Volume : 3 | Issue : 5 | May 2014 • ISSN No 2277 - 8160

Research Paper Education

Impact of Academic Stress on Mental Health : A Study of
School going Adolescents

Dr.Satvinderpal
S.D.S. College of Education for Women, Lopon (Moga) Punjab.
Kaur
ABSTRACT Adolescents are generally more prone to stress and anxiety. Being in a transitional stage of betweenchildhood and
adulthood, adolescents have to confront with varied types of stresses and strains. The high expectations of parents
and teachers in terms of scores and academic performance sometimes put extra mental burden on children, which
may generally if not dealt effectively cause many physical or mental ailments,.The present study has been conducted on a sample of 200 school
going adolescent students of Bathinda district. Data were collected with the help of academic stress scale by AbhaBisht (1987) and Mental Health
Inventory developed by Srivastaand JagdishRai (1986). The scores obtained were analyzed statistically and the findings of the study reveal that
significant differences exist in mental health of adolescent with regard to level of academic stress they experience. Further significant difference
is also found in the mental health of students with respect to their gender in terms of high and low level of academic stress. Hence it is suggested
that parents should not overburdened the children and should not set over expectations in terms of excellence inacademic pursuits beyond the
capability and capacity of the child.

KEYWORDS : academic, stress, mental health, adolescents, relationship

Introduction ing from adjusting demands or challenging where the learner is to

The quality of nation depends upon the educated citizens which profit from instructions in a given area of learner.Diane (2005)stated
further depends upon good mental health and adjustment of ado- that high academic stress resulting in low achievement motivation.
lescents. Education is the powerful instrument for the social, political Menhas (2006) in her study revealed significant relationship between
and economic development of the country.A child’s delicate and sen- academic stress and self-concept. Significant difference in emotional
sitive personality is influenced by the character of the parents,their intelligence was found with respect to sex.
mutual behavior towards the children,the child’s reaction with sib-
lings and other relatives in the family. Hence it is essential that they Good health depends on the state both body and mind. A healthy
might behealthyin both mental and physical terms and should be person is not only physical healthy but also mentally healthy. Mental
trained to keep sound mental health and be adjustable to any kind health is an index which shows the extent to which person has been
of environment. able to meet his environment demands i.e. social , emotional or phys-
ical when a person find himself trapped in a situation for which he
Adolescents are generally most prone to stress and anxiety. Being in does not have coping strategies to deal effectively, he gets himself
a transitionalstage between childhood and adulthood, adolescents mentally strained. This mental strain is generally reflected in symp-
have to confront with varied types of stresses and strains.The rising- toms like anxiety, tension, restless or hopeless. The emotional life of
expectations of the parents in terms of scores and academic perfor- an individual plays a very important part in maintaining the mental
mance sometimes put extra burden on children, which may some- health. By healthy emotional life is meant that person has an attitude
times cause many physical or mental ailments, if not dealt effectively. of love and affection towards his near and dear ones.
But academic stress has an adverse effect on the mental health of ad-
olescents, healthy parents and healthy teachers are always boon to Mental health is a global term which refers to condition of an indi-
the society. In the classroom situation the task of the teacher is always vidual which results from the normal organization and functioning of
challenging and baffling, when even he faces the heterogeneous his mind. It is a combined outcome of five type of health like physical,
group with multiple diversity in the traits. It is very much true that emotional, moral, spiritual and social health, Mental Health is an im-
some students are under active stress and some are normal, some are portant component of the total health of the person.Right thoughts-
