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 well-being. 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.