research has been conducted on Honours students as a cohort. The present study attempted to examine the associations between personality traits, perceived stress and coping styles in a sample of Honours students and post-Honours interns enrolled at a historically disadvantaged university. The present study was a cross-sectional internet survey including four instruments: the Brief COPE questionnaire (coping styles), the Perceived Stress Scale (subjective stress), the Big 5 Personality Survey (BFI-10) (personality traits) and a demographic questionnaire. All participation was voluntary and general principles of ethics were adhered to. The data was analysed using frequencies, correlation matrices, coefficients of determination and and regression. Findings indicated medium levels of perceived stress in this sample including contextual factors like gender, age and race. The B.Psych students reported reduced ranges on perceived stress compared to Honours students. Personality profiles indicated the four highest ranked traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness and extraversion) closely banded. Neuroticism was ranked substantially lower in this sample. More adaptive coping styles like (planning, religion, active coping, acceptance etc.) were used than maladaptive coping styles. Associative relationships were indicated between demographic variables and coping, personality traits and perceived stress respectively. Race, Gender, relationship status, registration status and Age was found to correlate significantly with the three core constructs (perceived stress, coping and personality traits). Findings indicated predictive relationships between combinations of coping styles which could significantly predict perceived stress. Maladaptive coping significantly predicted perceived stress controlling for adaptive coping (e.g. emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping).

In modern society, the role of fathers in parenthood tends to be as considered as the role of mothers. Becoming parent can lead to some positive effects, but also to some negative ones, which may have serious consequences on both parents and on the child. The purpose of the present work was to investigate whether a difference of a specific postpartum effect with regard to levels of perceived stress could be noticed in Swedish and French men who just became fathers for the first time. In this study, we pointed out the stress in daily life and the stress related to the role as a parent. All participants (nSwedish = 20; nFrench = 31) were men who became fathers for the first time a year or less before the measurement of stress. A questionnaire was submitted online and the data were analyzed using t-tests in order to measure the differences between French and Swedish regarding stress and ANCOVAs in order to measure if age and duration of the relationship have an impact on stress level. The results showed that Swedish fathers have a significantly higher perceived stress level than French fathers. However, there is no effect of age and duration of the relationship on the results. Moreover, no differences were found with respect to fathers’ parenting stress level.

A popular notion is that an employee that experiences low control together with high demand is more likely to perceive stress. Management control has been intensified in public service organizations after New Public Management reforms, which is presumed to come at the expense of employee control. This study examined how management control systems, as a package and as specific components, are related to perceived stress. 130 subordinates in a Swedish public service organization completed self-report measures. A multiple regression analysis gave support for the hypotheses that work demand is positively and feedback from superior is negatively related to stress. No support was found for the hypotheses that employee control, feedback from the information system and formality by performance evaluation should be negatively related to stress. It is suggested that management control systems can serve as support for the employees´ efforts of coping with the demands.

Stress är i dagens samhälle ett vanligt förekommande fenomen inom många domäner där individer på olika vis drabbas. Högskolestuderande är en av grupperna. Tidigare forskning visar att olika faktorer bidrar till stress och att stress kan leda till allvarliga konsekvenser för individer. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka faktorer som relaterar till högskolestudenters upplevda stress. Till grund för studien låg fem frågeställningar. En enkätundersökning genomfördes för att besvara frågeställningarna. Enkäten bestod av en demografisk del, Antonovskys KASAM-formulär och Cohens perceived stress scale. Respondenterna var 302 studerande vid en högskola i Mellansverige, varav 205 kvinnor och 96 män. Databearbetning skedde med korrelationer, t-test, variansanalys och regressionsanalys. Resultatet mynnade ut i slutsatsen att högskolestudenternas KASAM och könstillhörighet relaterar till upplevd stress, men att delaktighet inte relaterar till upplevd stress. Förslag för framtida forskning inom ämnet ges.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / African foreign nationals face many challenges when attempting integration into South African society. Perceived discrimination is one of the major challenges faced by immigrant populations. African international students form a large contingent of the international student population in tertiary education in South Africa. However, no comprehensive profile exists. The present study aimed to establish a comprehensive demographic profile on the African international student population in Community and Health Sciences (CHS) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), as well as to establish the relationship between demographic variables, perceived discrimination, and perceived stress. The sampling frame comprised of a list of all international students from the African continent who were registered in the CHS faculty. A survey design was adopted and a response rate of 21% was achieved resulting in the final sample of 68.

Individuals have suffered from depression for decades. Although depression is under diagnosed, it is one of the most common disorders seen by psychiatrists. The purpose of this research study was to understand whether students' perceived stress level was a significant predictor of students' depressive symptoms. The study explored social cognitive theory to assist in understanding the relationship between depressive symptoms and perceived stress in female minority students. Although depressive symptoms and perceived stress in students have been explored exhaustively, these variables had not been explored specifically among minority students and then compared to nonminority students. Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale, depressive symptoms and perceived stress in a sample of 109 minority and nonminority, female, undergraduate students were measured. A quantitative analysis was conducted to answer the research questions. For the first research question, data analysis confirmed that perceived stress significantly predicted depressive symptoms in minority, female, undergraduate students. For the second research question, data analysis did not support moderation. Lastly, for the third research question, data analysis confirmed that perceived stress for minority students was significantly different from the distribution of perceived stress for nonminority students. Understanding depressive symptoms from a social cognitive perspective can be initiate positive social change. The results of the study can be used to design targeted interventions (e.g., support groups, cognitive therapy) for mental health in different areas, including colleges, universities, mental health agencies, and hospitals.

