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Stressful experiences of first

year students of selected
universities in South Africa
O. Bojuwoye
Published online: 01 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: O. Bojuwoye (2002) Stressful experiences of first year students of
selected universities in South Africa, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 15:3, 277-290,
DOI: 10.1080/09515070210143480

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 Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 2002
Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 277– 290

RESEARCH REPORT

Stressful experiences of Ž rst year

students of selected universities in
South Africa
O. BOJUWOYE
University of the North, Qwa-Qwa Campus, P/B x13, Phuthaditjhaba 9866, South Africa
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abstract When students come into the university and become members of the institution for
the Ž rst time they usually face a number of adjustment problems, the result of stressful experiences
they are subjected to by the conditions, events, or situations in their new environment. This study
was, therefore, an attempt to Ž nd out the nature of students’ experiences by Ž nding out aspects
(conditions and or events) of the university they assessed as stressful especially during their early
days in the university. A 40-item questionnaire, with statements clustered into Ž ve categories of
stress-induced factors of university, was used to collect relevant data. The subjects responded to the
questionnaire in terms of their assessment of their experiences of the different aspects of the
university presented to them on the questionnaire. The results revealed that factors associated with
Financial DifŽ culties, Demands of the University Environment and the University Adminis-
trative Process (in that descending order) were assessed as stressful. While data analysis revealed
signiŽ cant sex differences in the assessment of stressful experiences with various aspects of the
university, no signiŽ cant differences were found on the basis of subjects’ age groups and
institutional afŽ liations.

Background and problem statement

People generally feel emotionally less secure in a new or strange environment (Shertzer
and Stone, 1971). This is particularly the case with students just coming to the university
environment for the Ž rst time and becoming members of an institution. Hamblin (1989)
noted further that such newly admitted students may feel confused, tense, threatened,
anxious, and even helpless. Many situations in the university, or aspects of the new
environment, may be responsible for such feelings (Maclanglin et al., 1988). Primary
factors which Greenberg (1981) identiŽ ed as likely to cause intense psychological
pressure or stress to new university students include having to leave home for the Ž rst
time, having to manage one’s own Ž nances, make new friends and generally assume
greater responsibility for oneself. Aherne (1997) also noted that, because of the nature of
their developmental stage, tertiary education students are presented with important

Counselling Psychology Quarterly ISSN 0951–5070 print/ISSN 1469–3674 online # 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
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DOI: 10.1080/09515070210143480
 278 O. Bojuwoye

decisions about such issues as sexual behaviour and the use of drugs and alcohol, which
may also lead to experiencing stress. The demands of the university education process
have been noted by Whitman et al. (1984) to elicit helplessness, a sense of loss and
resultant negative self-image in some students. It is therefore safe to assume that the
university, in terms of the kind of education it offers, the nature of its students and, in
general, the environmental demands of such institution, can be a rich source of stress
resulting in adjustment problems especially for new students. Such problems may affect
students’ integration and ultimate success in the university, hence the need to investigate
whatever may be responsible for such problems. Moreover since, according to Gardner
(1986), student experiences in their early days in the university serve as foundation on
which the rest of their entire university experiences may be based, this also underscores
the importance of undertaking a study to ascertain the nature of adjustment problems of
new entrants to the university. As Christopoulos et al. (1997) noted, if some, or even all,
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of these students’ stress-related problems are not identiŽ ed and treated, this may lead to
interruption of studies, academic drop-out (with all its implications regarding future
career) or even perhaps to serious problems of drug abuse or even suicide.
In view of the above this study was designed to ascertain adjustment problems of Ž rst
year students in South African universities by identifying aspects (situations or events) of
the university which may cause them psychological pressure intense enough to threaten
their health, conŽ dence and mental faculties. However, not all students are stressed and
they may not all experience the different aspects of the university the same way. Or put in
another way, what one student might perceive as stressful may not necessarily be stressful
for another (Barnsley, 1992). Lazarus (1966) also argued further that what makes a
situation perceived as challenging (or less stressful) for one person may be perceived as
threatening or very stressful to another. Certainly variables such as gender, age and
context are likely to play a signiŽ cant in uence on how an individual student experiences,
or assesses his/her experience, of the different situations and/or events of the university to
which he/she is being subjected. In view of these, therefore, this study was also designed
to Ž nd out group differences in the new students’ experiences of stress as elicited by
different aspects of the university. SpeciŽ cally, this study was designed to ascertain what
aspects of the university would be assessed as stressful and whether or not differences
would exist in the assessment of stress being elicited by these aspects of the university if
respondents were to be compared on the basis of their sex, age group and institutional
afŽ liation. In this connection the null hypotheses of: (1) no signiŽ cant difference in the
assessment of the experiences of the different aspects of the university by the male and
female respondents; (2) no signiŽ cant difference in the assessment of the experiences of
the different aspects of the university by the respondents of the Ž ve institutions which
participated in the study; and (3) no signiŽ cant difference in the assessment of the
experiences of different aspects of the university by the respondents of three different age
groups, were tested.

