”Stress – en växling mellan att sporra eller spärra?” - En kvalitativ studie om universitetsstudenters upplevelser och hantering av stress i relation till sina studier på universitet

Sammanfattning

The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how university students experience stress and how they described that the stress affected their academic performance and health. Furthermore, what kind of coping strategies the students used to manage their stress and due to that how well they worked. This was examined through the experiences of four university students at different colleges in Skåne. The collecting of the empirics was carried out by semi structured interviews, all of which were conducted in person at the location that the university students chose. In analyzing my results, I applied Folkman and Lazarus (1984) coping theories and Karasek and Theorell’s (1990) demand-control-support model. The study found that stress acts as a barrier rather than a stimulus for the students, they experience a lot of stressors, both external and internal that affects their health and academic performance. Due to the high demands set by themselves but also by others in the environment, it gives students a greater performance anxiety. This causes the student to lose control of the situation and is on the verge of giving up. Fortunately, students state that they have a social support that is there as their mainstay when everything feels hopeless, a friend, family member, a partner or anyone else that the students feel safe to talk to and who can give advice and comfort.