Date of Submission

Fall 2023

Academic Program

Psychology

Project Advisor 1

Justin Dainer-Best

Project Advisor 2

Bruce Chilton

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Current research has emphasised the adverse effects of stress on well-being and mental health. This paper explores the aspect of stress and well-being in the college student population. Students face multiple stressors during their academic life, such as isolation from family, academic stress, social interactions, financial difficulties, love, and a list of requirements for their future careers. During this period, individuals develop skill sets, ideas, mental prototypes, and coping mechanisms that may be used as a guiding point and retrieved later in life. Coping is mobilizing ideas and behaviors to manage internal and external stressful events. It is a word used to distinguish conscious and intentional mobilization of activities from 'defense mechanisms,' which are subconscious or unconscious adaptive responses to reduce or tolerate stress. This paper aims to explore the role of spirituality as a coping mechanism in the undergraduate population and identify if spiritual practices can be an efficient "tool" for academic success. Baseline stress levels and spiritual scores will be determined during the second week of classes, and additional stress levels will be measured right before the first midterm. The study predicts that students who engaged in spiritual activities would show lower stress responses compared to students who did not engage in spiritual activities.

Open Access Agreement

Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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