Abstract:

The paper deals with the research of stress factors in the population of university students. It focuses on the period before the Covid 19 pandemic and during the pandemic. First, the theoretical background to the main causes of increased stress in young people is clarified. It mainly concerns distance learning, reduction of contact with peers, lower amount of physical and sports activities and increase in the feeling of loneliness. The research is based on the methodological procedure of our own questionnaire survey in the field of frustration tolerance, stress management strategies, psychosomatic symptoms and stress potential zones. The next part of the study presents a statistical evaluation of the questionnaire survey conducted in the period 2016-2020 in 320 university students, of which 168 before the corona virus pandemic and 152 during the quarantine measures. The students at the average age of 21 years were selected from computer science, economics and management fields of study. When comparing individual fields of study, we can record the highest increase in healthy stress management in the field of tourism management by as much as 18%. In both groups of monitored students, the already most frequent incidence of psychosomatic symptoms of fatigue and lack of energy increased even more to 44%. In comparison of all fields, the highest symptoms of stress in the second monitored period were recorded in the field of Economics and Management with the subjective feeling of accelerated heartbeat up to 71%. The frequency of the low stress potential zone decreased significantly by 11%, but on the contrary, the dangerous stress zone increased by 8% and the life-threatening stress zone increased by 5%. Also in other parameters the research has shown an increasing incidence of stress symptoms during the Covid 19 pandemic in the generation of young people. The priority should be to halt this growth trend as soon as possible. In the conclusion of the article, we therefore propose procedures of cognitive behavioral therapy and a healthy lifestyle, which help effectively manage challenging life situations.

Keywords:

Pandemic, Covid-19, university students, quarantine, frustration tolerance, stress management, psychosomatic symptoms, zones of stress potential.