Method
Stressful Experiences of First Year Students Questionnaire was developed as an instru-
ment for this study. This is a 40-item questionnaire designed to seek information
 Stressful experiences of Ž rst year university students 279

regarding students’ assessment of their experiences during their early days in the
university. The assessment of the students’ experiences was in terms of how threatening
(or constituting sources of stress) different aspects of the university presented on the
questionnaire were to them during their early days in the university. Aspects (situations or
events) of the university which were presented on the questionnaire and which the
subjects were to appraise were clustered into Ž ve categories of stress-induced factors for
college and university students as identiŽ ed in the literature (Mueller,1961; Packwood,
1977; Hamblin, 1989; Stone and Archer, 1990; Aherne, 1997). The following Ž ve
categories of factors were presented to the subjects in the questionnaire.

Physical environmental factors

Statements on the questionnaire under this category requested students to assess the
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physical environment of the university in terms of the threat which it might have posed to
them during their early days in the university. In particular the statements under this
category of stress-induced factors of university asked the respondents to assess the general
environmental demands on them as new members of the university community. There
are Ž ve items in this category on the questionnaire, some examples of items include: ‘I felt
strange and confused when I Ž rst came to the university’, ‘I was overwhelmed by the
physical structure of my institution’, ‘My Ž rst experience of separation from home was
coming to the university for the Ž rst time’, ‘I found the university environment somewhat
isolated from the rest of the society’, ‘As a university student I felt I have to be someone
different from who I used to be’.

University administrative framework/process factors

These are related to the  ow or the management of information. Statements on the
questionnaire under this category of stress-induced factors were aimed at tapping
information with regard to the students’ assessment of the stress they experienced in
relation to factors associated with the capacity of the university information database to
assist students in making informed decisions, the effectiveness of the administrative
personnel to facilitate information dissemination to students (especially new students),
and the demands made on the students by the university system for them to seek
information independently or by themselves. Some of the statements in this category are:
‘When I Ž rst came to this university as a new student the Ž rst thing I was given was
registration package which did not contain enough information about requirements for
registering for courses offered’, ‘I did not like the idea that new students have to look for
information on their own instead of being told everything expected of them’, ‘The process
of registration we were subjected to was rather long and demanding’, ‘I had to register for
a degree programme leading to a career I originally did not have in mind’, ‘We had no
orientation programme to introduce us to the support services available (e.g. counselling/
advisory, medical aids, etc.) in the university’, ‘Our orientation programme include
training sessions for the development of skills in note-taking, time management, decision-
making, and other academic support programmes’.
 280 O. Bojuwoye

