causes of academic stress on students by hassan
TRANSCRIPT
Abstract
Stress is one of the widely discussed topics not only inside universities or in the human resource
department of an organization but also in general. Various research studies have shown that no matter
what is the actual cause of stress, it has significant impact on human behavior, work life and social life
and academic life.
The research design for this research would be descriptive and causal. Further data collection
method would be use of survey questionnaires in order to get responses from the students.
The sample is designed to be 30 students, and there will be random sampling technique applied
for this research.
Data analysis would be done through SPSS in order to know the correlation among independent
variables and dependent variable. This analysis would help us to make decision and will help us
to know most important causes of stress among students.
This research will be conducted to know the causes of stress on students, in order to achieve this
objective six variables are presented, like, large amount of content to master in a small amount
of time or work load, Family or parental problems, Fear of exams, lower grades competition,
teaching methodology.
Introduction
These days education plays a vital role in the growth and development of an individual and
society. Since the day humans have realized the importance of education, they started developing
formal educational institutions where students learn and acquire new skills or specific skills that
could be utilized in different professions. An uninvited enemy called stress came along the
formalization of education system.
According to the (ACHA-NCHA) stress has been the number one ‘impediment' to academic
performance in college students. There have been many cases all over the world where students
get sick, disturbed, considering themselves broke and attempted suicides etc. It has been
observed by many studies that such students that are facing stress demonstrate specific
behavioral characteristics. Certain factors contribute to stress among students. A study of such
factors would be helpful in solving student problems and will help students to better direct their
energies towards their career objectives.
Stress can affect anyone, who feels overwhelmed. Stress is a function of the demands placed on
us and our ability to meet them. Pressures often come from outside sources (such as family,
friends, or school), but they can also come from within. (Gayle Armstrong Blizzard)
Background to the research problem
Stress is a phenomenon caused by variety of factors including personal, social, and
environmental. Personal and social factors vary from person to person as each individual has a
unique personality, and family background and social circles. However, it is very interesting to
find out the academic specific environmental factors causing stress among different people that
work and live in similar environments and to answer the question whether these factors have
interrelationship.
In case of students that study in different educational institutions, the environmental factors that
have a tendency to be possible factors of stress are workload, teaching methodology, fear of
exam, lower grades, competition, and parental pressure. These six factors are generated by the
environment and could be studied in isolation. Besides, these factors are those with whom
students interact almost on daily basis.
College students, especially freshmen, are a group particularly prone to stress sooner or later in
their academics phase (D'Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991) due to the transitional nature of college life
(Towbes & Cohen, 1996).
Students often confront stress while they move of home for higher studies, when they feel like
they are alone, and while they try to find a job to complete their financial needs (Romano, 1992).
When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive, students experience physical and
psychological impairment (Murphy & Archer, 1996).
As for as stress is concerned, to practically know about it the Student Stress Survey (SSS) was
used for a research purpose to determine the major sources of stress among college students. The
number of participants were 100, and they resulted the responses for stress like, change in
sleeping habits (89%), vacations/breaks (82%), change in eating habits (74%), new
responsibilities (73%), and increased class workload (73%). Financial difficulties (71%) and
change in social activities (71%) were also frequently reported stressors. The five least
frequently reported stressors were; death of a friend (6%), severe injury (5%), transferred schools
(3%), engagement/marriage (2%), and divorce between parents (1%). Quitting one's job (8%)
was also a infrequently reported stressor. Another interesting result was that, in a college setting,
events such as missing too many classes (21%) and arguing with an instructor (11%)(Shanon E.
rose). These are percentages representing stress among students.
Problem Definition:
The problem must be defined to the point and in understandable form, in order to make proper
decisions to solve the problems by setting specific objectives. (Zikmund)
Problem
To know the causes of stress among students
Research Question
What are the factors that cause stress among students?
Research objectives
To know the causes of stress among students
And to suggest them possible solutions to cope with it.
Overview of Literature
As for as stress is concerned it is discussed in a wide range of topics in relation with students,
and various researches have been taken to understand it.
Stress affected students can be categorized as academic, financial, time or health related,and self-
imposed (Goodman, 1993; LeRoy,1988). Academic stressors include the student’s perception of
the extensive knowledge base required and the perception of an inadequate time to develop it
(Carveth, Gesse, & Moss, 1996). Students report experiencing academic stress at predictable
times each semester with the greatest sources of academic stress resulting from taking and
studying for fear of exams, lower grades, competition, and the large amount of content to
master in a small amount of time (Abouserie, 1994; Archer & Lamnin, 1985; Britton & Tesser,
1991; Kohn & Frazer, 1986).
