Stress levels, alexithymia, type A and type C personality patterns in undergraduate students

Since there have been a number of empirical observations that may lead to the conclusion of an increasing rate of risk behaviors in Romanian students, such as aggression, over-competitive conduct and lack of collaboration, immorality, peer pressure and even an increasing rate of suicide, and suicide attempts, we have undergone a study to indentify if there is a high rate of risk type personality patterns that may lead to these deportments.

We have selected a total number of 500 students from the three largest universities in Bucharest, Romania--"Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF), Bucharest Polytechnics University (UPB), and the Bucharest Academy of Economical Studies (ASE). All subjects received a questionnaire containing four diagnostic tools and several demographics questions. We have chosen the Twenty Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS20), the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS-13) and the Anger-In Questionnaire for type C personality pattern. We have also added the Columbia stress analysis questionnaire for the evaluation of stress levels and coping capacity at the moment the subjects were interviewed.

Columbia stress survey results confirm that there is a high stress level among students of all universities, but a more detailed stratification by university, gender and analyzed factor shows a very high F factor and T factor positive responses. Alexithymia, Type A and Type C personality patterns show a much higher prevalence than the general population, especially in medical students. We have found higher frequencies in men for all of the three studied parameters

Approaching alexithymia and type A behavior both by cognitive methods and by assessing and addressing consequential risk factors should become an issue among universities.