Dr. Hab., Professor V.G. Shilko¹
Dr. Med. T.A. Shilko¹
PhD, Associate Professor Е.S. Potovskaya¹
O.N. Krupitskaya^1
1National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk

Keywords: stress control, questionnaire survey, physical education.

Background. Academic stress is presently viewed as a priority multisided problem that may be addressed by a wide variety of methods and practices, with some researchers making a special emphasis on the professional motivations of students in the initiatives to integrate healthy lifestyles, mental conditioning trainings and health protection technologies in a standard academic curriculum [1, 2, 4]. Our previous studies designed to identify the key academic process stressors and rate their impacts on the students’ life quality found the following major stressors: excessive academic loads; excessive inflows of new information; intensive intellectual activity; examination stress etc. [3]. Combined effects of the above stressors may be detrimental to functionality of different body systems, with a variety of corrective tools recommended including the relevant information technologies, different physical activities, education and recreational process optimisation tools etc. [3].

Objective of the study was to explore the potential demand for different stress control means in the first- to third-year students of both sexes of the academic Body Conditioning (BC) and volleyball groups.

Methods and structure of the study. Subject to the questionnaire survey were the first- to third-year students (n = 240), males and females aged 17–20 years sampled at 20 departments and institutes of National Research Tomsk State University (NRTSU) majoring in Physical Education and split up into the Body Conditioning (BC) and volleyball groups.

In the questionnaire survey form of our own design the respondents were to rate (in %) 24 popular stress control means and practices versus different academic process stressors. The survey data were processed and a comparative analysis was made to prioritise and rank the popular stress control means, with the responses being classified by academic years, gender and academic physical/ sporting activities.

Study results and discussion. The survey data and analyses showed that the students mostly make resort to restorative sleep, outdoor walks, contacts with friends and relatives, delicious food etc., with the restorative sleep being ranked on top of the list of the most effective stress control tools. However, practical assessments of its role in the stress control practices were quite contradictory in fact. Of the BC group students, for instance, sleep was prioritized by the third-year female students (83%) and was less popular among the first-year females (71%). The volleyball group students, regardless of the academic year, were found giving the higher preference to sleep than the BC group students: 88% and 90% of the first- and third-year students, respectively. As to the male respondents, the BC and volleyball groups were much different in preferences for this stress control tool, regardless of the academic year, with only 50% of the BC group reporting a high preference for this restorative tool versus the volleyball group where 90% ranked it as the top priority stress control practice.

All the respondents (both male and female in about the same proportion) ranked the outdoor walks, delicious food and, noteworthy, physical training among the other popular stress control tools applicable in the academic education process. However, physical training is ranked first by the male respondents and particularly highly ranked by the third-year volleyball group students (93%). It comes as no surprise since at the volleyball group students normally havr at least basic skills in this sport discipline.

On the other hand, the BC students predominantly have little if any physical culture and sporting agendas and this might be the reason why their rankings of the physical training practices among the popular stress control tools are notably lower than those in the volleyball group. Furthermore, women ranked physical training practices notably lower among the popular stress control tools than men, with the gap being particularly high in the BC group. However, despite the low rankings of the physical training stress controls, the BC females showed progress by the third academic year, with the rankings of stress-control physical training growing from 14% to 26%.

Delicious food as a stress control mean was reportedly more important for the volleyball group males versus the BC males, with the role of delicious food growing by the third year (81%) versus the first year (64%) in this group.

Stressors are known to spur appetite regardless of the gender, and this might be the reason why delicious food is ranked high by the first-to-third BC students (about 80%) versus the volleyball females that are clearly disappointed in this anti-stressor on the way from the first to the third academic year – from 88% to 55%, respectively.

The polled students were found to give due priority to the family support and advising among the stress control practices, with the female students reportedly coming to families for support more often than men, and with the rankings of this anti-stress practice found irrespective of the academic sporting/ physical activity and growing significantly (almost three times) by the third-year (to 60%) versus the first-year rank of only 21%.

The male students were found prone to solve their problems on their own and seldom apply to their families for support in contrast to the female ones; with the reported application rate this practice estimated at about 18%.