Academic Stress Predictors
In 2005, Dusselier et al, reported that college women experienced greater stress than male
student counterparts (Dusselier, Dunn, Wang, Shelley, & Whalen, 2005) who were living in a
college residential setting. Significant predictors of stress included: frequency of experiencing
chronic illness, depression, anxiety disorder, seasonal affective disorder, mononucleosis, and
sleep difficulties.
Perception of Academic Stress
Academic stress was considered a possible predictor of educational self-efficacy among female
undergraduates. Perceived academic stress was measured via the College Stress Scale (CSS).
The more these women and their families valued education, the higher their overall levels of self
esteem, the greater their levels of selfefficacy and the lower their levels of academic stress. A
sample limitation within the study is it consisted of only first semester female undergraduate
students. However this research added to the understanding of female undergraduate self efficacy
in which academic stress is a factor (Rayle, Arredondo, & Kurpius, 2005).
In another form, Academic stress among students have long been researched on, and researchers
have identified stressors as too many assignments, competition with other students, failures, lack
of pocket money (Fairbrother and Warn, 2003), poor relationships with other students or
lecturers, family or problems at home.
The pressure to perform well in the examination or test and time allocated makes academic
environment very stressful (Erkutlu and Chafra, 2006; Polychronopoulou and Divaris, 2005;
Misra and McKean, 2000). This is likely to affect the social relations both within the University
and outside (Fairbrother and Warn, 2004) since there is conflict with the social aspect of one life.
This not the only affect the social relations within or outside the University, but this goes to
affect the individual person’s life in terms of commitment to achieving the goals. Knowing the
causes of students stress will make the University administrator know how to monitor and
control the stress factors that are responsible for the students stress.
scholars (Ornelas and Kleiner, 2003; Jaramillo et al., 2004; Vermunt and Steesma, 2005; Ongori,
2007; Topper, 2007; Ongori and Agolla, 2008; Agolla, 2009) for instance identified the
symptoms and the causes of stress in work environments as sitting for a long period of time, poor
work performance, poor interpersonal relationship, inadequate or lack of resources, inadequate
time to perform particular assignments, poor working conditions, overcrowded work stations,
excessive paperwork, and many others. Whereas these factors have been found to be responsible
for stress, it is worth noting that in order to minimise the stress among students, the University
administrators must develop appropriate strategies that will enable them to detect in advance the
symptoms and causes of the stress.
Researchers (Malach-Pines and Keinan, 2007; Ongori, 2007; Ongori and Agolla, 2008; Agolla,
2009) have long identified stress symptoms as lack of energy, taking over the counter
medication, high blood pressure, feeling depresssed, increase in appetite, trouble concentrating,
restlessness, tensions and anxiety among others. An individual experiencing one of these factors
is likely to be a victim of stress.
Besides this students can also manage their stress level by programs emphasize starting large
tasks well before due dates, breaking down large tasks into small ones, and doing small tasks on
a regular schedule, students regularly ignore these techniques and find themselves in great
distress before exams (Brown, 1991, this can resultboth positive and negative consequences if
not well managed (Smith, 2002; Tweed et al., 2004; Stevenson and Harper, 2006).
Research Methodology
In this section I will be defining of what research design technique will be used, how data will be
gathered, population, and tools of collecting data.
Research Design
In this step I would be using descriptive and correlationals research. As you know the purpose of
this study is to know the causes of stress.
Data Collection Method and questionare development
Data collection method would be primary, questionnaire would be used and closed ended questions will
be asked which will help in data analysis part. The questionnaire helps to get required data from
respondents in predetermined way (De vaus, 1991). The questionare will be developed based on variables
present in this research, for each variable I will design atleat 2 questions. The maximum number of
questions depends on how much variables I take. The most important thing I would use likert scale in
questionnaire.
Pre-testing of Questionnaire
A pre-testing will be done whereby 30 questionnaires will be distributed to the student to have
reliability it questionnaire. This will help us to amend our questionnaire in most possible way.
Target Population and sampling.
The target population for this research would be students doing bachelors and masters and random
sampling technique would be applied. The reason behind choosing the bachelors and masters level
students is, it would be easy for me to reach them and they are the one who will understand the purpose of
research and respond accordingly. For research purpose I will chose 120 students randomly.
Data Analysis
The data analysis would be done through SPSS, and excel if needed to. This will help us to know the
relationship between variables and the most important causes of stress.
