Korean Journal of Health & Nursing (Korean J Health Nurs, KJHN)
Open Access, Peer Reviewed
pISSN 3058-4744
eISSN 3058-5643
Original Article

Associations between Stress, Social Support, Spiritual Well-Being, and Life Satisfaction among Nursing Students

1Doctoral Student, College of Nursing, Daegu Catholic University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
2Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Daegu Catholic University, Daegu, Republic of Korea

Correspondence to Juhyun Jin, E-mail: dominicajin@cu.ac.kr

Korean J Health Nurs 2026;3(1):59-67. https://doi.org/10.12972/kjhn.2026.3.1.7
Received on June 02, 2026, Revised on June 16, 2026, Accepted on June 29, 2026, Published on June 30, 2026.
© Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the levels of stress, social support, spiritual well-being, and life satisfaction among nursing students and to examine factors associated with their life satisfaction. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 244 nursing students enrolled at a university in South Korea. Data were collected from September 1 to November 20, 2025, using a self-reported online questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis. Results: Life satisfaction showed a significant negative correlation with stress and positive correlations with social support and existential well-being. Multiple regression analysis indicated that stress, social support, existential well-being, and higher levels of major satisfaction (satisfied and very satisfied) significantly predicted life satisfaction. Students with higher major satisfaction showed significantly higher life satisfaction than did those dissatisfied with their major. The regression model explained 32.1% of the variance in life satisfaction (adj. R²=.321, p<.001). Conclusion: Stress, social support, existential well-being, and higher levels of major satisfaction were significantly associated with life satisfaction among nursing students. These results suggest that psychosocial and spiritual factors should be considered when developing strategies to support nursing students’ well-being and life satisfaction.

Keywords

Life Satisfaction, Nursing Students, Social Support, Spirituality, Stress