A total of 611 veterinary students of India from 14 states and 27 colleges/universities provided their consent to participate in the study, with a response rate of 61.1% (611/100). Table 1 concludes the participants’ demographic breakdown. The mean age of respondents was 23.2 ± 2.8 years old with the majority identified as male (63.6%) respondents. A total of 247 (40.4%) students had family income below 2 lakhs. Maximum students (67.10%) were from undergraduate (BVSc and AH) degree years, followed by MVSc students (27.33%) and Ph.D. students (5.57%).
Table 1
Descriptive statistics (n = 611)
| | M (SD) | n (%) |
Age | | 23.2 (2.8) | |
| Gender | | |
| Male | | 388 (63.50) |
| Female | | 223 (36.50) |
| Religion | | |
| Hindu | | 558 (91.32) |
| Muslim | | 19 (3.10) |
| Christian | | 13 (2.12) |
| Buddhist | | 10 (1.63) |
| Sikh | | 7 (1.14) |
| Others | | 4 (0.65) |
| Veterinary degree year | | |
| BVSc and AH 1st year | | 59 (9.65) |
| BVSc and AH 2nd year | | 80 (13.09) |
| BVSc and AH 3rd year | | 98 (16.04) |
| BVSc and AH 4th year | | 78 (12.76) |
| BVSc and AH 5th year | | 95 (15.55) |
| MVSc | | 167 (27.33) |
| Ph.D. | | 34 (5.56) |
| Family income | | |
| Below 2 lakhs | | 247 (40.42) |
| 2–5 lakhs | | 191 (31.27) |
| More than 5 lakhs | | 173 (28.31) |
Construct validity
The exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the construct validity of the questionnaire. The KMO that measures the adequacy of sampling adequacy was applied and the value was found to be 0.957. The KMO value obtained for the present study thus indicated the very high sampling adequacy. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity was found highly significant (chi-square = 1222, p < 0.001) which again indicated that factor analysis might be useful with our data. The total numbers of components were extracted using PCA and Promax rotation (oblique rotation). The initial exploratory factor analysis resulted in the extraction of eight factors with Eigenvalue > 1 (Fig. 1) that collectively explained 56.98% of the overall variance of the data. As two out of the eight factors comprised only two items and there was shared variance between factors, items were forced to a six-factor reduction, with suppression of coefficients below 0.30. The six-factor reduction explained 51.98% of the total variance. The loading of each item to the new factors was based on the factor loading and our construct as in the method section. The factor structure along with communalities and internal consistency of each item along with factors is detailed (Table 2). The items were included to each category as loaded by the factor analysis. In this study, the scores of the items within each subscale were summed, and the mean score of each subscale was used to represent the stress level of the students in six already designed categories: academic-related stressors (ARS), interpersonal, intrapersonal, and career-related stressors (IPCRS), teaching and learning-related stressors (TLRS), examination and evaluation stressors (EERS), social activities related stressors (SARS) and family expectations related stressors (FRS). A mean score of than 1.0–2.0 was taken as stress and 2.0–3.0 was taken as a high stress. Overall stress was calculated by summing up the mean score values from each subscale and taking the average and then evaluating by the same method as used for each subscale.
Table 2
Loading of variables on factor from the rotated component matrix
Name of Factor | Item Label | Factors (can be adjusted in a single column) | Communalities* | Cronbach’s alpha if item deleted |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
ARS | Rude behavior of college staff | .785 | | | | | | .572 | .882 |
Ignorance of problems by administration | .760 | | | | | | .567 | .882 |
Lack of teaching skills of teachers | .750 | | | | | | .553 | .882 |
Biasness/favors of teachers for selected students | .644 | | | | | | .451 | .885 |
Lack of guidance regarding future jobs by university/college | .607 | | | | | | .589 | .883 |
Perception of a gap in learning and practice | .520 | | | | | | .565 | .880 |
Conflicts with animal owners and activists | .487 | | | | | | .458 | .886 |
Lack of professional skills | .449 | | | | | | .565 | .883 |
Leniency in evaluations in other colleges | .436 | | | | | | .459 | .889 |
Deviation of actual protocols in treatment by teachers | .423 | | | | | | .451 | .886 |
Lack of guidance from teachers in the study | .357 | | | | | | .518 | .884 |
Not enough study material | .308 | | | | | | .503 | .883 |
Conflicts with other students | .356 | | | | | | .381 | .891 |
Verbal/physical abuse by other students | .318 | | | | | | .516 | .889 |
IPCRS | Perception of failure to establish a career | | .767 | | | | | .614 | .848 |
Unable to answer questions from pet owners | | .635 | | | | | .558 | .853 |
Fear of getting poor marks | | .625 | | | | | .655 | .846 |
Facing the death of an animal at clinics | | .599 | | | | | .408 | .865 |
Lack of time for revision of content | | .573 | | | | | .607 | .851 |
Need to do well (by others) | | .481 | | | | | .527 | .852 |
Self-expectation to do well | | .474 | | | | | .464 | .860 |
Preparing competitive exams | | .445 | | | | | .410 | .861 |
Difficulty in understanding content/course | | .337 | | | | | .531 | .852 |
TLRS | Lack of recognition/praise for your work | | | .657 | | | | .536 | .828 |
Frequent interruption of work by others | | | .619 | | | | .500 | .827 |
Stress while working with computers | | | .609 | | | | .549 | .838 |
Difficulty in finding a person to talk to | | | .568 | | | | .550 | .825 |
