Research has demonstrated that college students experience stress from sources such as poor self-care habits, educational demands, daily hassles, and perceived control over stressful situations. The present study examined perceived stress, health habits, and daily hassles and uplifts among 135 college freshmen. We hypothesized that students with lower stress levels would be male, would have better self-care habits, would experience fewer minor medical health issues, would have significantly higher academic performance, and would experience fewer daily hassles and more daily uplifts than students who experienced high perceived stress. Strong support was obtained for the hypothesis that students with low perceived stress had better health habits. Students with low perceived stress also experienced significantly fewer hassles and more uplifts per month. There were not any significant effects of perceived stress on grade point average, minor medical issues, or gender. The results could help college freshmen adjust to challenges of college by helping them understand some of the effects of stress and benefits of reducing that stress.No embarg
