Impact of social support and self efficacy on stress levels in students of south india

Introduction: Stress levels among university students has been associated with negative outcomes like poor academic performance and degenerations of personal relations. Higher self-efficacy and social support may act as a moderator of stress for students. Hence this study was conducted to assess the correlation between academic self efficacy, social support, and stress among the university graduate students. Material and Methods: This survey was conducted among undergraduate students aged 18-22 years, of a dental school in India. Information regarding the socio demographic, social support, stress and self efficacy variables were collected from 250 students. Pearson correlation was used to assess the relation between academic self efficacy, social support and stress. Results: Showed that academic self efficacy was moderately correlated with appraisal support (r = 0.40, p < 0.05), belonging support (r = 0.32, p< 0.05), self esteem support (r = 0.53, p < 0.01), total social support (r = 0.45, p < 0.05) and stress (r = -0.5, p < 0.01). Stress was moderately correlated with appraisal support(r = -0.45, p < 0.05) belonging support (r = -0.40, p < 0.05), self esteem support (r = -0.45, p < 0.05), total social support (r = -0.45, p < 0.05). Discussion and conclusion: We found a consistent moderate negative correlation of social support with stress among all the students. Perceived self efficacy was found to be negatively associated with self perceived stress among all the students.