The Adolescent Distress-Eustress Scale Applied to an Adolescent University Sample

Abstract

This study examines how distress and eustress interact in an adolescent university sample, while also aiming to validate a new measure, the Adolescent Distress-Eustress Scale. This is expanding on previous literature as most has focussed on stress as a debilitative factor, neglecting any positive aspects of stress. Furthermore, studies that have acknowledged both positive and negative stress, primarily focussed on adults in a working environment, as until recently, there were no scales developed to measure distress and eustress in an adolescent sample. The current study involved (N = 64) participants from the University of Adelaide, who were between 17-20 years old and enrolled in the course Psychology 1A. Participants completed a survey consisting of scales and questions used to collect and measure variables including: intellectual ability, personality traits, well-being, ill-being, stress mindsets, self-efficacy, distress-eustress, and academic satisfaction. Results indicated that, compared to the general population, the current sample had significantly higher levels of ill-being and significantly lower levels of well-being. Correlational analysis revealed some expected relationships, such as between distress and eustress with well-being, ill-being and some personality traits. However, contrary to the hypothesised relationship, distress and eustress had no significant association with academic outcomes. It was found that distress was positively associated with Openness and also multiple measures of academic satisfaction, which was unexpected. However, the study being underpowered could be to blame for unexpected findings. Nevertheless, the results provided insight into how distress and eustress can affect adolescent tertiary students and provided direction for future research.