No feedback by teachers | | | .564 | | | | .547 | .821 |
Conflict with teachers | | | .551 | | | | .511 | .821 |
Unable to answer in class | | | .431 | | | | .599 | .822 |
Lack of communication among teachers | | | .412 | | | | .570 | .824 |
Self-Unwillingness to study veterinary science discipline | | | .318 | | | | .342 | .839 |
EERS | The stress of examination or tests/viva | | | | .848 | | | .615 | .782 |
Frequent examinations | | | | .697 | | | .591 | .779 |
Heavy workload | | | | .663 | | | .567 | .770 |
The stress of class presentation/discussion | | | | .620 | | | .545 | .802 |
Falling behind in study schedule | | | | .450 | | | .557 | .779 |
Inappropriate assignments by teachers | | | | .402 | | | .530 | .791 |
SARS | Talking to animal owner’s history taking | | | | | .722 | | .584 | .578 |
Fear of clinical practice (injection/surgery) | | | | | .473 | | .491 | .604 |
Parental wish to study the field other than veterinary science | | | | | .399 | | .376 | .638 |
Lack of time for family and friends | | | | | .354 | | .403 | .595 |
FRS | Financial problems (family debt) | | | | | | .637 | .536 | .592 |
Family responsibilities/expectations | | | | | | .585 | .526 | .593 |
*Communalities are estimates of the variance accounted for by each variable in the factor solution
Reliability
The questionnaire showed high internal consistency owing to its Cronbach’s alpha value at 0.957 which lies in excellent grade. Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha values of subscales ranged from 0.647 to 0.892, indicating good internal consistency (Table 3). When individual items were removed, Cronbach’s, alpha ranged from 0.578 to 0.889 showing that all the items contributed to the adequacy of the scale (Table 2). Additionally, an anti-image correlation with individual items also confirmed that the sampling was adequate (p < 0.001) for further analysis. Inter-factor correlations, as well as correlations of factors with other variables of the questionnaire (gender, income, and degree year), were examined using bivariate variation (Spearman’s rho) as shown in Table 4. Inter-factor correlations ranged from between 0.006 and 0.608, which indicates generally acceptable independence. The highest correlation between ARS and IPCRS (0.608) indicates some overlap between these two factors. All the factors, except IPCRS, had a higher discriminant ability and were statistically significant (p < 0.05). All the factors were significantly correlated with overall stress except for FRS and TLRS, and these two seem to have a lower discriminant ability to measure overall stress than other factors. Correlation between factors and other variables varied from .006 to .280. ARS and overall stress were significantly correlated to gender and income but not to degree year. The inter-item total correlation value was more than 0.3 for 20 items. The rest of the items, however, had a lower but statistically significant correlation and there was no considerable change in Cronbach’s alpha with the deletion of any item, which indicates acceptable reliability. Therefore, all 44 items were included in the questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha value of each stressor group is shown in Table 3 and Cronbach’s alpha value if scale item deleted value for an individual item is shown in Table 2.
Table 3
Questionnaire factors with mean score and reliability estimates (Cronbach’s alpha)
Stressor Groups | Number of Items | Mean (SD) | Cronbach’s alpha |
ARS | 14 | 2.88 (0.79) | 0.892 |
IPCRS | 9 | 2.82 (0.86) | 0.868 |
TLRS | 9 | 2.46 (0.89) | 0.843 |
EERS | 6 | 2.64 (0.86) | 0.813 |
SARS | 4 | 1.95 (0.84) | 0.670 |
FRS | 2 | 2.54 (1.05) | 0.647 |
Table 4
Correlation among all main measures (N = 611)
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
1. | ARS | | .608** | − .006 | − .093* | − .011 | .018 | .701** | .220** | − .081* | .063 |
2. | IPCRS | | | .018 | − .010 | − .070 | .054 | .748** | .280** | − .008 | − .049 |
3. | TLRS | | | | .531** | .500** | .532** | − .022 | .057 | − .047 | − .079* |
4. | EERS | | | | | .488** | .368** | − .083* | − .010 | − .035 | − .069 |
5. | SARS | | | | | | .358** | − .098* | − .043 | − .130** | − .068 |
6. | FRS | | | | | | | .034 | .016 | − .114** | − .098* |
7. | Overall Stress | | | | | | | | .172** | − .141** | − .006 |
8. | Gender | | | | | | | | | .197** | .204** |
9. | Income | | | | | | | | | | .155** |
10. | Year | | | | | | | | | | |
*p < 0.05 |
**p < 0.01 |
Stress and its relations with other variables
All the students reported some degree of overall stress. Students with a mean score of more than 1.0 i.e., those who reported scores in the moderate, high, and severe category were considered under stress. Overall, for 611 students, 94.10% (575) were under stress (mean score more than 1.0), out of which 59.65% (343/575) students had high to severe stress (mean score more than 2.0). A total of 11.45% (70/611) were under severe stress. The most important stressors group among veterinary students was ARS (95.58%) followed by IPCRS, TLRS, EERS, SARS, and FRS as shown in Table 5. In summary, Table 6 shows that female students significantly experienced more overall stress and ARS and IPCRS were more important stressors for them as compared to male students. The students who had less than 2 lakhs of annual family income significantly experienced high overall stress as compared to students having a higher family income. The students of the second year of bachelor’s degree experienced significantly higher SARS as compared to others and students of the first year of bachelor’s reported significantly higher stress due to FRS.