A significant share of the respondents reported to make resort to cultural and entertaining services, TV and music as the academic stress control means. These practices are reportedly preferred by males in both of the groups (BC and volleyball); with the demand for them growing significantly from the first (36% on average) to the third (about 50%) academic year. The volleyball group shows some sag of interest in relaxing music by the third year albeit it still stays high enough (at 41%).

Female students were found less definite in their preferences than men. Preference for the cultural and entertainment services was found virtually the same (about 38%) for both of the groups and staying almost invariable for the three academic years. Rankings of the other two stress control practices were contradictory: growing in the BC group and falling in the volleyball group. It should be noted that on the whole the polled women reported being less dependent on the stress control means than the men.

In opinions on many respondents, the modern information technologies may be ranked high among the stress control tools and may be classified into online networking and computer games. The online networking is very popular among the respondents for the stress control and mitigation purposes (reported by 39% and 44% of the female and male respondents, respectively); whilst computer games are reportedly highly important for the male (59%) and insignificant for the female (14%) respondents. The survey failed to find any significant intra-group variations in the information technology application rates for the stress control purposes in the BC and volleyball groups, irrespective of the gender.

Reading fiction as a stress control practice is mostly (about 42%) applied by the female respondents versus the male ones who are regretfully negligent to it with the reading rate of 20% only. The preference for reading in both of the groups was found irrespective of the academic year and academic physical/ sporting activity.

Both of the groups reported ranking sex high enough as a stress control tool, with some differences noticeable in the academic years. Women reportedly make resort to sex to mitigate their stress conditions mostly starting from the second academic year (both groups) versus men who start such sexual relations since the first year with their role being increased for the stress control purposes by the third year, with the trend being particularly expressed in the volleyball group (up to 81%).

It was found with regret that students quite often make resort to alcohol and smoking in their stress control efforts, with the popularity of the habits being virtually gender-unspecific: 11% and 9% for the male and female respondents, respectively. None of the students gave a positive answer to the question of whether or not he/she applies drugs or other psychotropic agents for the stress control purposes.

Conclusion. The survey found the female respondents being more prone to restorative sleep, reading fiction and family support than the male ones; while the male respondents reportedly preferring physical practices, delicious food, cultural and entertainment services, information technologies and sex. On the whole, the stress control practices were reportedly more popular in the academic volleyball group than in the Body Conditioning (BC) group. It should be noted with conservative optimism that alcohol and smoking were among the least reported anti-stressors, whilst drugs and other psychotropic agents were not mentioned at all. The survey data and analyses were on the whole indicative of the male students being more dependent on the academic stress control tools subject to the study than the female ones.

References

1. Miteva I.Y. Kurs upravleniya stressom [Stress management course]. Moscow: MarT publ., 2004, p. 288.
2. Selye G. Stress bez distressa [Stress without distress]. Moscow: Progress publ., 1979, 124 p.
3. Scherbatykh Y.V. Psikhologiya stressa i metody korrektsii [Psychology of stress and correction methods]. St. Petersburg: Piter publ., 2006, pp. 256.
4. Shil'ko V.G., Shil'ko T.A., Potovskaya E.S., Krupitskaya O.N. Zavisimost pokazateley stressoustoychivosti studentov ot ikh otnosheniya k fizkulturno-sportivnoy deyatelnosti [University students' stress tolerance rates versus their attitudes to physical training and sports]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2016, no. 12, pp. 41-43.

Corresponding author: vshilko@mail.ru

Abstract

The article reports data of a questionnaire survey of the National Research Tomsk State University students sampled at 20 departments and institutes of the university. The first- to third-year students were to rate in percentage terms their habitual stress control practices, the responses being classified by academic years, gender and physical training/ sporting activities. The survey found that the females are more prone to restorative sleep, reading fiction and family support than the male ones who reportedly prefer physical practices, delicious food, cultural and entertainment services, information technologies and sex. On the whole, the stress control practices were reportedly more popular in the volleyball group than in the Body Conditioning group. It should be noted with conservative optimism that alcohol and smoking were among the least reported anti-stressors, whilst drugs and other psychotropic agents were not mentioned at all.