The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among situational factors of stress (e.g., relation with other family members, financial difficulties, and academic and task achievement), personal factors (e.g., self-efficacy and coping style)...
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among situational factors of stress (e.g., relation with other family members, financial difficulties, and academic and task achievement), personal factors (e.g., self-efficacy and coping style), familial factors (e.g., parental and spousal support), and adaptational outcomes (e.g., stress symptom, life-satisfaction, and achievement). A total of 246 undergraduate students matched with their parents participated in this study. The results are as follows: First, for undergraduate students, ‘academic achievement’ and ‘insecurity about future’ are found to be the most stressful. For both student and parents, the situational factors of stress are positively correlated with stressful symptom. More specifically, the stress level caused by task-achievement and relationship with family members is found to affect the stress symptom. Second, the personal and familial factors are highly correlated with life-satisfaction and achievement level rather than with stress symptom. For both participants, self-efficacy, self-regulation and solution oriented coping, and familial social support are positively correlated with life-satisfaction and achievement level. Specifically, the utilization of self-efficacy for maintaining relationship with family members is found to have an influential impact on life-satisfaction. Third, in terms of parental influence, perceived parental influence is found to be stronger than objective parental influence. Finally, the achievement level is negatively correlated with stress symptom, while it is positively correlated with life-satisfaction. Thus, for Korean students and their parents, the critical influencing factors of stress symptom and life-satisfaction are task-achievement, relationship with family members, and self-efficacy for maintaining relationship with other family members.