STRESS, COPING AND SOCIAL SUPPORT IN THREE GROUPS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Background: The paper presents the findings of our study researching the differences in strategies for coping with stress, social support, hassles and uplifts of sport, medical and psychology students at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Subjects and methods: A random sample of 237 Slovene undergraduate university students was studied. The three groups were chosen among students of medicine, sport and psychology. Results: It was found that there were no significant differences in strategies for coping with stress between the three groups of students. Significant differences between the groups were found in the number of uplifts and hassles, but not in the mean of both variables. Sport students had less social support compared with the other two groups of students, but the difference between actual and ideal social support is not significant. Discussion: The results were interpreted according to our hypothesis and compared with findings of research in students’ stress. Conclusion: Some suggestions for further research are given on the basis of the present research