Table 5
Stress due to each factor
Factors | n (%) |
ARS | 584 (95.58) |
IPCRS | 569 (93.12) |
EERS | 556 (90.99) |
TLRS | 536 (87.72) |
FRS | 486 (79.54) |
SARS | 404 (66.12) |
*N=61, Mean score more than 1.0 |
Table 6
Significant relation of gender, family income, and degree year with overall stress and individual factors.
Variables | Frequency, n (%) | p-value (Chi-square) |
Gender |
Overall stress | Male (389) | 356 (91.51) | p < 0.001 |
| Female (222) | 219 (98.64) |
ARS | Male (389) | 363 (93.31) | p < 0.001 |
| Female (222) | 221 (99.54) |
IPCRS | Male (389) | 350 (89.97) | p < 0.001 |
| Female (222) | 219 (98.68) |
Income |
Overall stress | Below 2 lakhs (247) | 234 (94.73) | p < 0.001 |
| 2–5 lakhs (191) | 179 (93.71) |
| More than 5 lakhs (173) | 162 (93.64) |
FRS | Below 2 lakhs (247) | 208 (84.21) | p < 0.001 |
| 2–5 lakhs (191) | 142 (74.34) |
| More than 5 lakhs (173) | 136 (78.61) |
Degree year |
SARS | First-year (59) | 31 (52.54) | p < 0.005 |
| Second-year (80) | 65 (81.25) |
| Third year (98) | 69 (70.40) |
| Fourth year (78) | 52 (66.66) |
| Final Year (95) | 69 (68.42) |
| MVSc (167) | 95 (56.88) |
| Ph.D. (34) | 23 (67.64) |
FRS | First-year (59) | 59 (100) | p < 0.001 |
| Second-year (80) | 70 (87.50) |
| Third year (98) | 88 (89.79) |
| Fourth year (78) | 54 (69.23) |
| Final Year (95) | 73 (76.84) |
| MVSc (167) | 121 (72.45) |
| Ph.D. (34) | 21 (61.76) |
Table 7
Hierarchical regression of independent variables on overall stress among veterinary students
Variable | B | SE B | Beta | Sig. | R2 | Adjusted R2 | ∆ R2 | F change in R2 |
Step 1 | | | | | | | | |
Gender | .28 | .06 | .17¶ | .000 | .03 | .03 | .03 | 20.00¶ |
Step 2 | | | | | | | | |
Degree Year | − .01 | .01 | − .02 | .470 | .03 | .02 | .00 | .52 |
Step 3 | | | | | | | | |
Income | − .17 | .03 | − .18¶ | .000 | .06 | .06 | .03 | 20.78¶ |
Step 4 | | | | | | | | |
ARS IPCRS TLRS EERS SARS FRS | .36 | .02 | .37¶ | .000 | .68 | .68 | .62 | 201.05¶ |
.46 | .02 | .52¶ | .000 | | | | |
.02 | .02 | .02 | .405 | | | | |
− .01 | .02 | − .01 | .526 | | | | |
− .06 | .02 | − .07ˠ | .008 | | | | |
.00 | .02 | .01 | .667 | | | | |
*N = 611
¶ p < 0.001
ˠ p < 0.01
Hierarchical regression analyses
The results of the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that in step 1, gender positively predicted and accounted for 3% of the variance (p < .001). In step 2, the degree year was not significant. In step 3, the family income positively predicted and accounted for 6% of the variance (p < .001). In step 4, the six stressors significantly accounted for an additional 68% of the variance (p < .001), with only ARS, IPCRS, and SARS positively predicting overall stress (Table 7).
To summarize, female students had a higher level of overall stress than male students. The students with lower family income have reported high overall stress and the students who reported high levels of ARS, IPCRS, and SARS, were more likely to be included in the high overall stress category.