adjusted and some are maladjusted.Insuch situations, it is veryimpor- rights attitude and right actions are very useful and necessary to
tant to understand each child and also find out the impact of nega- maintain good mental health.Mental health can also be called as the
tive traits and positive traits in the development of the child. If such process of human self satisfaction, self realization and fully successful
individuals are not taken care, they may lose equilibrium of the self existence. A self satisfied and healthy person has a state of mind that
and with the environment. Hence it is very important to identify the enables him to experience the greatest amount of happiness and to
adolescents possessing stress and also to see the effect of stress on attain the maximum efficiency in spite of the presence of strain and
the health of the adolescents. conflict. He does not have the anxiety to live or the dinging attitude
that everything must happen as suits his design. He is not keen to
Previously homes were the most important agency of imparting grab or hoard or have so many mouthful pleasure himself but give
education but now the school have almost equivalent role to shape away more than taking and shares with other his leisure, time energy,
the personality of students. The sense of security,the love and affec- wealth and whatever he has. Crow and Crow(1951)defined “mental
tion which homes were supported to give have become responsi- health is the state that deals with human welfare and persuades all
bility of school. The modern teachers have to play the role of guide, fields of human relations”.Chauhan(1987)defined “mental health is a
friends and philosopher because either the parents are illiterate or condition which permits the maximum development of physical, in-
they are over busy in their professional endeavor,but difficulty is that tellectual and emotional status of the individual so that he can con-
the teachers are not conscious of their obligations and they do not tributes maximum to the welfare his ideas and aims in life”. However,
discharge their duty with sense of commitment and devotion. This no significant difference in emotional intelligence was found with
results in lack of guidance among adolescents which cause greater respect to organizational set up and stress. Gupta (2002) found that
stress among students.Lazarus(1984) defined“Stress is as a feeling of there is significant relationship between emotions intelligence and
tension that is both emotional/physical, itcan accruingspecific situa- mental health.
tion different people perceive different situ
Rationale of the Study
Academic stress is a kind of stress which generally occurs due to the One of the most challenging problems faced by psychologists, coun-
extra work more than the capacity and capability in terms of exam- selors, educational administration and teachers of today is the accu-
ination, academics or content matter in some particular class. Jha rate prediction of psychological traits of children. This problem has
(2004) described academic stress as mental or physical strain result- aroused the attention of many psychologists and is assuming greater
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importance day by day as our society has changed drastically. Be- and cannot justify with the students. This results in lack of guidance
cause adolescence is the age of stress and strain and children have to among adolescents which cause more stress among them and their
cope up with many type of stressful situation, academic stress affects mental health deteriorates. Thus the hypothesis no. 1 that there is a
the personality make up of the child the most .It has adverse effect on significant difference in mental health of adolescents with regard to
the mental health of the students. Therefore knowledge of the stress high and low level of academic stress is accepted in the present study.
management helps the adolescents to cope up with the problem of
stress. Thus for this it becomes necessary to study the effect of aca- TABLE 2 Statistical Scores on Mental Health ofMale Ado-
demic stress on mental health. The present study will be helpful to lescents with regard to Levels of Academic Stress
school administrator, curriculum makers and counselors to provide
educational and vocational guidance and counseling to the students.
Variable Level of academic N Mean S.D.
The study is also beneficial to the parents so that they can help their stress
children in study andbe particular about their need in the academic
t-value
affairs and thus reducing their academic stress.

