Training and Education in Professional Psychology, Vol 6(1), February 2012, pp 55-66.
DeAngelis (2002) suggests that psychologists are particularly vulnerable to stress and that, while they promote self-care practice and stress management with clients, psychologists rarely heed their own advice.
Psychology graduate students are also vulnerable to stress because of the multiple demands of graduate school including academic coursework, research, clinical training, and financial constraints.
Stress related to performance anxiety, competition, institutional demands, lack of experience, and interpersonal/professional relationships has been noted in this population (Badali & Habra, 2003).
Furthermore, psychology graduate students represent a unique population who must navigate these stressors and their new roles, while simultaneously developing the knowledge and skills necessary to provide clinical and therapeutic services to others.
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Discussion
The current study suggests that self-care practices are related to perceived stress levels among psychology graduate students across the United States. There were also some differences based on demographic factors. Age, relationship status, and sufficiency of income to cost of living were significantly related to perceived stress levels. Psychology graduate students who indicated that their household income was insufficient compared with their cost of living perceived more stress, which is consistent with previous research suggesting a reciprocal relationship between perceived stress and financial satisfaction in adult students (Sandler, 2000). Married students also reported significantly less stress than their nonmarried counterparts. This pattern has emerged in previous research in which psychology graduate students who were not in a committed relationship reported the highest levels of stress (Hudson & O'Regan, 1994). Marriage can provide a strong source of relational support, which has been linked to lower levels of stress in students (Craddock, 1996). Finally, age significantly predicted perceived stress levels, in that the older students reported less perceived stress. Previous research has suggested that older individuals report fewer daily hassles than their younger counterparts possibly as a result of the development of alternative coping strategies (Folkman, Lazarus, Pimley, & Novacek, 1987). Older students may have developed more effective ways to cope with the competing demands of graduate school and therefore perceive less stress.
The entire article is here.
The author note provides the following contact information for reprint requests, questions, and comments: Shannon B. Myers, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey-UMDNJ, 195 Little Albany Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; Email: shmyers1@hotmail.com.
Thanks to Ken Pope for this information.
Dr. Fingerhut is a member of the Ethics Committee.
