Stress Management in College Students

Summary

Stress is defined as a response to one's evaluation of physical, emotional, or environmental challenges or demands. While the experience of stress is common, chronic exposure to high levels of stress is associated with a host of negative interrelated psychological, physiological, and behavioral outcomes. Mental health problems such as anxiety and depression have a high correlation with stress. In addition, chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease are also thought to be related to stress. For instance, research shows that stress increases blood lipids by changing cholesterol levels eventually leading to arterial thrombosis and stroke.

While stress affects individuals across their lifespan, college students face a unique combination of academic and life challenges that exacerbate their experience of stress, making them highly susceptible to high levels of stress. Additionally, technological advances such as social media can be a source of chronic stress for many. As exposure to high levels of persistent stress is likely to predispose young adults to a lifetime of poor health and unhealthy behaviors, this is especially imperative in finding low impact and attainable methods of stress management for this population.

Although a significant body of literature has addressed stress reduction techniques, most studies to date focus on intervention effects that accumulate over months of exposure, with many stress management programs lasting at minimum of 8 weeks. Previous research has found that interventions employing yoga, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), and deep breathing exercise (DBE) significantly reduce stress levels. The relationship between yoga and stress reduction has been especially consistent across studies. It has been suggested that mindfulness may be the active agent in such programs. Intriguingly, Fountain et al., (2019) found a single 20-minute yoga session significantly decreased stress levels in college students. This raises the question of whether yoga, PMR, and/or DBE require repeated exposure to provide helpful stress-reducing effects, or whether benefits may be obtained in a single session. If so, college students who are unable to commit to an 8-week program will still benefit tremendously from a toolbox of stress reduction techniques, especially during high-stress periods (e.g., finals).

The purpose of this study is to examine whether an acute bout of yoga, PMR, and DBE, delivered alone and in combination, are feasible and acceptable components in a single-session stress-reduction program for college students, and to explore initial effects on stress. We will use an efficient factorial design to gather data on the feasibility and acceptability of each of these three components, and to explore the initial main effects on stress.

Conditions

• Stress

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Yoga

A single Hatha yoga session designed to support stress management.

BEHAVIORAL

Deep Breathing

A single deep breathing exercise session designed to elicit relaxation and to assist in stress management.

BEHAVIORAL

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

A single session of progressive muscle relaxation designed to elicit relaxation.

BEHAVIORAL

Quiet sitting

A single session of quiet sitting.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Wake Forest University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

24 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-06-02

Primary Completion

2023-03-31

Completion

2023-03-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations