Predictors of stress among dental students in the University of Benin, Benin-City, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: While the learning environment stress is well studied in other climes, few studies are seen in our environment. This study assessed the predictors of stress among the clinical dental students at the University of Benin, Nigeria.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the undergraduate clinical dental students of the School of Dentistry, University of Benin, Benin City. All consecutive undergraduate clinical dental students were included, and sociodemographic, economic, academic and stress data were collected with a modified Dental Environmental Stress (DES) questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. In descriptive statistics, categorical data were summarized in frequency and percentages while the continuous data were expressed in ranges, means and standard deviations. Inferential statistics were performed with Chi-square or Fisher exact where appropriate. P-value <0.05 was used as the cut-off level for statistical significance.
Results: The ages of the respondents range from 19-40 years with a mean age of 25.0±4.12 years. More than half (69.4%) of the students were males given a male-to-female ratio of 2:1. In the overall stress percentage, only 7(11.3%) respondents don’t have any form of stress while 55(88.7%) had stress given a prevalence of 88.7%. The age, gender, mode of entry, level of education, marital status, place of residence, type of sponsorship, and religion were also not statistically associated with the presence of stress (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The prevalence of stress among clinical dental students was generally high. None of the demographic characteristics was significantly related to the presence of stress.