homework causing stress in students

Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:

• Student information
• Faculty/Staff information

We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.

Education scholar Denise Pope has found that too much homework has negative effects on student well-being and behavioral engagement. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students’ views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students’ advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is associated with:

* Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

* Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

* Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

A balancing act

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as “pointless” or “mindless” in order to keep their grades up.

“This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

“Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development,” wrote Pope.

High-performing paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities.”

Student perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended or “self-reporting” methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent complaining” – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Media Contacts

Denise Pope, Stanford Graduate School of Education: (650) 725-7412, [email protected] Clifton B. Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, [email protected]

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework. 

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression. 

And for all the distress homework  can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. 

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial 

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

share this!

August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Tiny tropical puddle frogs show that protecting genetic variation is essential for animals to survive the climate crisis

2 hours ago

Rate of global warming caused by humans is at an all-time high, say scientists

6 hours ago

Giant viruses discovered on Greenland ice sheet could reduce ice melt

8 hours ago

New study confirms presence of benzene in natural gas and potential for undetectable indoor leaks

9 hours ago

Chasing down a cellular 'short circuit' sheds light on how certain diseases begin

Remarkable new plant species steals nutrients from underground fungi

11 hours ago

Others' words, not firsthand experience, shape scientific and religious belief formation, study finds

12 hours ago

Earliest cattle herds in northern Europe found in the Netherlands

Real-time flood risk visualization via server-based mixed reality enhances accessibility and public safety

13 hours ago

Rocky shores of Pacific Northwest show low resilience to changes in climate

Relevant physicsforums posts, is "college algebra" really just high school "algebra ii".

May 27, 2024

UK School Physics Exam from 1967

Physics education is 60 years out of date.

May 16, 2024

Plagiarism & ChatGPT: Is Cheating with AI the New Normal?

May 13, 2024

Physics Instructor Minimum Education to Teach Community College

May 11, 2024

Studying "Useful" vs. "Useless" Stuff in School

Apr 30, 2024

More from STEM Educators and Teaching

Related Stories

Smartphones are lowering student's grades, study finds

Aug 18, 2020

Doing homework is associated with change in students' personality

Oct 6, 2017

Scholar suggests ways to craft more effective homework assignments

Oct 1, 2015

Should parents help their kids with homework?

Aug 29, 2019

How much math, science homework is too much?

Mar 23, 2015

Anxiety, depression, burnout rising as college students prepare to return to campus

Jul 26, 2021

Recommended for you

First-generation medical students face unique challenges and need more targeted support, say researchers

Investigation reveals varied impact of preschool programs on long-term school success

May 2, 2024

Training of brain processes makes reading more efficient

Apr 18, 2024

Researchers find lower grades given to students with surnames that come later in alphabetical order

Apr 17, 2024

Earth, the sun and a bike wheel: Why your high-school textbook was wrong about the shape of Earth's orbit

Apr 8, 2024

Touchibo, a robot that fosters inclusion in education through touch

Apr 5, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter

Recently viewed courses

Recently viewed.

Find Your Dream School

This site uses various technologies, as described in our Privacy Policy, for personalization, measuring website use/performance, and targeted advertising, which may include storing and sharing information about your site visit with third parties. By continuing to use this website you consent to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .

   COVID-19 Update: To help students through this crisis, The Princeton Review will continue our "Enroll with Confidence" refund policies. For full details, please click here.

Enter your email to unlock an extra $25 off an SAT or ACT program!

By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., homework wars: high school workloads, student stress, and how parents can help.

Studies of typical homework loads vary : In one, a Stanford researcher found that more than two hours of homework a night may be counterproductive. The research , conducted among students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities, found that too much homework resulted in stress, physical health problems and a general lack of balance.

Additionally, the  2014 Brown Center Report on American Education , found that with the exception of nine-year-olds, the amount of homework schools assign has remained relatively unchanged since 1984, meaning even those in charge of the curricula don't see a need for adding more to that workload.

But student experiences don’t always match these results. On our own Student Life in America survey, over 50% of students reported feeling stressed, 25% reported that homework was their biggest source of stress, and on average teens are spending one-third of their study time feeling stressed, anxious, or stuck.

The disparity can be explained in one of the conclusions regarding the Brown Report:

Of the three age groups, 17-year-olds have the most bifurcated distribution of the homework burden. They have the largest percentage of kids with no homework (especially when the homework shirkers are added in) and the largest percentage with more than two hours.

So what does that mean for parents who still endure the homework wars at home?

Read More: Teaching Your Kids How To Deal with School Stress

It means that sometimes kids who are on a rigorous college-prep track, probably are receiving more homework, but the statistics are melding it with the kids who are receiving no homework. And on our survey, 64% of students reported that their parents couldn’t help them with their work. This is where the real homework wars lie—not just the amount, but the ability to successfully complete assignments and feel success.

Parents want to figure out how to help their children manage their homework stress and learn the material.

Our Top 4 Tips for Ending Homework Wars

1. have a routine..

Every parenting advice article you will ever read emphasizes the importance of a routine. There’s a reason for that: it works. A routine helps put order into an often disorderly world. It removes the thinking and arguing and “when should I start?” because that decision has already been made. While routines must be flexible to accommodate soccer practice on Tuesday and volunteer work on Thursday, knowing in general when and where you, or your child, will do homework literally removes half the battle.

2. Have a battle plan.

Overwhelmed students look at a mountain of homework and think “insurmountable.” But parents can look at it with an outsider’s perspective and help them plan. Put in an extra hour Monday when you don’t have soccer. Prepare for the AP Chem test on Friday a little at a time each evening so Thursday doesn’t loom as a scary study night (consistency and repetition will also help lock the information in your brain). Start reading the book for your English report so that it’s underway. Go ahead and write a few sentences, so you don’t have a blank page staring at you. Knowing what the week will look like helps you keep calm and carry on.

3. Don’t be afraid to call in reserves.

You can’t outsource the “battle” but you can outsource the help ! We find that kids just do better having someone other than their parents help them —and sometimes even parents with the best of intentions aren’t equipped to wrestle with complicated physics problem. At The Princeton Review, we specialize in making homework time less stressful. Our tutors are available 24/7 to work one-to-one in an online classroom with a chat feature, interactive whiteboard, and the file sharing tool, where students can share their most challenging assignments.

4. Celebrate victories—and know when to surrender.

Students and parents can review completed assignments together at the end of the night -- acknowledging even small wins helps build a sense of accomplishment. If you’ve been through a particularly tough battle, you’ll also want to reach reach a cease-fire before hitting your bunk. A war ends when one person disengages. At some point, after parents have provided a listening ear, planning, and support, they have to let natural consequences take their course. And taking a step back--and removing any pressure a parent may be inadvertently creating--can be just what’s needed.

