Methods: All dental undergraduates who just completed the first-year study at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2005 were invited to participate (n=46). Each completed a supervised questionnaire.
Results: The participation rate was 87.0%. Those first-year dental undergraduates who were male (p=0.053, B=4.223, 95% CI=-0.063, 8.509), smoked tobacco at present (p=0.038, B=7.392, 95% CI=0.447, 14.337), perceived being intimidated by tutors/lecturers in previous month (p<0.001, B=9.262, 95% CI=4.431, 14.093), or who felt less satisfied with their decision to study dentistry (p=0.005, B=-4.005, 95% CI=-6.686, -1.323), reported higher total scores for PS.
Conclusions: PS in first-year dental undergraduates in UWA is related to a wide range of factors. Future investigations need to identify a range of strategies for managing PS from the students' and tutors' perspectives.