Academic Stress and Subjective Well-being: The Moderating Effects of Perceived Social Support

Using a sample of 226 graduate students from a university located in Northern China, this study empirically examined the effect of graduate students' academic stress on their subjective well-being, and tested the moderating effect of perceived social support on the relationship between academic stress and subjective wellbeing. The hierarchical regression analysis with SPSS 16.0 was employed to test the hypotheses. The results demonstrated that graduate students' academic stress was negatively correlated with their subjective well-being, and their perceptions of social support moderated the relationship between their academic stress and subjective well-being. Finally, limitations and practical applications were offered.