Academic demands factors

These are related to issues dealing with stress experienced by students from factors
associated with demands made on them as a result of the nature of the university
education programmes (which includes issues such as the load of work, the difŽ culty
level, the demand for independent study, the lecture method of instruction and seemingly
impersonal lecturers; assignments to complete and in short periods, the language of
instruction, the often not-too-clear guidelines as to where and how to get information
materials like text-books, library books or other information materials). Some examples of
items on the questionnaire under this category included: ‘I found the courses I am taking
more difŽ cult than I originally thought’, ‘The workload in the degree programme I am
pursuing is rather too heavy’, ‘ I have the feeling that studying for a degree is too difŽ cult
and I may become a dropout’, ‘There is not much gap between my expectation of the
demands of the course I am taking and what I am getting from it’, ‘I have some difŽ culty
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taking down notes’, ‘I don’t know how to study on my own’, ‘I am not comfortable with
the language of instruction’, etc.

Personal psychological and social relationship factors

The statements in this category revolved around issues of developmental tasks, identity
and intimacy, including issues around demands for new social adjustment and develop-
ment of new social skills, cultivation of new friends (especially of opposite sex) and new
values, learning to share with others, as well as the demand for preparation for adult roles,
either as a worker, a citizen or a family person. There were 12 items under this category
some of which are: ‘When I Ž rst came to this university I felt very lonely’, ‘I was homesick
in my early days at the university’, ‘I just could not feel as conŽ dent as I used to’, ‘I could
not get someone to talk to’, ‘Nobody seemed to recognize me’, ‘I have no friends’, ‘I was
afraid of asking for help because I couldn’t afford to expose myself’, ‘I didn’t feel
comfortable sharing rooms and other facilities with others’.

Financial support/difŽ culty factors

These had to do with stress experienced in relation to issues of acquisition of funds to take
a student through university education, including ability to pay tuition fees and other
levies, to take up university residential accommodation, to feed and clothe oneself
properly and manage one’s Ž nances. There were Ž ve items in this category of stress-
induced factors some of which were: ‘I was scared of being identiŽ ed as a Ž nancially
needy student’, ‘I had some difŽ culty getting information about Ž nancial aid’, ‘Although I
am having difŽ culty getting enough money to pay for my tuition I cannot afford not living
to the standard of a university student’, ‘I have some difŽ culties getting enough money to
feed or clothe myself properly as I should as a university student’.
The statements on the questionnaire were derived from the literature as well as from
interviews conducted with some Ž rst year students in 1998 and also in 1999 just before
the study was conducted. The students interviewed were those believed to be capable of
re ecting the views, and to offer responses, representative of the target population.
 Stressful experiences of Ž rst year university students 281

Statements on the questionnaire described different aspects of the university and

