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Undergraduates moderately vulnerable to stress: ‘Perceived academic stress - academic performance’ have significant negative relationship shows local study 

19 Apr 2021

By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody   Undergraduate students in Sri Lanka have moderate vulnerability to stress, with academic stressors topping the sources of stress, according to a study. Said study further found that there was a significant negative relationship identified between perceived academic stress and academic performance. Stress has always been an issue among undergraduate students and past research has found stress to be significantly correlated in terms of its impact on academic performance.  These findings were made in an article titled “Perceived Academic Stress Among University Undergraduates in Sri Lanka” authored by S.M.N. Praveeni (attached to the Department of Business Management of the Faculty of Business Studies and Finance of the Wayamba University) and H.M.A.J. Herath (attached to the Information and Communications Technology Centre of the same University) and published recently in the Wayamba Journal of Management. Stress occurs when one perceives that they cannot cope with the demands of a situation. Stress is perceived in different ways and may have different meanings to different individuals. It is perceived as situations that cause individuals to feel tension, pressure, or negative emotions including anxiety and anger.  Others define stress as the response to existing situations, which includes physiological, emotional and behavioural changes.  According to the transactional theory of stress, stress reactions are the result of the interaction of personal variables and environmental variables. Stress can be defined as “an unfavourable person – environment relationship” and is perceived when the situational demands are taxing or exceeding the resources of the individual. Cognitive appraisal is a central mediator between environmental demands and stress reactions and refers to a process in which individuals constantly evaluate the significance of what is happening to their wellbeing. When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive, it can affect both the health and academic performance, and can hurt students. Moreover, if the pressure is prolonged and perceived as unmanageable, these experiences have been shown to elicit helplessness, depression, and stress, thereby placing the academic futures of some students in jeopardy.  Academic stress refers to the unpleasant situations that occur due to the many demands made on the students or learners in the form of examinations, maintaining healthy lives, competing with peers, and meeting the academic expectations of teachers and parents as well as one's own academic expectations.  Perceived academic stress is defined as demands related to academics that tax or exceed the available resources (internal and external) as cognitively viewed by the student involved. According to this definition, perceived academic stress reflects the perceptions of an individual’s academic frustration, conflict, pressure and anxiety. Previous empirical studies show that some undergraduate students significantly experience stress.  Stress is a part of life for most college students. A national survey in 2013 found that 82.8% of students reported feeling overall stress during the previous year.  University students might experience high stress due to academic commitments, financial pressures and the lack of time management skills. First year university students were found to be particularly prone to stress and to experience high levels of stress due to the college life transition. Many of them face culture shock as university life is different from school life. Students tend to lose self confidence when having to establish new social relations and at the same time trying to cope with the increasing academic demands.  Failing to cope with the stressors during the transition may cause the deterioration of academic performance and an increase in psychological distress. The increase in stress during the first year predicted the decrease in overall adjustment and a lower grade point average.  Stress has also been found to be significantly correlated with poor academic performance among business undergraduates. It is found that stress affects students' academic performance. Students complained of feeling stressed academically when it comes to facing exams and grade competition and having too much information to study yet insufficient time to master the knowledge.  Academic performance is the outcome of education; the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals. Usually, university undergraduates academic performance is expressed in terms of grade point average that is the mean of marks from weighted course units contributing to the assessment of the final degree programme. Self-reported grade point average is not only an indicator of student learning but also a predictor of academic performance and other important life outcomes, the researchers noted. Academic performance is affected by several factors, whether internal or external. Stress is one of the factors that affect the academic performance of students. Academic stress might compromise students' performance. Increased stress leads to decreasing performance, in turn further increasing stress. With this, stress is revealed to have a significant relationship with academic performance. This study aimed to assess perceived academic stress, and its relationship to students’ academic performance. To determine the relationship between the variables, the method employed in the study was a descriptive correlation approach. The study applied the quantitative design utilising a questionnaire for data collection. The population of the study was third year university undergraduates who are enrolled in the Management Faculties which is the second largest student’s enrollment to Universities in Sri Lanka (5,196) as per the University Statistics of 2017. Among the listed faculties, researchers randomly selected the first four highest Management Faculty student enrollments as the basis for selecting the sample. Followed by the cross sectional survey, the distribution of the questionnaire was conducted and it yielded 497 responses from the targeted 600 potential respondents which constitutes an 82% response rate. The minimum acceptable level of response rate is 80%. Thereby, the sample obtained within this study was an adequate representation of the total population. The instruments used for the study were the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The PSS is one of the most widely used psychological instruments for measuring stress perception. It was concluded that the Scale exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties. It consists of 10 items and is answered through five points. With regard to the analysis of perceived academic stress, the following indicators were utilised. They are: How often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?; How often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?; How often have you felt nervous and stressed?; How often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?; How often have you felt that things were going your way?; How often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?; How often have you been able to control irritations in your life?; How often have you felt that you were on top of things?; How often have you been angered because of things that were outside of your control?; And how often have you felt that difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?    The academic performance of the university undergraduates were measured through the academic performance proficiency scale (students’ ability to perform academic tasks and solve problems) which is a four item scale, with responses being on a five point scale, ranging from one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree). Concerning the analysis of academic performance, the following indicators were utilised. They are: I am confident about the adequacy of my academic skills and abilities; I feel competent conducting my course assignments; I feel that I have learned how to successfully perform my coursework in an efficient manner; and I have performed academically as I had anticipated that I would. In the process of accomplishing and achieving the essential findings of the study in determining the perceived academic stress and its relationship to the academic performance of the students, pre-set up questionnaires were distributed to the respondents.  Out of the 497 students who participated in the study, 58% were females while 42% were males.  The majority of the students are in university studies and they do their academic studies in the university premises whereas 25% of the sample came to university from their home. It is also noted that only 27% of students are working while they engage with office work. The results of perceived academic stress revealed that the respondents attained high mean scores based on the responses to the indicators. All the mean values for academic performance indicated that the average academic performance of the students was at a satisfactory level. The majority (52%) of the sample was confident about the adequacy of their academic skills and abilities while only 2% strongly disagreed with their adequacy level in terms of the academic skills. The majority (54%) of the sample had learned how to successfully perform their coursework efficiently while 46% had performed academically as they had anticipated that they would. Further, more than 40% of students are competent in conducting their course assignments. However, 21% did not perform academically as anticipated.  The results show that the correlation among the perceived academic stress and academic performance and the correlation coefficient was statistically significant. The relationship between stress and academic performance is negative. This finding is, the researchers pointed out, in line with past researches. This study, the authors concluded, is therefore important for the discovery of the latest state of psychological well being and new sources of stress among undergraduate students, which can then be used to guide students to reduce their stress levels and in turn enhance their academic performance. Thereby, it is highlighted that a higher level of perceived academic stress will lead to a decrease in the academic performance as there is a negative relationship between perceived academic stress and academic performance. The researchers therefore observed that besides ensuring that the students developed in both cognitive and psychological aspects, it would help to consider the need of designing stress interventions for students.


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