203846 Perceived stress and health promoting behaviors: A preliminary study of cross-cultural comparison between American and Chinese college students

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ying Li, PhD, CHES , Department of Physical Education, Health, and Recreation, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
W. William Chen, PhD, CHES , Health Education and Behavior, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Xiaoqin Yin, MA , Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, China
Billie Lindsey, EdD , Department of Physical Education, Health, and Recreation, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
Stress and inability to cope with stress may pose a serious threat to health. Considering the fact that college students are facing many unique challenges at the transitional stage from adolescence to adulthood, numerous researchers have conducted study to examine the college students' perceived stress and its relationship with health. However, few studies have compared college students from different cultures. The purpose of this study was to explore if there are differences between Chinese and American college students in terms of their perceived stress and health promoting behaviors. A paper-pencil survey was administered among 319 American and 335 Chinese college students using College Stress Questionnaire. Results of a multivariate analysis revealed that Chinese students perceived lower stress when compared to American students. Female students perceived higher stress in relation to male students. Also, students who were in a relationship but not living together experienced the lowest perceived stress when compared to students who were not in a relationship and students who were in a relationship and living together. Regarding health promoting behaviors, there were no significant differences by participants' gender or relationship status. However, significant differences by participants' culture background were observed. Specifically, American college students were more likely to engage in health promoting behaviors than Chinese college students.

Learning Objectives:
List factors that influence the perceived stress among college students Describe differences experienced by American and Chinese college students in terms of their perceived stress

Keywords: Stress, College Students

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a researcher with a lot of experience with many refered publications
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.