Parental influence on students’ stress

Abstract

More and more attention is being paid to the stress that students experience, because the pressure on students seems to be increasing. However, not much is known about the influence of parenting on students’ stress level. To investigate this, online questionnaires were filled in by students at Utrecht University (N = 125). Using a multiple regression analysis, the relationships between parental psychological control, autonomy support and parental support and the stress level of students were examined. Age, gender, financial worries and living situation were taken into account. It is also examined whether these relationships are different for boys and girls. The results show that less psychological control is associated with less stress among students. Parental support and autonomy support were not associated with stress. The findings are independent of gender. From this it can be concluded that parental psychological control plays an important role in the stress level of students. Research into the long-term effects of the three parenting practices is needed. Also, to be able to generalize the results, more research needs to be done on students outside Utrecht University.