Limitations
The limitations for my research could be,
Lack of time,
No much exoertise in reaserch,
The sample chosen may not represent all the students,
Analysis can have some errors,
Etc
References
1. Gayle Armstrong Blizzard Sales and Marketing for Educate & Celebrate, Inc.
2. D'Zurilla, T. J., & Sheedy, C. F. (1991). Relation between social problem-solving ability and subsequent level of psychological stress in college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
3. Towbes, L. C., & Cohen, L. H. (1996). Chronic stress in the lives of college students: Scale development and prospective prediction of distress. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
4. Romano, J. L. (1992). Psychoeducational interventions for stress management and well-being. Journal of Counseling and Development.
5. Shannon E. Ross "Sources Of Stress Among College Students". College Student Journal. FindArticles.com. 13 Jan, 2011
6. Zikmund, W.G. (2003), Business Research Methods, (7th edn), Thomson Learning, Ohio,
USA.
7. Goodman, E.D. (1993). How to handle the stress of being a student.
8. Carveth, J.A., Gesse, T., & Moss, N. (1996). Survival strategies for nurse-midwifery students. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 41(1), 50-54.
9. Abouserie, R. (1994). Sources and levels of stress in relation to locus of control and selfesteem in university students. Educational Psychology, 14(3), 323-330.
10. Archer, J., & Lamnin, A. (1985). An investigation of personal and academic stressors in college campuses. Journal of College Student Personnel, 26(3), 210-215.
11. Britton, B.K., & Tesser, A. (1991). Effects of timemanagement practices on college grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(3), 405-410.
12. Kohn, J.P., & Frazer, G.H. (1986). An academic stress scale: Identification and rated importance of academic stressors. Psychological Reports, 59(2), 415-426.
13. Murphy, M.C., & Archer, J. (1996). Stressors on the college campus: A comparison of 1985- 1993. Journal of College Student Development, 37(1), 20-28.
14. Brown, R. T. (1991). Helping students confront and deal with stress and procrastination. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 6 (2), 87-102.
15. Dusselier, L., Dunn, B., Wang, Y., Shelley, M., & Whalen, D. (2005). Personal, health, academic, and environmental predictors of stress for residence hall students. Journal of American College Health, 54(1), 15-24.
16. Rayle, A. D., Arredondo, P., & Kurpius, S. E. (2005). Educational self-efficacy of college women: Implications for theory, research, and practice. Journal of Counseling and Development,
17. Misra, R., & Castillo, L. G. (2004). Academic Stress Among College Students : Comparison of American and International Students. International Journal of Stress Management,
18. Fairbrother K, Warn J (2003). Workplace Dimensions, Stress and Job Satisfaction, J. Managerial Psychol. Erkutlu HV, Chafra J (2006). Relationship between leadership power bases and job stress of subordinates
19. Polychronopoulou A, Divaris K (2005). Perceived Sources of Stress Among Greek Dental Students, J. Dent. Educ
20. Ornelas S, Kleiner BH (2003). New Development in Managing Job Related Stress, Journal of Equal Opportunities International,
21. Vermunt R, Steensma H (2005). How can justice be used to manage stress in organisations? In J. Greenberg and J.A. Colquitt (Ed.), Handbook of organisational justice,
22. Ongori H, Agolla JE (2008) “Occupational Stress in Organisations and Its Effects on Organisational Performance, J. Manage. Res.
23. Agolla JE (2009) “Occupational Stress among Police Officers”: The case of Botswana Police service, Res. J. Bus. Manage
24. Robson, C. (1993), Real World Research, Oxford, Blackwell.
25. DeVaus, D.A. (1991), Surveys in social research (3rd edn), London, UCL Press and Allen
& Unwin.
Website
1. http://www.acha-ncha.org/pubs_rpts.html accessed on 1 jan 2011
AppendicesAppendix 1
Conceptual Framework & Shematic Diagram
STRESS
large amount of content to
master in a small amount of
time or work load
Family or parental
problems
Fear of exams,
lower grades
competition
Teaching methodology
Appendix 2
Hypothesis
1. Workload is positively correlated with stress.
2. Stress is positively associated with parents pressure
3. Fear of exams is the most important cause of stress
4. Low grades are negatively correlated with stress.
5. Competition creates stress among students
6. Teaching methodology is the cause of stress and is positively correlated with stress.
7.
Sample questionnaire for research proposal
1. I don’t have much time but a large amount of work to do.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
2. The work is so complex that I can’t understand it in a little time.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3. My parents pressurize me to study.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
4. I am afraid that if I did not study my parents will be strict.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
5. I feel uncomfortable while listening of exams.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
6. Exams make me exhausted.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
7. I feel discouraged whenever I see my low grades.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
8. I always afraid of getting low grades because they will affecr my GPA.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
9. Competition provokes me and makes me to work hard badly.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
10. I always get worried about how to compete in my studies.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
11. Teaching methodology of some teachers make me tensed, and I cannot understand them
at sometimes.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree