The Impact of Chronic Poverty and the associated Economic Stress on the mental health of Students in Tangaza University, Karen, Nairobi County, Kenya.
Keywords:
Chronic poverty, economic stress, mental health, university students, coping strategies, Tangaza University, KenyaAbstract
Chronic poverty is becoming a worldwide challenge among university students especially affecting many students from low-and middle-income countries. The objective of the study was to explore the forms of chronic poverty, examine the impact of economic stress and identify the coping strategies employed among Tangaza University students in Nairobi, Kenya. The study was guided by the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping which was developed by Richard Lazarus and Susa Folkman in 1984, and the Social Determinants of Mental Health Framework formulated by Michael Marmot and World Health Organization between 2005 and 2022. The study adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach to capture students’ lived experiences. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews through purposive sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings in this study demonstrated that chronic poverty among university students is a multidimensional phenomenon characterized by persistent hardships of paying tuition fees, securing accommodation and housing, purchasing learning materials, accessing transport and meeting basic needs like food and clothing. These economic constraints led university students into anxiety, hopelessness, depression, psychological distress, low self-esteem, reduced motivation, social isolation, and poor academic performance. The findings also highlighted that students employed both adaptive coping strategies, which include part-time employment, family and peer support, counseling services, institutional assistance, and religious and spiritual practices, and sometimes maladaptive coping strategies including alcohol and substance abuse, transactional relationships, excessive gaming and other risky survival behaviors. The study concluded by recommending that universities and policymakers should empower students through the provision of financial aid, effective counselling services, student welfare programs and psychoeducation to reduce the negative effects of economic constraints and promote the mental well-being of students, their resilience and academic performance.
References
Auerbach, R. P., Mortier, P., Bruffaerts, R., Alonso, J., Benjet, C., Cuijpers, P., Demyttenaere, K., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., Hasking, P., Murray, E., Nock, M. K., Pinder-Amaker, S., Sampson, N. A., Stein, D. J., Vilagut, G., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Kessler, R. C. (2023).
Bennett, J., Heron, J., Kidger, J., & Linton, M. J. (2023). Investigating change in student financial stress at a UK university: Multi-year survey analysis across a global pandemic and recession. Education Sciences, 13(12), Article 1175. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121175
Bruening, M., Argo, K., Payne-Sturges, D., & Laska, M. N. (2022). The struggle is real: A systematic review of food insecurity on postsecondary education campuses. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 122(5), 973–986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2021.10.022
Eisenberg, D., Lipson, S. K., & Posselt, J. (2023). Promoting resilience, mental health, and well-being in higher education. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 19, 123–148. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-080921-110540
Haskett, M. E., Cooke, N. K., & Goodell, L. S. (2024). College student food and housing insecurity: Students’ perceived determinants, consequences, and resilience. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 19(6), 1095–1113. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2023.2210917
Hennink, M., & Kaiser, B. N. (2022). Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests. Social Science & Medicine, 292, 114523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114523
Hyseni Duraku, Z., Davis, H., & Hamiti, E. (2023). Mental health, study skills, social support, and barriers to seeking psychological help among university students: A call for mental health support in higher education. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, Article 1220614. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1220614
Hyseni Duraku, Z., Ferrajão, P. C., & Tourais, B. (2023). Social support, resilience and mental health among university students facing adversity. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1198746.
Kallio, H., Pietilä, A. M., Johnson, M., & Kangasniemi, M. (2016). Developing a qualitative interview guide. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(12), 2954–2965. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13031
Koenig, H. G. (2023). Religion, spirituality, and mental health: Current evidence and future directions. International Review of Psychiatry, 35(5), 483–495.
Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2022). Internet gaming disorder and mental health: A review of recent evidence. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101–107.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
Lund, C., Brooke-Sumner, C., Baingana, F., Baron, E. C., Breuer, E., Chandra, P., Haushofer, J., Herrman, H., Jordans, M., Kieling, C., Medina-Mora, M. E., Morgan, E., Omigbodun, O., Tol, W., Patel, V., & Saxena, S. (2023). Social determinants of mental disorders and the Sustainable Development Goals: A systematic review of reviews. The Lancet Psychiatry, 10(5), 357–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00067-5
Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365(9464), 1099–1104. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71146-6
Mobegi, F. O., & Kara, A. M. (2022). Methods of financing university education and their implications on access, quality and completion rates. European Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 3(3), 75–81. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejedu.2022.3.3.347
Mutheu, M. N., Wambua, R. M., & Kimani, P. W. (2025). Part-time employment, financial stress and academic performance among university students in Kenya. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 23(1), 55–73.
Mutinta, G. (2022). Mental distress among university students in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. BMC Psychology, 10, Article 204. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00903-8
Mutiso, V. N., Ndetei, D. M., Muia, E. N., Mbwayo, A. W., Mathai, M., Kumar, M., Mutavi, T., & Mwangi, P. (2023). Students’ stress patterns in a Kenyan socio-cultural and economic context: Toward a public health intervention. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 580. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-27608-1
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Stoebenau, K., Heise, L., Wamoyi, J., & Bobrova, N. (2016). Revisiting the understanding of transactional sex in sub-Saharan Africa: A review and synthesis of the literature. Social Science & Medicine, 168, 186–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.09.023
UNESCO. (2023). Global education monitoring report 2023: Technology in education—A tool on whose terms? UNESCO.
World Health Organization. (2022). World mental health report: Transforming mental health for all. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049338
Zając, T., Buliński, L., & colleagues. (2024). Financial stress, mental health, and academic outcomes among university students: A systematic review. Current Psychology.
Zając, T., Perales, F., Tomaszewski, W., & Xiang, N. (2024). Student mental health and dropout from higher education: An analysis of Australian administrative data. Higher Education, 87(2), 325–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01009-9
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles published in the Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies (JAMS) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), unless otherwise stated. Authors retain copyright of their work and grant JAMS the right of first publication.