Although there is a wealth of research knowledge related to risk behavior engagement of the general student population, there is less specifically reported about honors students. To address this gap in research, non-honors and honors students were surveyed to determine possible differences in risk behavior engagement. Students were recruited through the East Tennessee State University psychology subject pool and via direct email messages to an honors student-specific listserv. We hypothesized that honors students would have differences in terms of GPA and number of credit hours, endorse more substance use and have more perceived stress compared to non-honors students. The survey sample was majority non-honors students (90.5%; n = 383), with 9.5% (n = 40) honors undergraduate students. After conducting chi-square tests of independence and independent t-tests we determined that there were no significant differences in substance use, life events, or emotional dysregulation between groups. However, upon analyzing demographic information honors students reported significantly higher GPAs (M = 3.77, SD = 0.32) than non-honors students (M = 3.53, SD = 0.53), t(404) = -2.72, p = .007. Additionally, honors students reported a higher number of credit hours than non-honors students, t(403) =-4.26, p < .001, with non-honors students taking an average of 14.67 (SD = 2.63) credit hours and honors students an average of 16.53 (SD = 1.81) credit hours. No other significant demographic differences were observed. Our findings did not show significant differences within populations, but rather, that honors students likely encounter stress and engage in risk behaviors just as much as non-honors students.

Fecundity, defined as the biologic capacity for reproduction, is measured operationally as time-to-pregnancy (TTP) among non-contracepting couples. While most couples conceive naturally within six menstrual cycles of trying, 10-24% of couples take longer than six cycles. Fecundity impairments are associated with long-term adverse health consequences including insulin resistance and gynecologic cancers, can cause substantial psychological and economic hardship, and cost over $5 billion annually in the U.S. Therefore, identifying risk factors for subfecundity in order to increase the chances of natural conception among pregnancy planners is an important public health goal. Environmental and psychosocial risk factors are understudied in relation to reproductive health. The goal of this dissertation is to examine the independent associations between exposure to tetrachloroethylene, perceived stress, and cigarette smoking and fecundability, the per cycle probability of conception. In study one, we used data from a retrospective cohort study of Cape Cod women who were exposed to tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water in the 1960s-1980s to examine the relation between tetrachloroethylene exposure and fertility. We found that women with the highest modeled tetrachloroethylene exposure around the time of the pregnancy attempt had increased risk of TTP>12 months compared with unexposed women. Cumulative exposure, however, was not associated with elevated risk of TTP>12 months. Studies two and three used data from Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a preconception cohort study of pregnancy planners from North America. In study two, we found that perceived stress levels in women, but not their male partners, were associated with lower fecundability, with little evidence of mediation by measured behavioral factors. In study three, we found that male current active smoking was associated with lower fecundability. In women, current smoking was only associated with reduced fecundability among women who smoked with high intensity and/or long duration. Passive smoking was not substantially associated with fecundability in either partner, but women exposed in utero to high intensity smoking had lower fecundability than unexposed women. Overall, we observed weak associations between tetrachloroethylene exposure, perceived stress, and active smoking and fertility among pregnancy planners. These findings indicate that environmental and psychosocial factors may play a role in the etiology of infertility. In addition, given that these exposures are common and modifiable, they may be important targets for public health interventions.

Bakgrund: Stress är vanligt förekommande bland studenter och kan ge upphov till såvälpsykiska som fysiska besvär. Meditation som behandling skulle kunna vara ett alternativ förfysioterapeuter att motverka detta. Syfte: Att genom en systematisk litteraturstudie undersöka det vetenskapliga underlaget förmeditation som behandling och dess effekt hos studenter med stress. Metod: En systematisk litteratursökning efter randomiserade kontrollerade studier genomfördesi databasen PubMed. De utvalda studiernas kvalitet granskades enligt PEDro-skalan ochtillförlitligheten av resultatet bedömdes utifrån GRADEstud. Resultat: Åtta studier inkluderades i litteraturstudien. Sju av åtta studier visade en signifikantminskning i upplevd stress hos interventionsgrupperna jämfört med kontrollgrupperna.Kvalitetsgranskningen enligt PEDro resulterade i fyra studier med medel kvalitet respektive fyrastudier med hög kvalitet. De fyra studier med hög kvalitet som sammanvägdes visade alla enstatistisk signifikant förbättring, men tillförlitligheten av det sammanvägda resultatet bedömdesenligt GRADEstud vara låg. Konklusion: Meditation som behandling kan ha en positiv effekt på stress hos studenter. Merforskning krävs då tillförlitligheten till det sammanvägda resultatet bedöms vara låg. / Objective: Stress is widely occurring among students and can give rise to psychological as wellas physical problems. Meditation could be used as an alternative for physiotherapists to preventthese issues. Aim: The aim of this systematic literature study is to examine the scientific evidence formeditation as treatment and its effect in students with stress. Method: A systematic literature search for randomized controlled trials was conducted inPubMed. The quality of the included studies was examined using the PEDro scale and thereliability of the result was assessed using GRADEstud. Results: Eight studies were included in the literature study. Seven out of eight studies found asignificant reduction in perceived stress among the intervention groups compared to the controlgroups. The quality assessment according to PEDro resulted in four studies with moderatequality and four studies with high quality. The four studies with high quality all showed astatistically significant improvement, however the reliability assessed with GRADEstud wasconsidered low. Conclusion: Meditation as treatment may have a positive effect on perceived stress in students.However, more research is needed to determine the reliability of the effect.