Perceived Social Support, Perceived Stress as Correlates of Stress Symptomatology among University Students

The study sought to correlate Perceived Social Support and Perceived Stress with Stress symptomatology. 160 undergraduate students of drawn from a privately owned Nigerian university participated in the study. The participants ranged between 14 and 19 years in age (=16.26, SD = 1.68). The hypotheses were that significant correlations would be found between perceived stress and stress symptomatology, and between perceived social support and stress symptomatology. Perceived social support was measured using the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988), perceived stress with Cohen Perceived Stress Scale, and stress symptomology with the SCL-90. Significant correlations (r = -.13, Ï< .05) was found between Perceived Social Support (PSS) and Stress symptomatology, and between Perceived Stress and Stress symptomatology (r = .39, p<.000). Males evinced a significantly higher mean stress compared to females. The findings are consistent with those of earlier studies that found negative associations between perceived social support and stress, as well as with the cognitive theory that perception of threat is actually related to the experience of threat. Key Words: stress symptomatology, perceived social support, perceived stress, cognitive, University students