Stuck on homework?

Try an online tutoring session with one of our experts, and get homework help in 40+ subjects.

Try a Free Session

Explore Colleges For You

Connect with our featured colleges to find schools that both match your interests and are looking for students like you.

Career Quiz

Take our short quiz to learn which is the right career for you.

Get Started on Athletic Scholarships & Recruiting!

Join athletes who were discovered, recruited & often received scholarships after connecting with NCSA's 42,000 strong network of coaches.

Best 389 Colleges

165,000 students rate everything from their professors to their campus social scene.

SAT Prep Courses

1400+ course, act prep courses, free sat practice test & events,  1-800-2review, free digital sat prep try our self-paced plus program - for free, get a 14 day trial.

Free MCAT Practice Test

I already know my score.

MCAT Self-Paced 14-Day Free Trial

Enrollment Advisor

1-800-2REVIEW (800-273-8439) ext. 1

1-877-LEARN-30

Mon-Fri 9AM-10PM ET

Sat-Sun 9AM-8PM ET

Student Support

1-800-2REVIEW (800-273-8439) ext. 2

Mon-Fri 9AM-9PM ET

Sat-Sun 8:30AM-5PM ET

Partnerships

• Teach or Tutor for Us

College Readiness

International

Advertising

Affiliate/Other

• Enrollment Terms & Conditions
• Accessibility
• Cigna Medical Transparency in Coverage

Register Book

Local Offices: Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM

• SAT Subject Tests

Academic Subjects

• Social Studies

Find the Right College

• College Rankings
• College Advice
• Applying to College
• Financial Aid

School & District Partnerships

• Professional Development
• Advice Articles
• Private Tutoring
• Mobile Apps
• International Offices
• Work for Us
• Affiliate Program
• Partner with Us
• Advertise with Us
• International Partnerships
• Our Guarantees
• Accessibility – Canada

Privacy Policy | CA Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information | Your Opt-Out Rights | Terms of Use | Site Map

©2024 TPR Education IP Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University

TPR Education, LLC (doing business as “The Princeton Review”) is controlled by Primavera Holdings Limited, a firm owned by Chinese nationals with a principal place of business in Hong Kong, China.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Front Psychol

Academic Stress and Mental Well-Being in College Students: Correlations, Affected Groups, and COVID-19

Georgia barbayannis.

1 Department of Neurology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States

Mahindra Bandari

Xiang zheng.

2 Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States

Humberto Baquerizo

3 Office for Diversity and Community Engagement, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States

Keith W. Pecor

4 Department of Biology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, United States

Associated Data

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Academic stress may be the single most dominant stress factor that affects the mental well-being of college students. Some groups of students may experience more stress than others, and the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic could further complicate the stress response. We surveyed 843 college students and evaluated whether academic stress levels affected their mental health, and if so, whether there were specific vulnerable groups by gender, race/ethnicity, year of study, and reaction to the pandemic. Using a combination of scores from the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS) and the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), we found a significant correlation between worse academic stress and poor mental well-being in all the students, who also reported an exacerbation of stress in response to the pandemic. In addition, SWEMWBS scores revealed the lowest mental health and highest academic stress in non-binary individuals, and the opposite trend was observed for both the measures in men. Furthermore, women and non-binary students reported higher academic stress than men, as indicated by PAS scores. The same pattern held as a reaction to COVID-19-related stress. PAS scores and responses to the pandemic varied by the year of study, but no obvious patterns emerged. These results indicate that academic stress in college is significantly correlated to psychological well-being in the students who responded to this survey. In addition, some groups of college students are more affected by stress than others, and additional resources and support should be provided to them.

Introduction

Late adolescence and emerging adulthood are transitional periods marked by major physiological and psychological changes, including elevated stress (Hogan and Astone, 1986 ; Arnett, 2000 ; Shanahan, 2000 ; Spear, 2000 ; Scales et al., 2015 ; Romeo et al., 2016 ; Barbayannis et al., 2017 ; Chiang et al., 2019 ; Lally and Valentine-French, 2019 ; Matud et al., 2020 ). This pattern is particularly true for college students. According to a 2015 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment survey, three in four college students self-reported feeling stressed, while one in five college students reported stress-related suicidal ideation (Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; American Psychological Association, 2020 ). Studies show that a stressor experienced in college may serve as a predictor of mental health diagnoses (Pedrelli et al., 2015 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Karyotaki et al., 2020 ). Indeed, many mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorder, begin during this period (Blanco et al., 2008 ; Pedrelli et al., 2015 ; Saleh et al., 2017 ; Reddy et al., 2018 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ).

Stress experienced by college students is multi-factorial and can be attributed to a variety of contributing factors (Reddy et al., 2018 ; Karyotaki et al., 2020 ). A growing body of evidence suggests that academic-related stress plays a significant role in college (Misra and McKean, 2000 ; Dusselier et al., 2005 ; Elias et al., 2011 ; Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ; Hj Ramli et al., 2018 ; Reddy et al., 2018 ; Pascoe et al., 2020 ). For instance, as many as 87% of college students surveyed across the United States cited education as their primary source of stress (American Psychological Association, 2020 ). College students are exposed to novel academic stressors, such as an extensive academic course load, substantial studying, time management, classroom competition, financial concerns, familial pressures, and adapting to a new environment (Misra and Castillo, 2004 ; Byrd and McKinney, 2012 ; Ekpenyong et al., 2013 ; Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ; Ketchen Lipson et al., 2015 ; Pedrelli et al., 2015 ; Reddy et al., 2018 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Freire et al., 2020 ; Karyotaki et al., 2020 ). Academic stress can reduce motivation, hinder academic achievement, and lead to increased college dropout rates (Pascoe et al., 2020 ).

Academic stress has also been shown to negatively impact mental health in students (Li and Lin, 2003 ; Eisenberg et al., 2009 ; Green et al., 2021 ). Mental, or psychological, well-being is one of the components of positive mental health, and it includes happiness, life satisfaction, stress management, and psychological functioning (Ryan and Deci, 2001 ; Tennant et al., 2007 ; Galderisi et al., 2015 ; Trout and Alsandor, 2020 ; Defeyter et al., 2021 ; Green et al., 2021 ). Positive mental health is an understudied but important area that helps paint a more comprehensive picture of overall mental health (Tennant et al., 2007 ; Margraf et al., 2020 ). Moreover, positive mental health has been shown to be predictive of both negative and positive mental health indicators over time (Margraf et al., 2020 ). Further exploring the relationship between academic stress and mental well-being is important because poor mental well-being has been shown to affect academic performance in college (Tennant et al., 2007 ; Eisenberg et al., 2009 ; Freire et al., 2016 ).

