Impact of Stress in Academic Performance of STEM Students

Stress is much prevalent in today’s reality. This exists in business and other industries
such as politics, the environment, the economy, healthcare, and education. Focusing on
education today, although many innovative tools have been made to ease the workload or
provide convenience to students (e.g., virtual setups, collaborative websites, etc.), various factors
still significantly affect the prevalence of stress among students. The rise of this stress among
students has dramatically impacted their academic performance.

  The impact of stress is evident in the study of Pascoe (2019), stating that the prevalence
of stress among students has led the path wherein effects such as a decrease in academic
achievement, motivation, and an increase in the percentage of risks regarding dropping out of
school. And while these are deemed as short-term effects, as this continues, long-term
consequences such as a decrease in the likelihood of sustainable employment also take place.
This is supported by Deng et al. (2022), stating that the decrease in the academic performance of
students was said to be brought by the attainment of depression which is grounded on academic
stress. 

Brobbey (2021) also revealed that academic stress is an excellent factor in controlling

the level of academic performance of students. Therefore, for students to develop their academic
performance continuously, there is a need for them to be educated about the different techniques
and mechanisms to cope, as well as manage their stress, maintaining their academic focus, attain
enough time for rest, and attain an efficient and effective time management system. This would
help them develop their skills to produce tasks with the utmost quality while handling stress and
ensuring an increase in their academic performance would prevail.

In the prevalence of stress among students, specific innovations, techniques, and

mechanisms were made to ease the rise of such cases. As per Kwaah & Essilfie (2017), some
forms of coping mechanisms proposed to reduce the academic stress of students are as follows:
a) praying, b) engagement in self-distracting activities and c) emotional and instrumental
support. One other solution provided included the establishment of a counseling system as a way

1
to recognize and raise awareness not only regarding the increasing cases of stress among students
but to come up with other mechanisms to manage stress and help elevate their academic
performance. Furthermore, Bonnesen et al. (2020) revealed that implementing a school-based
intervention, wherein educational and environmental strategies are provided to prevent stress
among students, is deemed to gain results such as academic satisfaction. Although these
solutions have been incredibly beneficial in terms of lessening the stress level among students,
these solutions don't necessarily address how they would increase the academic performance of
students, which is why the researchers insisted on investigating not only in identifying how stress
affects the academic performance of students, but as well as be able to define mechanisms,
solutions, and technique that would put an end to the prevalence of stress. At the same time, it
provides aid in increasing the students' academic performance. 

           With that being said, the decision to do an investigation about this topic is brought by two
(2) reasons: 1) the lack of recognition regarding the effects of stress on the academic
performance of students, and 2) the lack of implemented solutions, techniques, and mechanisms
to prevent stress from affecting the learning behavior as well as the academic motivation of
students. For the first reason, as seen on the evidence seen above, the lack of recognition and
provision of initiative in mitigating the risks of stress have reached far and wide, making both
short and long-term effects such as decreased willingness to engage in academic activities to the
attainment of mental health conditions. As for the second reason, since one of the apparent
effects of stress on students' performance is the decreased willingness to engage, learning
behavior and academic motivation also becomes affected, seeing a domino effect on the student's
academic success. Doing a study on this topic would address these reasons in such a way
wherein: a) it would be able to alert academic institutions further and push them to come up with
solutions to mitigating the effects of stress on students, and b) it would help in coming up with
practical ideas and systems that would improve the learning system of students by giving them
alternatives and motivational techniques. 

2
REFERENCES

Barbayannis G, Bandari M, Zheng X, Baquerizo H, Pecor KW and Ming X (2022)

Academic Stress and Mental Well-Being in College Students: Correlations, Affected Groups,
and COVID-19. Front. Psychol. 13:886344. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886344
Brobbey, E. (2021). The impact of stress on the academic performance of students in the
University of Cape Coast, School of Business. UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST. Retrieved
from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355049499_The_impact_of_stress_on_the_academic_
performance_of_students_in_the_University_of_Cape_Coast_School_of_Business
Bonnesen, C., et al. (2020). Implementation of initiatives to prevent student stress:
process evaluation findings from the Healthy High School study. Health Educ Res. 35(3): 195–
215. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7243719/#__ffn_sectitle
Deng Y, Cherian J, Khan NUN, Kumari K, Sial MS, Comite U, Gavurova B and
Popp J (2022) Family and Academic Stress and Their Impact on Students’ Depression Level and
Academic Performance. Front. Psychiatry 13:869337. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.869337
Kwaah, C. & Essilfie, G. (2017). STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG
DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST, GHANA.
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE. ISSN 1302-6488. Volume: 18 Number: 3
Article 8. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1147588.pdf
Michaela C. Pascoe, Sarah E. Hetrick & Alexandra G. Parker (2020) The impact of
stress on students in secondary school and higher education, International Journal of
Adolescence and Youth, 25:1, 104-112, DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823