Fears and Anxieties in Students of Different Majors: World Assumptions and Dysfunctional Relationships

Abstract

University environment means coping with a number of serious challenges, stresses, fears, and anxieties. This article describes correlations between anxieties, world assumptions, and cognitive distortions in university students of different majors. The sample consisted of 87 university students aged 19–23. They were subjected to R. Yanov-Bulman’s Basic Assumptions Scale adapted by O. V. Kravtsova, as well as to A. Beck and A. Weissman’s Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS). The research involved the methods of factor and correlation analysis, multivariate dispersion, and multivariate regression. The emergence and development of fears and anxieties were considered within the framework of cognitive-behavioral models of anxiety and the integrative multifactorial psychosocial model of affective spectrum disorders. Fears and anxieties were defined as states of expectation and internal tension that require a solution in conditions of uncertainty and adverse life situations at university. They emerged not as personality traits, but as a result of the need to solve urgent academic problems and adapt to the university environment. Fears and anxieties developed in students as a result of cognitive attitudes and distortions. The author’s own questionnaire of 41 statements revealed five factors of fear and anxiety development: performance anxiety; anxiety of being left without social support; fear of professional failure; fear of choosing the wrong specialty; cum laude graduation and scholarship as academic benchmarks. Their severity depended on the major. The most resourceful world attitudes that contributed to fear control included Self-value, kindness of people, and benevolence of the world. They could reduce anxiety, promote academic performance, and improve social adaptation.

Keywords

• fear
• anxiety
• students
• educational profile
• academic adaptation
• basic attitudes
• cognitive distortions