Perception of academic stress varies among different groups of college students (Lee et al., 2021 ). For instance, female college students report experiencing increased stress than their male counterparts (Misra et al., 2000 ; Eisenberg et al., 2007 ; Evans et al., 2018 ; Lee et al., 2021 ). Male and female students also respond differently to stressors (Misra et al., 2000 ; Verma et al., 2011 ). Moreover, compared to their cisgender peers, non-binary students report increased stressors and mental health issues (Budge et al., 2020 ). The academic year of study of the college students has also been shown to impact academic stress levels (Misra and McKean, 2000 ; Elias et al., 2011 ; Wyatt et al., 2017 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Defeyter et al., 2021 ). While several studies indicate that racial/ethnic minority groups of students, including Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian American students, are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and suicidality than their white peers (Lesure-Lester and King, 2004 ; Lipson et al., 2018 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Kodish et al., 2022 ), these studies are limited and often report mixed or inconclusive findings (Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Kodish et al., 2022 ). Therefore, more studies should be conducted to address this gap in research to help identify subgroups that may be disproportionately impacted by academic stress and lower well-being.

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is a major stressor that has led to a mental health crisis (American Psychological Association, 2020 ; Dong and Bouey, 2020 ). For college students, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes and disruptions to daily life, elevated stress levels, and mental and physical health deterioration (American Psychological Association, 2020 ; Husky et al., 2020 ; Patsali et al., 2020 ; Son et al., 2020 ; Clabaugh et al., 2021 ; Lee et al., 2021 ; Lopes and Nihei, 2021 ; Yang et al., 2021 ). While any college student is vulnerable to these stressors, these concerns are amplified for members of minority groups (Salerno et al., 2020 ; Clabaugh et al., 2021 ; McQuaid et al., 2021 ; Prowse et al., 2021 ; Kodish et al., 2022 ). Identifying students at greatest risk provides opportunities to offer support, resources, and mental health services to specific subgroups.

The overall aim of this study was to assess academic stress and mental well-being in a sample of college students. Within this umbrella, we had several goals. First, to determine whether a relationship exists between the two constructs of perceived academic stress, measured by the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS), and mental well-being, measured by the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), in college students. Second, to identify groups that could experience differential levels of academic stress and mental health. Third, to explore how the perception of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affected stress levels. We hypothesized that students who experienced more academic stress would have worse psychological well-being and that certain groups of students would be more impacted by academic- and COVID-19-related stress.

Materials and Methods

Survey instrument.

A survey was developed that included all questions from the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being (Tennant et al., 2007 ; Stewart-Brown and Janmohamed, 2008 ) and from the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ). The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale is a seven-item scale designed to measure mental well-being and positive mental health (Tennant et al., 2007 ; Fung, 2019 ; Shah et al., 2021 ). The Perception of Academic Stress Scale is an 18-item scale designed to assess sources of academic stress perceived by individuals and measures three main academic stressors: academic expectations, workload and examinations, and academic self-perceptions of students (Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ). These shorter scales were chosen to increase our response and study completion rates (Kost and de Rosa, 2018 ). Both tools have been shown to be valid and reliable in college students with Likert scale responses (Tennant et al., 2007 ; Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ; Ringdal et al., 2018 ; Fung, 2019 ; Koushede et al., 2019 ). Both the SWEMWBS and PAS scores are a summation of responses to the individual questions in the instruments. For the SWEMWBS questions, a higher score indicates better mental health, and scores range from 7 to 35. Similarly, the PAS questions are phrased such that a higher score indicates lower levels of stress, and scores range from 18 to 90. We augmented the survey with demographic questions (e.g., age, gender, and race/ethnicity) at the beginning of the survey and two yes/no questions and one Likert scale question about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of our survey.

Participants for the study were self-reported college students between the ages of 18 and 30 years who resided in the United States, were fluent in English, and had Internet access. Participants were solicited through Prolific ( https://prolific.co ) in October 2021. A total of 1,023 individuals enrolled in the survey. Three individuals did not agree to participate after beginning the survey. Two were not fluent in English. Thirteen individuals indicated that they were not college students. Two were not in the 18–30 age range, and one was located outside of the United States. Of the remaining individuals, 906 were full-time students and 96 were part-time students. Given the skew of the data and potential differences in these populations, we removed the part-time students. Of the 906 full-time students, 58 indicated that they were in their fifth year of college or higher. We understand that not every student completes their undergraduate studies in 4 years, but we did not want to have a mixture of undergraduate and graduate students with no way to differentiate them. Finally, one individual reported their age as a non-number, and four individuals did not answer a question about their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This yielded a final sample of 843 college students.

Data Analyses

After reviewing the dataset, some variables were removed from consideration due to a lack of consistency (e.g., some students reported annual income for themselves and others reported family income) or heterogeneity that prevented easy categorization (e.g., field of study). We settled on four variables of interest: gender, race/ethnicity, year in school, and response to the COVID-19 pandemic ( Table 1 ). Gender was coded as female, male, or non-binary. Race/ethnicity was coded as white or Caucasian; Black or African American; East Asian; Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin; or other. Other was used for groups that were not well-represented in the sample and included individuals who identified themselves as Middle Eastern, Native American or Alaskan Native, and South Asian, as well as individuals who chose “other” or “prefer not to answer” on the survey. The year of study was coded as one through four, and COVID-19 stress was coded as two groups, no change/neutral response/reduced stress or increased stress.

Characteristics of the participants in the study.

Our first goal was to determine whether there was a relationship between self-reported academic stress and mental health, and we found a significant correlation (see Results section). Given the positive correlation, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with a model testing the main effects of gender, race/ethnicity, and year of study was run in SPSS v 26.0. A factorial MANOVA would have been ideal, but our data were drawn from a convenience sample, which did not give equal representation to all groupings, and some combinations of gender, race/ethnicity, and year of study were poorly represented (e.g., a single individual). As such, we determined that it would be better to have a lack of interaction terms as a limitation to the study than to provide potentially spurious results. Finally, we used chi-square analyses to assess the effect of potential differences in the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress levels in general among the groups in each category (gender, race/ethnicity, and year of study).

In terms of internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha was 0.82 for the SMEMWBS and 0.86 for the PAS. A variety of descriptors have been applied to Cronbach's alpha values. That said, 0.7 is often considered a threshold value in terms of acceptable internal consistency, and our values could be considered “high” or “good” (Taber, 2018 ).