subjects were to respond in terms of how stressful they assessed the situations and events
of the university being described by indicating the degree of their agreement with the
statements. The response format was on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly
Agree (5 points), Agree (4), Neutral (3), Disagree (2) to Strongly Disagree (1).
The draft of the questionnaire was pilot-tested on a group of Ž rst year students in the
Faculty of Education, University of the North, Qwa-Qwa Campus, Phuthaditjhaba,
South Africa, late in January 1999, about 2 weeks after the university had just opened
for the academic year. The results of this pilot study provided valuable information for
devising the Ž nal form of the questionnaire. A test-retest, with an interval of 2 weeks, was
carried out on the Ž nal 40-item questionnaire. Using Pearson Product Moment Correla-
tion, a reliability coefŽ cient of 0.82 was obtained. The establishment of the internal
consistency reliability (split-half) of the instrument yielded alpha coefŽ cient of 0.78.
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Simple random sampling was Ž rst used to select eight out of the 18 universities in
South Africa to participate in the study. For each selected university campus, between
150 to 180 questionnaires were given to a contact person to distribute randomly to Ž rst
year undergraduate students. The contact person, was member of a staff of the institution
who was contacted to assist in the conduct of the research and who agreed to personally
administer and collect the completed questionnaires and return them to the researcher.
This associate research person was directed to ensure that the questionnaire was
completed on a voluntary and anonymous basis.
Of the eight universities where questionnaires were distributed to students, returns
were received from Ž ve universities. Five hundred and ninety-six subjects (that is, a return
rate of about 50%) made up of 332 (55.7%) females and 264 males (44.3%), returned
duly completed questionnaires. The average age of respondents who returned completed
questionnaires was found to be 21.7 years (females, 22.2 and males 21.4). One hundred
and eighty-nine (31.7%) of the respondents were below the age of 20 years; 359 (60.2%)
were between the ages of 20 and 30 years; 48 (8.1%) were over 30 years of age.
Data analysis was carried out by Ž rst Ž nding out each respondent’s score on each
item of the questionnaire. The total score and the mean score for each section (or
category of stress-induced factors) of the questionnaire were then calculated. The mean
scores and the standard deviations for the subgroups of the respondents for each section
of the questionnaire were computed. The minimum scale mean is 1, the midpoint is a
mean score of 3, while the maximum is 5. Since experience of stress and its intensity was
based on the assessment of the situations or events of the university as presented on the
questionnaire, a mean score of 1 was an indication that the situation was not assessed as
very stressful while a mean score of 5 was an indication that the situation was considered
as very stressful. There were some items on the questionnaire which because of the way
they were stated had to be reversed in their scoring to re ect indications of experience of
stress by the respondents with the aspects of the university being referred to. The results
are presented in Tables I, II and III.
 282 O. Bojuwoye

Results
Table I presents the mean scores of the respondents by sex and the results of the analysis
of variance (ANOVA) employed to test the null hypothesis of no signiŽ cant difference in
the assessment of the experiences of the different aspects of the university by the male and
female respondents. Table II presents the mean scores of the respondents by institution
and the results of the ANOVA to test the null hypothesis of no signiŽ cant difference in the
assessment of aspects of university as stressful by respondents from the Ž ve institutions
which participated in the study. Table III presents the mean scores of the respondents by
age group and the results of the ANOVA to test the null hypothesis of no signiŽ cant
difference in the assessment of aspects of university as stressful by students of the three
different age groups.
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Table I. Mean scores of respondents by sex

Sections of the Questionnaire

(A) (B) (C) (E)

Physical Admin. Academic (D) Financial
environmental framework/process demands Personal/social difŽ culty
factors factors factors factors factors

Female 3.15 3.03 2.92 2.61 3.48

(0.02)* (0.02) (0.03) (0.00) (0.04)
Male 3.09 2.95 2.82 2.62 3.34
(0.02) (0.02) (0.03) (0.01) (0.04)
Total 3.12 2.99 2.87 2.61 3.41

* Numbers in the parentheses are the standard deviations.

ANOVA: two-factor without replication

Summary Count Sum Average Variance

Female Average 5 15.19 3.04 0.10

Male Average 5 14.82 2.96 0.07
Section-A 2 6.24 3.12 0.00
Section-B 2 5.97 2.99 0.00
Section-C 2 5.74 2.87 0.01
Section-D 2 5.23 2.61 0.00
Section-E 2 6.82 3.41 0.01

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F p-value F critical

Rows 0.01 1 0.01 7.91* 0.05 7.71

Columns 0.70 4 0.18 102.01 0.00 6.39
Error 0.01 4 0.00
Total 0.72 9

* p < 0:05.
 Stressful experiences of Ž rst year university students 283

Table II. Mean scores of respondents by institutional afŽ liation

Sections of the Questionnaire

(A) (B) (C) (E)

Physical Admin. Academic (D) Financial
environmental process demands Personal/social difŽ culty
Institutions factors factors factors factors factors

1 2.88 2.88 3.17 2.60 2.60

(0.13)* (0.05) (0.15) (0.01) (0.380)
2 2.97 2.85 2.75 2.35 3.36
(0.08) (0.07) (0.07) (0.13) (0.01)
3 3.20 3.26 2.98 2.91 3.72
(0.03) (0.14) (0.05) (0.15) (0.19)
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4 3.28 3.14 2.83 2.63 3.53

(0.08) (0.08) (0.03) (0.01) (0.09)
5 3.33 2.81 2.64 2.55 3.55
(0.10) (0.09) (0.14) (0.03) (0.10)

* Numbers in the parentheses are the standard deviations.

