Stress and irrational beliefs in college students

One of the aims of this research was to identify the main stressors and to determine the levels of stress in a Spanish university student sample. Stress related irrational beliefs and stress levels were measured by means of the Spanish situational version of the Smith Irrational Beliefs Inventory (SIBI). Sample consisted of 480 Spanish college students. Main stressors identified were: negative events, interaction with others, lack of time, work, and exams-studies. Self-reported levels of stress turned out to be high. Gender differences were found in some of the irrational beliefs, with females scoring significantly higher than males in Catastrophism-Task Exaggeration and males scoring higher in Minimizing/Avoiding. A significant and direct relationship between high scores in some of these irrational beliefs and self-reported stress levels was also revealed. Finally, perfectionism was significantly related to strain, and the highest stress levels to experiencing negative events. Sample error was 3.13%.