Objectives of the Study High academic stress 16 80.67 22.44

1. To study the effect of academic stress on mental health of ado-
lescents. Mental 2.54*
Health
2. To study the effect of academic stress on mental health of male
adolescents Low academic stress 40 93.64 14.67
3. To study the effect of academic stress on mental health of female
adolescents.
*Significant at 0.05 levels
Hypotheses of the Study
1. There is significant difference in mental health of the adolescents From the results presented in table 2 it is found that the mean score
with regard to high and low level of academic stress. on mental health of male adolescents whose academic stress is high,
2. There is significant difference in mental health of male adoles- is 80.67, with S.D. 22.44. While the mean score of mental health of
cents with regard to high and low level of academic stress. male adolescents whose academic stress is low is 93.64 and SD14.67.
3. There is significant difference in mental health of female adoles- t-value is 2.54, which is significant at 0.05 level of significance. Hence
cents with regard to high and low level of academic stress. significant difference is obtained in the mental health of male ad-
olescents due to high and low level of academic stress as t-value
Methodology is found to be significant at 0.05 levels (t-2.54).Mean scores of male
Sample was selected randomly from +1 class students including boys adolescents show that mental health of male adolescents who have
and girls from the Bathinda district. It was further divided into two high levels of academic stress is lower as compared to male adoles-
categories i.e. male and female.To study the academic stress, scale cents who have low level of academic stress. Which shows the di-
of academic stress developed by Abhabisht(1987) was used. Men- rect effects of academic stress on mental health of male adolescent
tal health inventory developed by Srivasta and Jagdishrai(1987) was children. Hence the adolescents who have low academic stress keep
used to study the mental health. Data were analyzed quantitatively. comparatively better mental health scores and vice versa. This may be
Descriptive statistics namely mean, S.D.was calculatedand t-test was due to the reason that there is cut throat competition in all academic
employed to check the significance of the difference between means. aspects. The adolescents have to face this severity of the completion
in order to get admissions in various academic pursuits and areas. Not
Results and Discussion – doing well in class +1 after opting for science or commerce becomes
The results so obtained after the statistical analysis of the data are a cause of frustration and high academic stress which in turn leads to
presented in the form of tables and are discussed below. poor mental health. Thus the hypothesis 2, that there is a significant
difference in mental health of male adolescents with regard to high
TABLE 1 Statistical Scores on Mental Healthof Adoles- and low level of academic stress is accepted in the present study.
cents with regard to Levels of Academic Stress
TABLE 3 Statistical Scores on Mental Healthof Female
Variable Level of academic N Mean S.D. Adolescents with regard to Level of Academic Stress.
stress
t-value
Variable Level of academic N Mean S.D.
stress
High academic stress 51 92.45 20.49
Mental 2.36* t-value
Health
High academic 34 71.07 19.61
Low academic stress 55 99.96 10.9 stress
2.16*
Mental
*Significant at 0.05 levels Health
Low academic 14 83.88 12.24
From the results of table 1 it is found that the mean score of men- stress
tal health of adolescents whose academic stress is high is 92.45, SD
is 10.9, while the mean score of mental health of adolescents whose *Significant at 0.05 levels
academic stress is low is 99.96, S.D. is 20.49 and t-ratio is 2.36. Signifi-
cant difference is obtained in the mental health of adolescents due to From the results of table 3 it is found that the mean score of mental
high and low level of academic stress as t-value is found to be signif- health of female adolescents whose academic stress is high is 71.07
icant at 0.05 level (t=2.36). Therefore as per the result of the present with S.D. 19.61. While the mean score of mental health of female ado-
study mental health of adolescents is very much influenced by aca- lescents whose academic stress is low is 83.88and SD 12.24.The t-val-
demic stress. Mean scores of adolescents on the variable of mental ue is 2.16, which shows significant differences at 0.05 level. Hence
health show that mental health of adolescents who have high level female adolescents differ significantly on mental health due to high
of academic stress is lower as compared to the adolescents who have and low level of academic stress as t-value is found to be significant at
low level of academic stress. This may be due to the reason that in 0.05 levels (t-2.16).Mean score of female adolescents on the variable
modern times either the parents are illiterate or they are over busy in of mental health show that mental health of female adolescents who
their professional work, so they do not guide the adolescents prop- have high levels of academic stress is lower as compared to female
erly. Teachers have to play the role of guide, friend and philosopher, adolescents who have low level of academic stress. This may be due
but the difficulty is that teachers are not conscious of their obligations to the reason that there is parental pressure for excellence in perfor-
and they do not discharge their duty with commitment and devotion. mance irrespective the potential of the girl’s students. This leads to
Sometimes teachers cannot spare time due to their own workload high academic stress and the mental health of the girl’s adolescent
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 Volume : 3 | Issue : 5 | May 2014 • ISSN No 2277 - 8160

deteriorates. Thus the hypothesis no. 3 that there is a significant dif-

ference in mental health of female adolescents with regard to high
and low level of academic stress is accepted in the present study.

Conclusionsand Educational Implications

From the above results it is clear that academic stress put negative
impact on the mental health of the adolescents irrespective of their
gender and level of stress. There is significant difference in the mental
health of adolescents with regard to high and low level of academic
stress as t-values are found to be significant. The negative and sig-
nificant differences exist between the academic stress and mental
health. Hence it is evident that the need of the hour is to reduce the
academic stress among adolescents in order to keep them in good
mental health and sound mental well-being. As sound mind resides
in the sound body hence stress should be laid down to make the
adolescents involved in the physical activities also. The findingswill
help the teachersin understanding the child psychology, so that they
should not over burden the students with work and should not over
expect beyond the capabilities of the child.The school curriculum can
be planned and organized in such way that it provides equal oppor-
tunities for participation to all students, which will definitely boost
their performance both in academic and extracurricular activities.The
study will help the teacher in comprehending the direction of mental
health of students (high and low), the teacher will try to nurture re-
sponsiveness and reciprocity in children in order to develop positive
and sound mental health.Emphasis should be given on different voca-
tion instead of choosing some specific vocation and pushing the child
toward it.

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