ANOVA: two-factor without replication

Summary Count Sum Average Variance

Institution
1 5 14.13 2.83 0.06
2 5 14.29 2.86 0.13
3 5 16.08 3.22 0.10
4 5 15.41 3.08 0.13
5 5 14.87 2.97 0.19
Section-A 5 15.66 3.13 0.04
Section-B 5 14.94 2.99 0.04
Section-C 5 14.38 2.88 0.04
Section-D 5 13.04 2.61 0.04
Section-E 5 16.77 3.35 0.19

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F p-value F critical

Rows 0.52 4 0.13 2.29* 0.01 3.01

Columns 1.55 4 0.39 6.86 0.00 3.01
Error 0.91 16 0.06
Total 2.98 24

* p < 0:01.

The results displayed in the tables indicating the total mean scores of responses
obtained on the questionnaire show that experience of Ž nancial difŽ culties, or lack of
adequate Ž nancial support, was assessed as the most stressful of the Ž ve categories of
stress-induced factors (aspects) of the university presented on the questionnaire. The
 284 O. Bojuwoye

Table III. Mean scores of respondents by age group

Sections of the Questionnaire

(A) (B) (C) (E)

Physical Admin. Academic (D) Financial
environmental process demands Personal/social difŽ culties
Age group factors factors factors factors factors

Less than 20-years-old 3.06 2.82 2.85 2.55 3.22

(0.03)* (0.11) (0.01) (0.05) (0.13)
20–30-years-old 3.16 3.06 2.89 2.61 3.48
(0.03) (0.02) (0.03) (0.02) (0.00)
Above 30 years 3.12 2.99 2.87 2.61 3.41
(0.01) (0.09) (0.03) (0.07) (0.12)
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* Numbers in the parentheses are the standard deviations.

ANOVA: two-factor without replication

Summary Count Sum Average Variance

<20 5 14.51 2.90 0.06

between 20 and 30 5 15.20 3.04 0.10
>30 5 15.61 3.12 0.15
Section-A 3 9.34 3.11 0.00
Section-B 3 9.08 3.03 0.04
Section-C 3 8.52 2.84 0.00
Section-D 3 7.95 2.65 0.02
Section-E 3 10.43 3.48 0.06

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F p-value F critical

Rows 0.13 2 0.06 4.34* 0.05 4.46

Columns 1.15 4 0.29 20.00 0.00 3.84
Error 0.12 8 0.01
Total 1.3 14

* p < 0:05.

physical environment of university was appraised as the second most stressful aspects of
university followed by the administrative framework/process. Social relationships was
appraised as the least stressful of all the stress-related aspects of university followed by
academic demands.
The hypothesis tested to compare male and female respondents revealed signiŽ cant
differences between the two groups of respondents of this study. Female students’ mean
scores of responses indicate that the female respondents reported experiencing more
stress and with more aspects of the university presented on the questionnaire than did the
male students. The hypothesis tested to compare respondents on the basis of institutional
afŽ liations did not reveal any statistically signiŽ cant differences between the respondents
 Stressful experiences of Ž rst year university students 285

of the Ž ve institutions. The mean scores of responses as displayed in Table II, however,
indicate that:

. respondents from four institutions reported experiencing above average level stress
from factors associated with Ž nancial difŽ culties;
. respondents from three institutions reported experiencing above average level stress
from factors associated with physical environment of the university;
. respondents from two institutions reported experiencing stress of above average level
from factors related to university administrative framework/process;
. respondents of only one institution reported experiencing stress of above average level
from factors related to academic demands;
. respondents of all the Ž ve institutions which participated in this study reported
experiencing stress of below average level from personal psychological and social
factors.
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Data analysis also did not reveal signiŽ cant differences between respondents on the
basis of age groups. However, the mean scores of responses displayed in Table III
indicate that:

. respondents of all the three age groups reported experiencing above average level stress
from factors related to Ž nancial difŽ culties and physical environment;
. respondents from two age groups (20–30 years and above 30 years) reported experien-
cing above average level stress from factors associated with administrative framework/
process;
. respondents from all the three age groups reported experiencing below average level
stress from factors related to academic demands and personal psychological and social
factors.

Discussion
People generally feel anxious or stressed in situations which have meaning for them
(Process Skills, Inc., 1981). Or put in another way, that what is stressful depends on the
meaning an individuals gives to the situation (Barnsley, 1992). This meaning is an
indication of the estimation that one makes of him or herself in relation to the situation.
The meaning is also usually expressed in terms of loss of something very important to the
person and the loss has to do with the self—that is, loss of status or self-esteem, self-
worth, self-conŽ dence or sudden change in the way one perceives him/herself. Therefore,
when newly admitted students are presented with the demand to pay tuition fees before
being formally accepted as members of the university student community, they may
experience stress as their status as bona Ž de university students is being threatened.
Having crossed the hurdles of being selected for admission only to be faced with the
prospect of being turned away at the registration desk on account of Ž nancial inadequacy
can certainly hurt one’s feelings, lower one’s self esteem or completely destroy a person’s
self-conŽ dence and/or make one feel like a failure.
The reason behind this negative feeling about self may Ž nd explanation in Bauer’s
(1997) assertion that university students ‘have a certain kind of status in the eyes of the
 286 O. Bojuwoye

outside world . . . that . . . they are going to become academics and executives earning high
salaries’. Bauer also stated that this perceived ‘image of university students’ is not only
held by the students themselves but also by their parents and communities who express
proud optimism about the students’ potentials to achieve success in life. With Ž nancial
difŽ culties threatening full assumption of such perceived enviable ‘image’ or ‘status’ at the
registration desk and the prospect of failure to meet not only their own expectations but
also those of their families and communities, the stress generated by such situation can
better be imagined.
Another explanation may be found in the contention of Honikman (1982) that the
university should be seen as a micro-society which is experiencing problems generated by
the macro-society of apartheid South Africa, and which is responsible for the unequal
distribution of wealth among the different ethnic communities of the country in favour of
the minority white and at serious disadvantage to the blacks who are the majority. It is the
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very poor Ž nancial base of black South Africans that is responsible for the difŽ culties they
encounter in transition from high school to university. Four of the Ž ve universities which
participated in this study were among the institutions referred to as HIDs or Historically
Disadvantaged Institutions. These are institutions that were under-resourced and re-
served for blacks from impoverished rural township communities by deliberate racial
policy of apartheid. With the eradication of apartheid following the democratic election of
1994, not only are these institutions yet to experience major upliftment, but the
communities where their students are drawn are also still largely impoverished. The
expectation was that, with a democratically elected government in place, and in
particular, with elected black majority government, free education would be introduced
and there would be no need to pay tuition fees. However, this expectation has not
materialized and the demand by universities that these genuinely Ž nancially needy or
poor students should pay fees, as a pre-condition for their being accepted as members of
the university student community, not only is a signal of a threat to their status or self
esteem but also a threat to their empowerment and or expectation of a better lifestyle in
the new democratic South Africa.
The feelings about the poor Ž nancial base to pay tuition fees and to subsist may
have been generalized as coming from the university environment and hence the
assessment of the factors related to the demands of the physical environment as the
second most stressful aspect of the university by the respondents of this study. Apart
from their inability to support themselves Ž nancially, many of the respondents of this
study were from poor township communities or impoverished rural backgrounds. It
could, therefore, be safe to assume that moving from their impoverished community
high school to university is like moving from a rural countryside to a big city. Even
with their under-resourced facilities these universities (HDIs) are a far cry in terms of
their infra-structural facilities when compared to the dispossessed rural township
communities from where these students come. There is no doubt that the physical
environment of the university, presenting many buildings as if appearing everywhere and
difŽ cult for one to Ž nd his/her way around, can be very intimidating to persons from an
environment with simple buildings or basic shelters (largely shacks built with zinc or
corrugated iron sheet or cardboard), again the result of racial segregation policy of
apartheid.
 Stressful experiences of Ž rst year university students 287