The participants in our study were primarily women (78.5% of respondents; Table 1 ). Participants were not equally distributed among races/ethnicities, with the majority of students selecting white or Caucasian (66.4% of responders; Table 1 ), or years of study, with fewer first-year students than other groups ( Table 1 ).

Students who reported higher academic stress also reported worse mental well-being in general, irrespective of age, gender, race/ethnicity, or year of study. PAS and SWEMWBS scores were significantly correlated ( r = 0.53, p < 0.001; Figure 1 ), indicating that a higher level of perceived academic stress is associated with worse mental well-being in college students within the United States.

SWEMWBS and PAS scores for all participants.

Among the subgroups of students, women, non-binary students, and second-year students reported higher academic stress levels and worse mental well-being ( Table 2 ; Figures 2 – 4 ). In addition, the combined measures differed significantly between the groups in each category ( Table 2 ). However, as measured by partial eta squared, the effect sizes were relatively small, given the convention of 0.01 = small, 0.06 = medium, and 0.14 = large differences (Lakens, 2013 ). As such, there were only two instances in which Tukey's post-hoc tests revealed more than one statistical grouping ( Figures 2 – 4 ). For SWEMWBS score by gender, women were intermediate between men (high) and non-binary individuals (low) and not significantly different from either group ( Figure 2 ). Second-year students had the lowest PAS scores for the year of study, and first-year students had the highest scores. Third- and fourth-year students were intermediate and not statistically different from the other two groups ( Figure 4 ). There were no pairwise differences in academic stress levels or mental well-being among racial/ethnic groups.

Results of the MANOVA.

SWEMWBS and PAS scores according to gender (mean ± SEM). Different letters for SWEMWBS scores indicate different statistical groupings ( p < 0.05).

SWEMWBS and PAS scores according to year in college (mean ± SEM). Different letters for PAS scores indicate different statistical groupings ( p < 0.05).

SWEMWBS and PAS scores according to race/ethnicity (mean ± SEM).

The findings varied among categories in terms of stress responses due to the COVID-19 pandemic ( Table 3 ). For gender, men were less likely than women or non-binary individuals to report increased stress from COVID-19 (χ 2 = 27.98, df = 2, p < 0.001). All racial/ethnic groups responded similarly to the pandemic (χ 2 = 3.41, df = 4, p < 0.49). For the year of study, first-year students were less likely than other cohorts to report increased stress from COVID-19 (χ 2 = 9.38, df = 3, p < 0.03).

Impact of COVID-19 on stress level by gender, race/ethnicity, and year of study.

Our primary findings showed a positive correlation between perceived academic stress and mental well-being in United States college students, suggesting that academic stressors, including academic expectations, workload and grading, and students' academic self-perceptions, are equally important as psychological well-being. Overall, irrespective of gender, race/ethnicity, or year of study, students who reported higher academic stress levels experienced diminished mental well-being. The utilization of well-established scales and a large sample size are strengths of this study. Our results extend and contribute to the existing literature on stress by confirming findings from past studies that reported higher academic stress and lower psychological well-being in college students utilizing the same two scales (Green et al., 2021 ; Syed, 2021 ). To our knowledge, the majority of other prior studies with similar findings examined different components of stress, studied negative mental health indicators, used different scales or methods, employed smaller sample sizes, or were conducted in different countries (Li and Lin, 2003 ; American Psychological Association, 2020 ; Husky et al., 2020 ; Pascoe et al., 2020 ; Patsali et al., 2020 ; Clabaugh et al., 2021 ; Lee et al., 2021 ; Lopes and Nihei, 2021 ; Yang et al., 2021 ).

This study also demonstrated that college students are not uniformly impacted by academic stress or pandemic-related stress and that there are significant group-level differences in mental well-being. Specifically, non-binary individuals and second-year students were disproportionately impacted by academic stress. When considering the effects of gender, non-binary students, in comparison to gender-conforming students, reported the highest stress levels and worst psychological well-being. Although there is a paucity of research examining the impact of academic stress in non-binary college students, prior studies have indicated that non-binary adults face adverse mental health outcomes when compared to male and female-identifying individuals (Thorne et al., 2018 ; Jones et al., 2019 ; Budge et al., 2020 ). Alarmingly, Lipson et al. ( 2019 ) found that gender non-conforming college students were two to four times more likely to experience mental health struggles than cisgender students (Lipson et al., 2019 ). With a growing number of college students in the United States identifying as as non-binary, additional studies could offer invaluable insight into how academic stress affects this population (Budge et al., 2020 ).

In addition, we found that second-year students reported the most academic-related distress and lowest psychological well-being relative to students in other years of study. We surmise this may be due to this group taking advanced courses, managing heavier academic workloads, and exploring different majors. Other studies support our findings and suggest higher stress levels could be attributed to increased studying and difficulties with time management, as well as having less well-established social support networks and coping mechanisms compared to upperclassmen (Allen and Hiebert, 1991 ; Misra and McKean, 2000 ; Liu, X et al., 2019 ). Benefiting from their additional experience, upperclassmen may have developed more sophisticated studying skills, formed peer support groups, and identified approaches to better manage their academic stress (Allen and Hiebert, 1991 ; Misra and McKean, 2000 ). Our findings suggest that colleges should consider offering tailored mental health resources, such as time management and study skill workshops, based on the year of study to improve students' stress levels and psychological well-being (Liu, X et al., 2019 ).

Although this study reported no significant differences regarding race or ethnicity, this does not indicate that minority groups experienced less academic stress or better mental well-being (Lee et al., 2021 ). Instead, our results may reflect the low sample size of non-white races/ethnicities, which may not have given enough statistical power to corroborate. In addition, since coping and resilience are important mediators of subjective stress experiences (Freire et al., 2020 ), we speculate that the lower ratios of stress reported in non-white participants in our study (75 vs. 81) may be because they are more accustomed to adversity and thereby more resilient (Brown, 2008 ; Acheampong et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, ethnic minority students may face stigma when reporting mental health struggles (Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Lee et al., 2021 ). For instance, studies showed that Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian American students disclose fewer mental health issues than white students (Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ; Lee et al., 2021 ). Moreover, the ability to identify stressors and mental health problems may manifest differently culturally for some minority groups (Huang and Zane, 2016 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ). Contrary to our findings, other studies cited racial disparities in academic stress levels and mental well-being of students. More specifically, Negga et al. ( 2007 ) concluded that African American college students were more susceptible to higher academic stress levels than their white classmates (Negga et al., 2007 ). Another study reported that minority students experienced greater distress and worse mental health outcomes compared to non-minority students (Smith et al., 2014 ). Since there may be racial disparities in access to mental health services at the college level, universities, professors, and counselors should offer additional resources to support these students while closely monitoring their psychological well-being (Lipson et al., 2018 ; Liu, C. H., et al., 2019 ).

