A Comparative Study of Stress and Emotional Maturity Among Hosteller and Day Scholar Students

Abstract

This investigation examines how residential arrangements influence psychological well-being in undergraduate education by analyzing the relationships between living situation, stress experience, and emotional development. The study compares on-campus residents (hostellers) with commuting students (day scholars) across measures of perceived stress and emotional maturity. Participants included 92 undergraduates equally distributed between residential categories (46 hostellers, 46 day scholars) with balanced gender representation, recruited through convenience sampling. Assessment utilized two validated instruments: the 52-item Measuring Stress Questionnaire to evaluate stress perception across multiple domains and the 48-item Emotional Maturity Scale measuring five dimensions of emotional functioning. Statistical analysis revealed hostellers experienced significantly elevated stress levels compared to their commuting counterparts, highlighting the unique challenges associated with campus living. However, emotional maturity measurements demonstrated no statistically significant variation between groups, suggesting that emotional development processes may operate independently of residential context. These findings indicate that while living arrangements substantially impact immediate stress experiences, they appear less influential in shaping broader emotional development trajectories among undergraduate students.