Furthermore the university organizational systems are quite different from rural
township culture. With the university environment presenting new experiences and
opportunities for the intermingling of individuals from different socio-economic, cultural
and value backgrounds the cultivation of new identities especially for students just
coming to the university and becoming members of the new environment for the Ž rst
time cannot but be attended with some trepidation.
Factors related to university administrative framework/process also were assessed as
eliciting stress by some respondents. In the open-ended section of the questionnaire, and
in the interviews conducted to supplement information gathered by the questionnaire,
many of the respondents expressed experiencing anxiety because information was not
made explicit enough to them especially in terms of speciŽ c statements with regards to
what were expected of them during the registration exercise and formal welcoming into
the university community. This situation may have led the respondents to feeling
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frustrated and/or out of control of their lives. The problem was also probably made
more intense for the respondents by the demand on them to search for information on
their own. Many students came from authoritarian homes and/or school systems where
they relied on being told what to do. Therefore the demand to seek information
independently may be perceived as a threat to one’s self esteem as the consequences of
asking for help, or making a demand for information, may lead to embarrassment, to one
appearing ‘stupid’ or not to have grown up.
Many respondents expressed anxiety in relation to academic demands of their
institutions. Experience of stress as emanating from factors related to academic demands
may not be unconnected with Ž nancial difŽ culties, for as Barnsley (1992) rightly noted,
the impact of lack of Ž nancial security on students’ ability to concentrate effectively on
their studies cannot be overestimated. Due to Ž nancial difŽ culties many students are
forced to register late thus, setting them back a great deal and making it difŽ cult for them
to catch up on lectures they have missed. Moreover as many of their peers have used the
time they missed to establish a social circle, students who register late often face an even
greater sense of loneliness, isolation and alienation (Barnsley, 1992). There is also no
doubt that experience of academic stress may also have resulted from fear of failure and a
possibility of not being able to live to one’s expectation or how one is seen by others
(Lazarus, 1976). A major problem expressed by the respondents in the open-ended
section of the questionnaire and during interview was the difŽ culties they experienced
with English language as medium of instruction. Barnsley (1992) observed that the
problem of not listening to instructions especially among black students may not only Ž nd
explanation from inadequate educational background but also from inability of English-
as-a-second-language students to be sure that they understand the instruction and know
what is required of them. Problems among black South African university students listed
as responsible for their poor academic performance included lack of conŽ dence in
English, ignorance of socio-linguistic conventions, non-participation in group discussion,
excessive deference to teachers, problem with self-teaching and previous training by rote
methods (Barnsley, 1992). With problems like these the students, especially new ones or
Ž rst year students, are said to Ž nd themselves struggling academically with these
problems and yet underachieve with resulting feelings of depression, disillusionment,
 288 O. Bojuwoye

