A case study of: Stress for a beginner student in a hostel for adapting in shared living environment

ABSTRACT 

Entering a hostel environment can play a significant role in a person’s stress level and their ability to cope. Adapting an environment can be a source of stress and for personal growth of individuals dealing with new challenges and adjusting to sharing living spaces. 

Objective: The study aims to investigate the stress associated with sharing the living environments and determine whether stress level among hostel residents increases or decreases over time in Kathmandu. 

Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used for the study. This is a case study where male and female are included in the sampling. The total of 50 students are 50 were randomly selected from the hostel. 

Result: The finding of study revealed that 26%(13) of student’s experience high stress, 56% (28) experience medium stress, and 18%(9) experience low stress among students selected from hostels of Kathmandu. 

Finding: The study finding also revealed that beginners report there was significant association between stress score of the subject stress (p=0.526), indicating no strong relationship between hostel years and stress of beginner and ending of hostel with the year. 

Conclusion: majority of students had moderate stress 28(56%) there was significant association between stress at the beginning and ending of hostel. 

Keywords: Shared living environment, Adaptation, Stress levels, Quantitative study 

Chapter: 1

Introduction

Entering in hostels in search of better opportunities as a beginner can be more stressful for the adaptation of environments. However, being a fresher in a hostel is more challenging in the new place for the young people. Stress develops due to unfamiliar environments and has to adapt with shared living and adjustment especially for the beginners. Many theories such as adjustment and stress appraisal can describe it.  

 Stress emerges in different physical and psychological symptoms which impact on person wellbeing It arises by the sharing spaces, cultural differences and unfamiliar routine and difficulty in adjustment in different ways of life (Smith, 2023).   

The main source of stress in hostels is adaptation for the beginner’s which emerge by homesickness, strict discipline and social dynamic that leads toward stress impact on academic performance. Studies show that maximum hostel students have faced stress with their common stressor due to independent living and difficulties in building a supportive network (Shrestha et al., 2023) (Denovan & Macaskill, 2013).  

positive and negative impacts are seen as a beginner of hostels. Many students live for opportunity and education but sharing living can also show a negative impact in the student’s different psychological stress they have to face while adjusting behaviors mainly in young adults involved to cope with challenges for achieve goals.  

However, entering for the beginner in the new environment shows psychological problems like stress. Which are seen while accepting process.in these processes it can lead to negative and positive stress. Negative emotion cause of depression (e.g., social adjustment theory, stress appraisal theory) 

1.1 Research objective 

• To investigate the stress level in the students in the beginners of  hostel environment 
•  To find out the stress level among hostellers increase or decrease over time 

1.2. Research question

1.What are the stress level in the students in the beginners of hostel environment?

2.Does stress level increase or decrease over time while adapting to the environment?

1.3 Hypothesis

Variables: Independent variable: hostel environment, Dependent variable: stress level  

1. (H0): There is no difference in stress level between fresher hostellers of adapting environment  

 (H1): New hostellers experience a significantly higher stress level when adapting to a shared living environment compared to a flat system living environment. 

2.(Ho): There is no significant difference in stress levels between hostellers with high and low levels when adapting to a shared living environment. 

(H1): Hostellers with a higher level of social anxiety experience significantly higher stress levels when adapting to a shared living environment compared to those with lower levels. 

Chapter 2: Methodology

Research Design 

This research was based on a quantitative approach, cross sectional research design to examine the association between the variable and hostel resident stress in adoption of a shared living environment. It focuses on 50 hostel residents in Kathmandu Nepal which was selected by the simple random technique. In one month of duration this case work research has been done through a simple random sampling technique. The main objective is to analyze the association between stress levels experienced by the beginners in the hostel environment and specific] variable such as gender, duration and current stress levels. A total of 50 subjects were selected using random sampling technique.

Materials and Methods for Your Research 

• Population 

The Stress of adapting the environment of hostellers for sharing living to the fresher’s for at least 1 month for the population. Many students live in the hostel it focusses the fresher as to adopt the environment. Therefore, the population eligible to respond to this research could be estimated as approximately 50. From there, it was expected that the responses (input) could be taken.

• Sample  

Samples are taken from the hostel, which provide and denote the overall population for the stress level of the beginners of the hostellers. Through a sample, we can collect more information. Overall, 50 people were taken to collect information on the stress due to the environment and the reason behind it. Probability samples are used, and simple random samples are used for the collection of the environments.  

• Data collection: 

Surveys or questionnaires:  

Surveys are done in hostellers by observing their behavior and emotion within them and asking many questions that focus on the research question to make the data more appropriate. 

