Theoretical Framework of The Study

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Theoretical Framework of the Study

The theory that the researchers adopt in this study is the Academic Stress

Theory by Campbell-Phillips, Halder, & Hasib (2020), which states that personal

inadequacy, fear of failure, interpersonal difficulties with teachers, teacher-student

relationships, and inadequate study facilities were concerns of academic stress.

Academic stress is defined as the body's response to academic-related demands that

exceed adaptive capabilities of students.

Though there seems to be a consensus that occasional failure is

necessary to make subsequent progress in most contexts, in the academic context,

failure can be problematic. It is more likely to occur when an individual anticipates that

failure is likely to be aversive, and under those circumstances, the person delegates

control to others, searches for approval, or fears disapproval from others (De Castella,

Byrne, & Covington, 2013). Irrespective of the cause of the fear, students tend to desire

to protect their self-esteem should their performance not reach expectations, and the

long-term effect of this type of fear is for the individual to experience diminished intrinsic

motivation and feelings of uneasiness (Crocker, Luhtanen, Cooper, & Bouvrette, 2003;

Zuckerman & Tsai, 2005). The most common characteristic associated with fear of

failure does not involve negative personal feelings but rather the negative social stigma

associated with the appearance of incompetence (Hernández, Moreno-Murcia & Espín,

2020). Moreover, positive psychology constructs of grit and growth mindset may solve

this challenge as both are associated with psychological resilience. A growth mindset

describes people's underlying beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, and grit

refers to dedication to long-term goals (Mosanya, 2020). Interpersonal difficulties with


teachers refer to adaptation in daily interactions among students to teachers to deliver

teaching outcomes. The teacher-student relationship is associated with student

cognitive learning domains, and the daily interaction is a building block of teacher-

student relationships (Pennings, Brekelmans, Sadler, Claessens, Want & Tartwijk,

2017).

The Academic Stress Theory is relevant to this study because it

will emphasize how academic stress encompasses a wide range of stressors, also

known as triggers, that impair academic growth in educational institutions.

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