While the COVID-19 pandemic increased stress levels in all the students included in our study, women, non-binary students, and upperclassmen were disproportionately affected. An overwhelming body of evidence suggests that the majority of college students experienced increased stress levels and worsening mental health as a result of the pandemic (Allen and Hiebert, 1991 ; American Psychological Association, 2020 ; Husky et al., 2020 ; Patsali et al., 2020 ; Son et al., 2020 ; Clabaugh et al., 2021 ; Lee et al., 2021 ; Yang et al., 2021 ). Our results also align with prior studies that found similar subgroups of students experience disproportionate pandemic-related distress (Gao et al., 2020 ; Clabaugh et al., 2021 ; Hunt et al., 2021 ; Jarrett et al., 2021 ; Lee et al., 2021 ; Chen and Lucock, 2022 ). In particular, the differences between female students and their male peers may be the result of different psychological and physiological responses to stress reactivity, which in turn may contribute to different coping mechanisms to stress and the higher rates of stress-related disorders experienced by women (Misra et al., 2000 ; Kajantie and Phillips, 2006 ; Verma et al., 2011 ; Gao et al., 2020 ; Graves et al., 2021 ). COVID-19 was a secondary consideration in our study and survey design, so the conclusions drawn here are necessarily limited.

The implications of this study are that college students facing increased stress and struggling with mental health issues should receive personalized and specific mental health services, resources, and support. This is particularly true for groups that have been disproportionately impacted by academic stress and stress due to the pandemic. Many students who experience mental health struggles underutilize college services due to cost, stigma, or lack of information (Cage et al., 2020 ; Lee et al., 2021 ). To raise awareness and destigmatize mental health, colleges can consider distributing confidential validated assessments, such as the PAS and SWEMWBS, in class and teach students to self-score (Lee et al., 2021 ). These results can be used to understand how academic stress and mental well-being change over time and allow for specific and targeted interventions for vulnerable groups. In addition, teaching students healthy stress management techniques has been shown to improve psychological well-being (Alborzkouh et al., 2015 ). Moreover, adaptive coping strategies, including social and emotional support, have been found to improve the mental well-being of students, and stress-reduction peer support groups and workshops on campus could be beneficial in reducing stress and improving the self-efficacy of students (Ruthig et al., 2009 ; Baqutayan, 2011 ; Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ; Freire et al., 2020 ; Green et al., 2021 ; Suresh et al., 2021 ). Other interventions that have been effective in improving the coping skills of college students include cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness mediation, and online coping tools (Kang et al., 2009 ; Regehr et al., 2013 ; Molla Jafar et al., 2015 ; Phang et al., 2015 ; Houston et al., 2017 ; Yusufov et al., 2019 ; Freire et al., 2020 ). Given that resilience has also been shown to help mediate stress and improve mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, interventions focusing on enhancing resilience should be considered (Surzykiewicz et al., 2021 ; Skalski et al., 2022 ). Telemental health resources across colleges can also be implemented to reduce stigma and improve at-risk students' access to care (Toscos et al., 2018 ; Hadler et al., 2021 ). University campuses, professors, and counselors should consider focusing on fostering a more equitable and inclusive environment to encourage marginalized students to seek mental health support (Budge et al., 2020 ).

Limitations

While our study has numerous strengths, including using standardized instruments and a large sample size, this study also has several limitations due to both the methodology and sample. First, the correlational study design precludes making any causal relationships (Misra and McKean, 2000 ). Thereby, our findings should be taken in the context of academic stress and mental well-being, and recognize that mental health could be caused by other non-academic factors. Second, the PAS comprised only the perception of responses to academic stress, but stress is a multi-factorial response that encompasses both perceptions and coping mechanisms to different stressors, and the magnitude of stress varies with the perception of the degree of uncontrollability, unpredictability, or threat to self (Miller, 1981 ; Hobfoll and Walfisch, 1984 ; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ; Wheaton, 1985 ; Perrewé and Zellars, 1999 ; Schneiderman et al., 2005 ; Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015 ; Schönfeld et al., 2016 ; Reddy et al., 2018 ; Freire et al., 2020 ; Karyotaki et al., 2020 ). Third, the SWEMSBS used in our study and the data only measured positive mental health. Mental health pathways are numerous and complex, and are composed of distinct and interdependent negative and positive indicators that should be considered together (Margraf et al., 2020 ). Fourth, due to the small effect sizes and unequal representation for different combinations of variables, our analysis for both the PAS and SWEMSBS included only summed-up scales and did not examine group differences in response to the type of academic stressors or individual mental health questions.

An additional limitation is that the participants in our study were a convenience sample. The testing service we used, prolific.co, self-reports a sample bias toward young women of high levels of education (i.e., WEIRD bias) (Team Prolific, 2018 ). The skew toward this population was observed in our data, as 80% of our participants were women. While we controlled for these factors, the possibility remains that the conclusions we draw for certain groups, such as nonbinary students, ethnic/racial minorities, and men, may not be as statistically powerful as they should be. Moreover, our pre-screening was designed to recruit undergraduate level, English-speaking, 18–30-year-olds who resided in the United States. This resulted in our participant demographics being skewed toward the WEIRD bias that was already inherent in the testing service we used. Future research will aim to be more inclusive of diverse races/ethnicities, sexual orientations, languages, educational backgrounds, socioeconomic backgrounds, and first-generation college students.

Another limitation of our study is the nature of satisficing. Satisficing is a response strategy in which a participant answers a question to satisfy its condition with little regard to the quality or accuracy of the answer (Roberts et al., 2019 ). Anonymous participants are more likely to satisfice than respondents who answer the question face-to-face (Krosnick et al., 2002 ). We sought to mitigate satisficing by offering financial incentives to increase response rates and decrease straight-lining, item skipping, total missing items, and non-completion (Cole et al., 2015 ). Concerns of poor data quality due to surveys offering financial incentives found little evidence to support that claim and may do the opposite (Cole et al., 2015 ). On the other hand, social desirability bias may have influenced the participant's self-reported responses, although our anonymous survey design aimed to reduce this bias (Joinson, 1999 ; Kecojevic et al., 2020 ).

