CHAPTER 2
RELATED LITERATURE REVIEW AND STUDIES
According to Anoushka Thakkar (2018), excessive levels of academic stress and pressure
can result in an increased prevalence of psychological and physical problems like depression,
anxiety, nervousness and stress related disorders, which in turn can affect their academic results.
Anxiety as a disorder is seen in about 8% of adolescents and children worldwide. Anxiety and
stress have a substantial negative effect on their social, emotional and academic success.
Depression is becoming the most common mental health problem students suffer these days. It
is also a reflection of an individual’s academic frustration, academic conflict, academic anxiety
and academic pressure. The four components of academic stress usually identifiable in a student
are academic frustration, academic conflicts, academic anxieties and academic pressures.
Most high school students stated that, their greatest academic stressors include tests,
grades, homework, academic and achievement expectations and parental pressure. School related
stresses include inadequate instructional methods, teacher student relationships, heavy academic
workload, poor physical classroom environments, inability to balance one's leisure time with
school, and disorganization surrounding academic assignments and schedules. Additional sources
consist of a struggle to meet academic standards, worries about time management and concerns
over grades and scores. Students are thus, seen to be affected by the negative causes of academic
stress. The mental health of students, especially in terms of academic stress and its impact, has
become a serious issue among school and policymakers because of the increasing incidence of
suicides Ong students across the globe.
KVC Kansas (2020) concluded on a research, they conducted, that academic stress leads
to less well-being and an increased likelihood of developing anxiety or depression. Additionally,
students who have academic stress tend to do poorly in school. This shows how this stress can
keep kids from doing as well as they could. Research also suggests that if given help or a better
academic situation, students will have better mental health. With technology comes new
challenges that add to the pressures of schooling. Especially in a more virtual setting necessitated
by COVID-19 in some circumstances. Yes, kids can hear, see or read instructions multiple times,
work at their own pace, and have access to more materials and resources. However, this also
means that there are more distractions and potentially more ways miscommunications can
happen.
Stress is considered to be a part of students’ life and can impact the students coping
strategies in accordance with the demands of academic life. This is so because academic work is
always accomplished with stressful activities (Agolla & Ongori, 2009). Students reported their
experience of high academic stress at predictable times in each semester which results from
preparing and taking exams, class ranking competition, and mastering huge amount of syllabus
in a comparatively very small amount of time (Rawson, Bloomer, & Kendall, 1999).
Among college students, a strong relationship is found between stressful life events and
reduced academic performance as well as there is a link between health related quality of life and
stress (Dusselier, Dunn, Wang, Shelley & gWhalen, 2005; Misra & McKean, 2000).
Undergraduate students stated that stress was the most common factor among all health factors
which impact their academic performance, as stress harmfully affects physical and psychological
health (Dwyer & Cummings, 2001). Wintre and Yaffe (2000) concluded that high level of stress
during the first year of college forecasst lower level of overall adjustment and can make the
students more susceptible to many social and psychological problems, thus leading to a lower
grade point average (GPA) in the final year. Many Studies have addressed this issue and it was
found that many psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety, and stress have an impact
on the studenst academic achievement. Williamson, Birmaher, Ryan, and Dahl (2005) reported
that in anxious and depressed youth, stressful life events are considerably elevated which in turn
lead to low performance in academics.
Kumar and Jejurkar (2005) concluded in their studies that academic factors were mainly
responsible for a higher level of stress among undergraduate students. Students experience stress
due to different many factors including issues of time management, financial matters, interaction
with lecturers, personal subjective goals, social behavior, adjustment in the academic culture lack
of support system (Wilks, 2008), admission , high expectation of parents, curriculum comprised
of complex concepts, unsuitable school timings, unbalanced student-teacher ratio, physical
environment of classroom, unhealthy student teacher interaction, hard and fast rules of , too
many or complex assignments, teaching methodology, unconcerned teacher’s attitude and
overemphasis on weaknesses rather than acknowledging strengths (Masih & Gulrez, 2006).
Academic stress arises when academic related demands exceeds to those available resources to
an individual which he/she adapts. (Wilks, 2008). And this stress must not be overlooked as it
negatively affects the general adjustment of the students. (Hussain, Kumar, & Husain, 2008).
