Abstract:

Purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived stress and death anxiety in university students during the Corona virus pandemic process. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 649 university students, 331 of which were females and 318 of which were males, with an average age of 22. The study was assessed using the Perceived Stress and Death Anxiety Scales. The data were found to be in accordance with the normal distribution with the “Kolmogorov Smirnov Test”. Independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance and LSD tests were used for statistical analysis. The data were evaluated with the SPSS 25.0 package program. In the study, significant difference according to gender was found in perceived stress scores which were higher in women than in men (p<0.05). On the other hand, no significant difference was found between death anxiety scores according to gender (p>0.05). It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference in perceived stress and death anxiety scores according to the sleep patterns stated by the students and their belief in their immunity (p<0.001). The difference in perceived stress and death anxiety scores according to watching television and following the coronavirus news on the internet and exposure to virus news on social media was found to be statistically significant (p>0.001). As a result of the data and analyzes acquired in the study, it was determined that while the perceived stress status of university students differed according to gender, their feeling of death anxiety was similar. It was considered that those who sleep regularly and rely on their immunity were less likely to feel the coronavirus epidemic in terms of perceived stress and death anxiety. It was determined that as students had a higher awareness of the Corona virus on the social media, they felt death anxiety less. It could be suggested that students sleep regularly, increase their immunity or believe that their immunity is strong, and increase their knowledge about the effect of the corona virus on social media.

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