Future Studies

Future studies should replicate our study to validate our results, conduct longitudinal cohort studies to examine well-being and perceived academic stress over time, and aim for a more representative student sample that includes various groups, including diverse races/ethnicities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, languages, educational levels, and first-generation college students. Additionally, these studies should consider examining other non-academic stressors and students' coping mechanisms, both of which contribute to mental health and well-being (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ; Freire et al., 2020 ). Further explorations of negative and other positive indicators of mental health may offer a broader perspective (Margraf et al., 2020 ). Moreover, future research should consider extending our work by exploring group differences in relation to each factor in the PAS (i.e., academic expectations, workload and examinations, and self-perception of students) and SWEMBS to determine which aspects of academic stress and mental health were most affected and allow for the devising of targeted stress-reduction approaches. Ultimately, we hope our research spurs readers into advocating for greater academic support and access to group-specific mental health resources to reduce the stress levels of college students and improve their mental well-being.

Utilizing two well-established scales, our research found a statistically significant correlation between the perceived academic stress of university students and their mental well-being (i.e., the higher the stress, the worse the well-being). This relationship was most apparent among gender and grade levels. More specifically, non-binary and second-year students experienced greater academic burden and lower psychological well-being. Moreover, women, non-binary students, and upper-level students were disproportionately impacted by stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Studies regarding broad concepts of stress and well-being using a questionnaire are limited, but our study adds value to the understanding of academic stress as a contributor to the overall well-being of college students during this specific point in time (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic). Competition both for admission to college (Bound et al., 2009 ) and during college (Posselt and Lipson, 2016 ) has increased over time. Further, selective American colleges and universities draw applicants from a global pool. As such, it is important to document the dynamics of academic stress with renewed focus. We hope that our study sparks interest in both exploring and funding in-depth and well-designed psychological studies related to stress in colleges in the future.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Board at Rutgers University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

GB and MB contributed to conceptualization, study design, IRB application, manuscript drafting, and revision. XZ participated in the conceptualization and design of the questionnaires. HB participated in subject recruitment and questionnaire collection. KP contributed to data analysis, table and figure preparation, manuscript drafting, and revision. XM contributed to conceptualization, study design, IRB application, supervision of the project, manuscript drafting, and revision. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This study was made possible by a generous donation from the Knights of Columbus East Hanover Chapter in New Jersey.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Shivani Mehta and Varsha Garla for their assistance with the study. We also thank all the participants for their efforts in the completion of the study.