Questionnaires are made by collecting data on stress level, for the duration in fresher and current level 

• Data analysis 

Perceived scale was used to assess the stress among hostellers. Score ranging from 0-40 considered low stress 40-60 score ranging considered moderate and 60 -100 consider high levels of stress.

Ethical Considerations:

• Confidentiality of participant’s responses 
• Obtain informed consent from the participants and their parents and teacher guidance. 

Chapter :3

Result

Result of study are: Table 1: Frequency and percentage of the beginners of the hostel stress for adopting environment

Data is selected from the hostel of Kathmandu. Result of study: n= 50

The data in table one has describe about the statistically significant associated with the stress based on adopting sharing living spaces in hostel (high, low medium)

Gender: in the table it explains the total population of male and female are 50. whereas male stress 30 low and 5 are medium stress and female stress are 10 low ,3 medium stress which is not statically significant p=0.38.

Year in hostel: beginners report the highest stress (14 high and ,6low) while stress decreases with more years of stress chi square value of 5. 133 is not significant (p=0.526), indicating no strong relationship between hostel years and stress.

Present Stress Level: The stress is higher of the hostel stay (12 high and 7 low to the end. the chi square value (1.607) also show no significant association P=0.448

Hence, the research fails to reject the null hypothesis (Ho): There is no difference in stress level between fresher hostellers of adapting environment) regarding the stress among the youth in the beginning and ending of the hostel in Nepal.

Table 2: Frequency and percentage of level of stress of sharing environment selected hostel of Kathmandu.

This bar explains the frequency of the stress level based on the percentage of student stress PSS. Each graph describes a different stress level (high, medium, low) and the height of each bar indicates the frequency of individuals in each category. The figure reveals that 26%(13) of student’s experience high stress, 56% (28) experience medium stress, and 18%(9) experience low stress among students selected from hostels in Kathmandu.

Chapter: 4 

Discussion 

The study provides valuable discuss about the stress level experienced by the hotels resident in the Kathmandu, particularly in the beginning stage of hostel experience. the result describes about the high number of students (56%) experience moderate stress, with a high level of facing stress (26%).only and less number of (18%) has suffer low stress. These findings agree with previous research on hostel life and stress, showing that the first adjustment to a shared living environment can be a source of significant psychological stress. 

The study sheds light that beginners hostel resident experience higher level of stress compared to those who have been living in hostel for a long periods.it shows the supports to the hypothesis that fresher’s, who are new to the hostel environment, struggle more for adaptation due to unfamiliar routine, homesickness and the challenges faced in shared living spaces however over a time a due to adoption process the stress level tend to be decrease. 

Interestingly, the study found no statistically significant relationship between the duration of time spent in the hostel and stress levels, as indicated by the p-value(p=0.526). there is a lack in the impact related to the limited sample size or the develop relationship such as coping mechanism, social support or personal resilience were not deeply investigating because of limited time  

The present study findings are described in previous research (denovan & macaskill,2013; shrestha et al,2023) that focuses on the negative psychological impact of the hostellers young, adult and new residents. While living in share environment can be challenging and impact on academic pressure can directly student wellbeing which can emerge stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Stress emerges in different physical and psychological symptoms which impact on person wellbeing It arises by the sharing spaces, cultural differences and unfamiliar routine and difficulty in adjustment in different ways of life (Smith, 2023).   

The findings suggest interventions to support hostels residents, especially during their early stage of adjustment. Hostels management should implement programs for the social connections, create welcoming environments to the beginners. Counseling and peer programs should help 

reduce stress and improve wellbeing. While the study provides valuable knowledge, sample size was limited and cross sectional design which make difficult to dram final conclusion about long term effect of stress in hostellers  In conclusion, the study mainly shows a significant proportion of hostel resident in Kathmandu experience stress, particularly in their early stage of adaptation process. while stress level tends to decrease over time, the challenges of shared living spaces can have high impact on the student psychological wellbeing. providing student proper support system can improve the overall hostel experience, reduce stress and enhance their academic and social success.

Reference

1. Denovan, A., & Macaskill, A. (2013). Stress and Subjective Well-Being Among First Year UK Undergraduate Students. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(2), 503–521. 
2. Shrestha, S., Thapa, S., & Maharjan, L. (2023). Mental Health Status of HostelDwelling College Students in Kathmandu. Journal of Mental Health Studies, 4(1), 44–59. 
3. Smith, J. (2023). Theories of Adjustment and Stress: A Comprehensive Guide. Psychological Review, 65(3), 210–222.