Estudio Comparativo de los Niveles de Estrés Académico en los Estudiantes de Primero y Último Año del Pregrado de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Computación de la Universidad de Cundinamarca, Sede Chía, Colombia

Abstract

This study compared academic stress levels among first-year (I and II semester) and final-year (VIII and IX semester) students of Systems Engineering and Computing at the University of Cundinamarca (UdeC), Chía campus, Colombia. The sample consisted of 150 students, of which 125 reported experiencing academic stress in their academic process, equivalent to 83.3%. The Systemic Cognitive Inventory (SISCO, 2007) was applied as a tool to characterize academic stress levels in the population and to determine its significant convergent and divergent elements by identifying and analyzing demographic descriptions of the population sample, as well as the stressors, symptoms, and coping strategies present in both cohorts. Bibliographic references were taken between the years 2001 and 2024, considering national (14), Latin American (31), and European (7) studies. The research design was non-experimental, using a cross-sectional study, following a positivist paradigm, and with a quantitative approach. The sampling method was probabilistic, using the simple random sampling technique. The results showed that both groups presented moderate levels of academic stress, with a percentage difference of 0.22, expressed between 54.22% (first year) and 54.44% (final year). Both groups had convergences and, in contrast, divergences, as the circumstances of the phenomenon varied in each group analyzed. Stressors were evident such as task overload, limited time, and teaching demands. The most frequent symptoms were drowsiness, restlessness, and difficulty concentrating. As coping strategies, first-year students focused on problem-solving, while seniors relied more on information seeking and reflective analysis.