• Acheampong C., Davis C., Holder D., Averett P., Savitt T., Campbell K. (2019). An exploratory study of stress coping and resiliency of black men at one medical school: a critical race theory perspective . J. Racial Ethnic Health Disparit. 6 , 214–219. 10.1007/s40615-018-0516-8 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Alborzkouh P., Nabati M., Zainali M., Abed Y., Shahgholy Ghahfarokhi F. (2015). A review of the effectiveness of stress management skills training on academic vitality and psychological well-being of college students . J. Med. Life 8 , 39–44. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Allen S., Hiebert B. (1991). Stress and coping in adolescents . Can. J. Counsel. 25 , 19–32. [ Google Scholar ]
• American Psychological Association . (2020). Stress in AmericaTM2020: A National Mental Health Crisis . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [ Google Scholar ]
• Arnett J. J.. (2000). Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties . Am. Psychol. 55 , 469–480. 10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baqutayan S.. (2011). Stress and social support . Indian J. Psychol. Med. 33 , 29–34. 10.4103/0253-7176.85392 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Barbayannis G., Franco D., Wong S., Galdamez J., Romeo R. D., Bauer E. P. (2017). Differential effects of stress on fear learning and activation of the amygdala in pre-adolescent and adult male rats . Neuroscience 360 , 210–219. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.07.058 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bedewy D., Gabriel A. (2015). Examining perceptions of academic stress and its sources among university students: the perception of academic stress scale . Health Psychol. Open 2 , 1–9. 10.1177/2055102915596714 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Blanco C., Okuda M., Wright C., Hasin D. S., Grant B. F., Liu S. M., et al.. (2008). Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers: results from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions . Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 65 , 1429–1437. 10.1001/archpsyc.65.12.1429 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bound J., Hershbein B., Long B. T. (2009). Playing the admissions game: student reactions to increasing college competition . J. Econ. Perspect. 23 , 119–146. 10.1257/jep.23.4.119 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brown D. L.. (2008). African American resiliency: examining racial socialization and social support as protective factors . J. Black Psychol. 34 , 32–48. 10.1177/0095798407310538 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Budge S. L., Domínguez S., Jr., Goldberg A. E. (2020). Minority stress in nonbinary students in higher education: the role of campus climate and belongingness . Psychol. Sex. Orient. Gender Divers. 7 , 222–229. 10.1037/sgd0000360 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Byrd D. R., McKinney K. J. (2012). Individual, interpersonal, and institutional level factors associated with the mental health of college students . J. Am. Coll. Health 60 , 185–193. 10.1080/07448481.2011.584334 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cage E., Stock M., Sharpington A., Pitman E., Batchelor R. (2020). Barriers to accessing support for mental health issues at university . Stud. High. Educ. 45 , 1637–1649. 10.1080/03075079.2018.1544237 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen T., Lucock M. (2022). The mental health of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey in the UK . PLoS ONE 17 , e0262562. 10.1371/journal.pone.0262562 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chiang J. J., Ko A., Bower J. E., Taylor S. E., Irwin M. R., Fuligni A. J. (2019). Stress, psychological resources, and HPA and inflammatory reactivity during late adolescence . Dev. Psychopathol. 31 , 699–712. 10.1017/S0954579418000287 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Clabaugh A., Duque J. F., Fields L. J. (2021). Academic stress and emotional well-being in United States college students following onset of the COVID-19 pandemic . Front. Psychol. 12 , 628787. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.628787 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cole J. S., Sarraf S. A., Wang X. (2015). Does Use of Survey Incentives Degrade Data Quality? Chicago, IL: Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum. [ Google Scholar ]
• Defeyter M. A., Stretesky P. B., Long M. A., Furey S., Reynolds C., Porteous D., et al.. (2021). Mental well-being in UK higher education during Covid-19: do students trust universities and the government? Front. Public Health 9 , 646916. 10.3389/fpubh.2021.646916 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dong L., Bouey J. (2020). Public mental health crisis during COVID-19 Pandemic, China . Emerging Infect. Dis. 26 , 1616–1618. 10.3201/eid2607.200407 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dusselier L., Dunn B., Yongyi W., Shelley M., II, Whalen D. (2005). Personal, health, academic, and environmental predictors of stress in residence halls . J. Am. Coll. Health 54 , 15–24. 10.3200/JACH.54.1.15-24 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Eisenberg D., Golberstein E., Hunt J. B. (2009). Mental health and academic success in college . B.E. J Econ Anal Policy 9 , 1–35. 10.2202/1935-1682.2191 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Eisenberg D., Gollust S. E., Golberstein E., Hefner J. L. (2007). Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among university students . Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 77 , 534–542. 10.1037/0002-9432.77.4.534 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ekpenyong C. E., Daniel N. E., Aribo E. O. (2013). Associations between academic stressors, reaction to stress, coping strategies and musculoskeletal disorders among college students . Ethiop. J. Health Sci. 23 , 98–112. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Elias H., Ping W. S., Abdullah M. C. (2011). Stress and academic achievement among undergraduate students in Universiti Putra Malaysia . Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. 29 , 646–655. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.288 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Evans T. M., Bira L., Gastelum J. B., Weiss L. T., Vanderford N. L. (2018). Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education . Nat. Biotechnol . 36 , 282–284. 10.1038/nbt.4089 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Freire C., Ferradás M., Regueiro B., Rodríguez S., Valle A., Núñez J. C. (2020). Coping strategies and self-efficacy in university students: a person-centered approach . Front. Psychol. 11 , 841. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00841 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Freire C., Ferradás M. D., Valle A., Núñez J. C., Vallejo G. (2016). Profiles of psychological well-being and coping strategies among university students . Front. Psychol. 7 , 1554. 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01554 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fung S.. (2019). Psychometric evaluation of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) with Chinese University Students . Health Qual. Life Outcomes 17 , 46. 10.1186/s12955-019-1113-1 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Galderisi S., Heinz A., Kastrup M., Beezhold J., Sartorius N. (2015). Toward a new definition of mental health . World Psychiatry 14 , 231–233. 10.1002/wps.20231 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gao W., Ping S., Liu X. (2020). Gender differences in depression, anxiety, and stress among college students: a longitudinal study from China . J. Affect. Disord. 263 , 292–300. 10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.121 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Graves B. S., Hall M. E., Dias-Karch C., Haischer M. H., Apter C. (2021). Gender differences in perceived stress and coping among college students . PLoS ONE 16 , e0255634. 10.1371/journal.pone.0255634 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Green Z. A., Faizi F., Jalal R., Zadran Z. (2021). Emotional support received moderates academic stress and mental well-being in a sample of Afghan university students amid COVID-19 . Int. J. Soc. Psychiatry . 207640211057729. 10.1177/00207640211057729. [Epub ahead of print]. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hadler N. L., Bu P., Winkler A., Alexander A. W. (2021). College student perspectives of telemental health: a review of the recent literature . Curr. Psychiatry Rep. 23 , 6. 10.1007/s11920-020-01215-7 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hj Ramli N. H., Alavi M., Mehrinezhad S. A., Ahmadi A. (2018). Academic stress and self-regulation among university students in Malaysia: mediator role of mindfulness . Behav. Sci. 8 , 12. 10.3390/bs8010012 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hobfoll S. E., Walfisch S. (1984). Coping with a threat to life: a longitudinal study of self-concept, social support, and psychological distress . Am. J. Community Psychol. 12 , 87–100. 10.1007/BF00896930 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hogan D. P., Astone N. M. (1986). The transition to adulthood . Annu. Rev. Sociol. 12 , 109–130. 10.1146/annurev.so.12.080186.000545 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Houston J. B., First J., Spialek M. L., Sorenson M. E., Mills-Sandoval T., Lockett, et al.. (2017). Randomized controlled trial of the Resilience and Coping Intervention (RCI) with undergraduate university students . J Am. Coll. Health 65 , 1–9. 10.1080/07448481.2016.1227826 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Huang C. Y., Zane N. (2016). Cultural influences in mental health treatment . Curr. Opin. Psychol. 8 , 131–136. 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.10.009 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hunt C., Gibson G. C., Vander Horst A., Cleveland K. A., Wawrosch C., Granot M., et al.. (2021). Gender diverse college students exhibit higher psychological distress than male and female peers during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic . Psychol. Sex. Orient. Gender Divers. 8 , 238–244. 10.1037/sgd0000461 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Husky M. M., Kovess-Masfety V., Swendsen J. D. (2020). Stress and anxiety among university students in France during Covid-19 mandatory confinement . Compr. Psychiatry 102 :152191. 10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152191 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jarrett B. A., Peitzmeier S. M., Restar A., Adamson T., Howell S., Baral S., et al.. (2021). Gender-affirming care, mental health, and economic stability in the time of COVID-19: a multi-national, cross-sectional study of transgender and nonbinary people . PLoS ONE 16 , e0254215. 10.1371/journal.pone.0254215 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Joinson A.. (1999). Social desirability, anonymity, and Internet-based questionnaires . Behav. Res. Methods Instrum. Comput. 