The Relationship between Social Support, Self-Esteem and Stress among UPM Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to discover the relationship between social support, selfesteem, and stress among students. There was a total of 389 participants (67.5% female) in this study who were randomly drawn by using convenience sampling. The data were collected through a set of self-administrated questionnaires. The finding demonstrated that most of the undergraduate students had moderate social support, low self-esteem, and high level of stress. Social support is negatively correlated with stress. In addition, self-esteem is negatively correlated with stress. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between both variables. Moreover, a significant gender difference was found in stress among undergraduate students. Lastly, this study concluded that social support and self-esteem were both predictors of stress where social support was the strongest. The current study's findings will be useful for governmental organizations in developing policies to alleviate stress among students.