Psychology of Computer Use: XXXV. Differences in Computer Users' Stress and Self-Concept in College Personnel and Students

Abstract

104 college students and 88 college faculty/staff at a midwestern university completed a questionnaire composed of the Computer Hassles Scale, a measure of computer users' stress, somatization/anxiety items from the Symptoms Checklist-90, a measure of stress reactions, and the Revised Personal Attribute Inventory, a measure of self-concept. Correlations indicated that for students there was a significant negative relationship between computer users' stress and self-concept (r = −.30), while for faculty/staff there was a significant positive relationship (r = .28). Regression analyses showed that self-concept moderated the relationship between computer users' stress and stress outcomes for only the faculty-staff sample. The moderator effect was interpreted using Linville's 1987 “buffering hypothesis,” which suggests that persons with higher scores on self-concept are less prone to experience stress-related outcomes like somatization/anxiety symptoms.