Career stress, resilience, coping, and life satisfaction among nursing students: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Nursing students face multiple challenges that affect their life satisfaction, including career stress, resilience, and coping styles. These factors shape both well-being and readiness for professional practice. Aim To examine the relationships among career stress, resilience, coping styles, and life satisfaction in nursing students. Methods A cross-sectional design was adopted, informed by Lazarus and Folkman's stress-coping theory. A convenience sampling method was used. Data were collected from 352 undergraduate nursing students from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years at a single state university in Turkey between May and June 2025. Instruments included the Career Stress Scale, Brief Resilience Scale, Coping Styles Scale, and Life Satisfaction Scale. Data analysis employed t tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression. Results The mean life satisfaction score was 16.28 +/- 3.75. Life satisfaction showed a weak negative correlation with career stress (r= -.252, p= .001), a positive correlation with resilience (r = .286, p = .001), and a moderate positive correlation with positive coping styles (r = .401, p= .001). Regression analysis revealed that career stress (beta =-0.129, p = .001), resilience (beta = 0.166, p= .001), and positive coping styles (beta = 0.331, p= .001) together explained 21% of the variance in life satisfaction. Negative coping styles were not significant. Conclusion Career stress, resilience, and positive coping significantly associated with nursing students' life satisfaction. Findings emphasize the need for integrating resilience-building and coping skills into nursing curricula to strengthen well-being and preparedness for professional practice. Clinical trial number Not applicable.