low self-esteem and fear of failure to meet the expectations of their families and
communities.
The results of this study, revealing that female respondents reported experiencing
more stress with many aspects of university than did their male counterparts, may be a
general stereotyping of anxiety as more of feminine emotion and a general acceptance of
the stereotype by most females. This is, however, consistent with previous Ž ndings on
gender differences with regard to reports by females of more psychological difŽ culties
than males and also the acceptability of acknowledging psychological symptomatology
(Offer and Spiro, 1987; Fisher and Hood, 1988; Whitakeret et al., 1990).
Another Ž nding that older students reported more aspects of university as stressful
than the younger students may also indicate willingness on the part of the older students
to admit to feeling threatened by situations they were confronted with in the university
and their willingness to seek psychological help. This, however, is contrary to Ž ndings in
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the literature as reported by Christopoulos et al. (1997) who stated that as students get
older or have increased exposure to university environment, and perhaps even the world
at large, they may not feel inclined to openly admitting to feeling threatened by situations
or events in their institutions and may be unwilling to seek psychological help. This is
because they become more aware that there is considerable stigma attached to admitting
experience of stress and seeking psychological help.
The results of this study may also be interpreted from the perspective of student
stress as being attributable to developmental issues as well as need deŽ ciencies or threat to
basic survival needs as postulated by Aherne (1997). Developmental issues which may
pose threat to the self include such issues as identity, intimacy and separation. Need
deŽ ciencies include lack of money to buy food and clothes, to pay tuition, or to acquire
university residential accommodation. Lack of information about academic and non-
academic programmes (or support services for students including training students in the
skills they need for their adjustment to the university life and their eventual development)
may also be said to constitute major areas of need deŽ ciencies. In the two categories of
student stress the sense of worth or self-adequacy, or generally self esteem, is threatened.
There is, however, no doubt, that the seeming emphasis placed on Ž nancial difŽ culties
and lack of information over and above issues of academic demands and social relation-
ships by the respondents of this study may be interpreted as an indication that it is more
important to the students to Ž rst satisfy basic survival needs before higher order needs can
be addressed (Maslow, 1954).

Conclusion
The results of this study seem to conŽ rm the anxiety people have when in a new situation
because of the strangeness and the demands of the new environment. The results of this
study also reveal that the university environment can be a rich source of stress to new
students and that the stress-related aspects of the university may be experienced
differently by different groups of students depending on their institutional afŽ liation,
gender or age. On the whole, however, the results of this study seem to point to a
common theme in the experience of student stress in South African universities—that is,
that of threat to self in the context of basic survival needs. This is experienced in two main
 Stressful experiences of Ž rst year university students 289

ways—that of lack of adequate Ž nancial support or poor budget to subsist, and that of lack
of information to assist in decision-making and early adjustment to the new environment
of their universities.
With students’ adjustment problems thus identiŽ ed, solutions may not be far
fetched, and this can be in the form of institutional policies to address the problems.
Relevant data on stressful experiences of students due to various aspects of the university
can serve as a basis for counselling interventions. Information about university student
stressors not only provides opportunity for assisting students with their difŽ culties but
also guide professionals on campus concerned with treating such difŽ culties. With regard
to the stress experienced by students in relation to Ž nancial difŽ culties one way to reduce
this is by universities making students aware of government’s effort at alleviating this
problem through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). To this end
universities should ensure that their Financial Aid OfŽ ces make procedure for applying
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for loans more student-friendly by making it more explicit. One way to do this is by
devoting a session of the orientation programme to informing the student body orally.
The information should also be made available in printed form.
Lack of information poses serious threat to the satisfaction of basic survival needs of
students. Since information is so vital to the initial adjustment of students and their
eventual success in the university open communication and provision of information in
different forms (oral, printed) has been suggested as necessary to assist students in
knowing the requirements or what are expected of them so that they can make well
informed decisions. Gardner (1986) also suggested advanced marketing of an institution
long before fresh students arrive as an attempt to get the students well informed of, and
prepared for, the opportunities and requirements of their education and their institutions.
Students’ complex need for information can also be met through deliberate series of
experiences to teach basic attitudes, personal habits, life-skills and knowledge about the
university life, including coping with academics, dealing with peer pressure and uses of
institutional support services.

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