Masten and Stacks (1998) and found significant positive correlations (p<.05) among

constructs of stress and general anxiety among the population of full-time undergraduate

students. Correlations between stress and anxiety should be positive as they both have a

worry component (Misra and McKean, 2000).

 Felsten and Wilcox (1992) conducted a study to find the impact of stress on 146

college male's academic performance. After analysis they found that stress was a

detrimental effect on male's grade point average.

 Shields (2001) conducted a study to examine the effects of stress and reactions to

stress among persisting and non-persisting undergraduate students. A persister is defined

as a full-time student enrolled in fall and winter semesters, while a non-persisting student

is one that enrolls in the fall semester but not the subsequent winter semester. The group

of study consisted of 220 persisters and 110 non-persisters and findings found that

persisters had significantly higher levels of stress than nonpersistors with no gender

difference. Stress was positively associated with reactive efforts to stress, and age among

persistors, but not nonpersisters. This gives evidence that full-time status or traditional

students have developed reactive efforts to stressors, but non-traditional students do not

develop these same reactive efforts (Shields). Finally with the use of regression, stress,

age and number of credit hours taken in the semester each had significant explanation of

student reaction to stress (Shields). Recognizing that stress affects students in the

classroom, it is necessary to examine the demographic variables related to stress.

Demographic Variables Related to Stress

 Gadzella and Guthrie (1993) found that women undergraduate students tend to

have significantly higher levels in experiencing stress of both pressure and change.

Considering age, self-imposed stress was found to be highest among younger students