31 , 433–438. 10.3758/BF03200723 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jones B. A., Pierre Bouman W., Haycraft E., Arcelus J. (2019). Mental health and quality of life in non-binary transgender adults: a case control study . Int. J. Transgender. 20 , 251–262. 10.1080/15532739.2019.1630346 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kajantie E., Phillips D. I. (2006). The effects of sex and hormonal status on the physiological response to acute psychosocial stress . Psychoneuroendocrinology 31 , 151–178. 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.07.002 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kang Y. S., Choi S. Y., Ryu E. (2009). The effectiveness of a stress coping program based on mindfulness meditation on the stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by nursing students in Korea . Nurse Educ. Today 29 , 538–543. 10.1016/j.nedt.2008.12.003 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Karyotaki E., Cuijpers P., Albor Y., Alonso J., Auerbach R. P., Bantjes J., et al.. (2020). Sources of stress and their associations with mental disorders among college students: results of the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Initiative . Front. Psychol. 11 , 1759. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01759 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kecojevic A., Basch C. H., Sullivan M., Davi N. K. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mental health of undergraduate students in New Jersey, cross-sectional study . PLoS ONE 15 , e0239696. 10.1371/journal.pone.0239696 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ketchen Lipson S., Gaddis S. M., Heinze J., Beck K., Eisenberg D. (2015). Variations in student mental health and treatment utilization across US Colleges and Universities . J Am. Coll. Health 63 , 388–396. 10.1080/07448481.2015.1040411 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kodish T., Lau A. S., Gong-Guy E., Congdon E., Arnaudova I., Schmidt M., et al.. (2022). Enhancing racial/ethnic equity in college student mental health through innovative screening and treatment . Adm. Policy Ment. Health 49 , 267–282. 10.1007/s10488-021-01163-1 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kost R. G., de Rosa J. C. (2018). Impact of survey length and compensation on validity, reliability, and sample characteristics for ultrashort-, short-, and long-research participant perception surveys . J. Clin. Transl. Sci. 2 , 31–37. 10.1017/cts.2018.18 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Koushede V., Lasgaard M., Hinrichsen C., Meilstrup C., Nielsen L., Rayce S. B., et al.. (2019). Measuring mental well-being in Denmark: validation of the original and short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale (WEMWBS and SWEMWBS) and cross-cultural comparison across four European settings . Psychiatry Res. 271 , 502–509. 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.12.003 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Krosnick J. A., Holbrook A. L., Berent M. K., Carson R. T., Michael Hanemann W., Kopp R. J., et al.. (2002). The impact of “no opinion” response options on data quality: non-attitude reduction or an invitation to satisfice? Public Opin. Q. 66 , 371–403. 10.1086/341394 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lakens D.. (2013). Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: a practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs . Front. Psychol. 4 , 863. 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lally M., Valentine-French S. (2019). Chapter 7: Emerging and Early Adulthood. Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective. 2nd Edn. p.246-306). [E-book] San Francisco: Creative Commons . Available online at: http://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/LifespanDevelopment.pdf (accessed February 6, 2022).
• Lazarus R. S., Folkman S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping . New York, NY: Springer. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lee J., Jeong H. J., Kim S. (2021). Stress, anxiety, and depression among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic and their use of mental health services . Innovat. High. Educ. 1–20. 10.1007/s10755-021-09552-y [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lesure-Lester G. E., King N. (2004). Racial-ethnic differences in social anxiety among college students . J. Coll. Stud. Retent. Res. Theory Pract. 6 , 359–367. 10.2190/P5FR-CGAH-YHA4-1DYC [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Li H., Lin C. (2003). College stress and psychological well-being of Chinese college students . Acta Psychol. Sinca 25 , 222–230. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lipson S. K., Kern A., Eisenberg D., Breland-Noble A. M. (2018). Mental health disparities among college students of color . J. Adolesc. Health 63 , 348–356. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.04.014 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lipson S. K., Raifman J., Abelson S., Reisner S. L. (2019). Gender minority mental health in the U.S.: results of a National Survey on College Campuses . Am. J. Prev. Med. 57 , 293–301. 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.025 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Liu C. H., Stevens C., Wong S., Yasui M., Chen J. A. (2019). The prevalence and predictors of mental health diagnoses and suicide among U.S. college students: implications for addressing disparities in service use . Depress. Anxiety 36 , 8–17. 10.1002/da.22830 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Liu X., Ping S., Gao W. (2019). Changes in undergraduate students' psychological well-being as they experience University Life . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16 , 2864. 10.3390/ijerph16162864 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lopes A. R., Nihei O. K. (2021). Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: predictors and association with life satisfaction, psychological well-being and coping strategies . PLoS ONE 16 , e0258493. 10.1371/journal.pone.0258493 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Margraf J., Zhang X. C., Lavallee K. L., Schneider S. (2020). Longitudinal prediction of positive and negative mental health in Germany, Russia, and China . PLoS ONE 15 , e0234997. 10.1371/journal.pone.0234997 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Matud M. P., Díaz A., Bethencourt J. M., Ibáñez I. (2020). Stress and psychological distress in emerging adulthood: a gender analysis . J. Clin. Med. 9 , 2859. 10.3390/jcm9092859 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McQuaid R. J., Cox S., Ogunlana A., Jaworska N. (2021). The burden of loneliness: implications of the social determinants of health during COVID-19 . Psychiatry Res. 296 , 113648. 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113648 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Miller S. M.. (1981). Predictability and human stress: toward a clarification of evidence and theory . Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 14 , 203–256. 10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60373-1 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Misra R., Castillo L. G. (2004). Academic stress among college students: comparison of American and International Students . Int. J. Stress Manag. 11 , 132–148. 10.1037/1072-5245.11.2.132 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Misra R., McKean M. (2000). College students' academic stress and its relation to their anxiety, time management, and leisure satisfaction . Am. J. Health Stud. 16 , 41–51. [ Google Scholar ]
• Misra R., McKean M., West S., Russo T. (2000). Academic stress of college students: Comparison of student and faculty perceptions . Coll. Stud. J. 34 , 236–245. [ Google Scholar ]
• Molla Jafar H., Salabifard S., Mousavi S. M., Sobhani Z. (2015). The effectiveness of group training of CBT-based stress management on anxiety, psychological hardiness and general self-efficacy among university students . Glob. J. Health Sci. 8 , 47–54. 10.5539/gjhs.v8n6p47 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Negga F., Applewhite S., Livingston I. (2007). African American college students and stress: school racial composition, self-esteem and social support . Coll. Stud. J. 41 , 823. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pascoe M. C., Hetrick S. E., Parker A. G. (2020). The impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education . Int. J. Adolesc. Youth 25 , 104–112. 10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Patsali M. E., Mousa D. V., Papadopoulou E., Papadopoulou K., Kaparounaki C. K., Diakogiannis I., et al.. (2020). University students' changes in mental health status and determinants of behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece . Psychiatry Res. 292 , 113298. 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113298 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pedrelli P., Nyer M., Yeung A., Zulauf C., Wilens T. (2015). College students: mental health problems and treatment considerations . Acad. Psychiatry 39 , 503–511. 10.1007/s40596-014-0205-9 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Perrewé P. L., Zellars K. L. (1999). An examination of attributions and emotions in the transactional approach to the organizational stress process . J. Org. Behav. 20 , 739–752. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199909)20:5<739::AID-JOB1949>3.0.CO;2-C [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Phang C. K., Mukhtar F., Ibrahim N., Keng S. L., Mohd Sidik S. (2015). Effects of a brief mindfulness-based intervention program for stress management among medical students: the Mindful-Gym randomized controlled study . Adv. Health Sci. Educ. Theory Pract. 20 , 1115–1134. 10.1007/s10459-015-9591-3 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Posselt J. R., Lipson S. K. (2016). Competition, anxiety, and depression in the college classroom: variations by student identity and field of study . J. Coll. Stud. Dev. 57 , 973–989. 10.1353/csd.2016.0094 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Prowse R., Sherratt F., Abizaid A., Gabrys R. L., Hellemans K., Patterson Z. R., et al.. (2021). Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic: examining gender differences in stress and mental health among university students . Front. Psychiatry 12 , 650759. 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.650759 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Reddy K. J., Menon K. R., Thattil A. (2018). Academic stress and its sources among university students . Biomed Pharmacol J 11 , 1. 10.13005/bpj/1404 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Regehr C., Glancy D., Pitts A. (2013). Interventions to reduce stress in university students: a review and meta-analysis . J. Affect. Disord. 148 , 1–11. 10.1016/j.jad.2012.11.026 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ringdal R., Bradley Eilertsen M. E., Bjørnsen H. N., Espnes G. A., Moksnes U. K. (2018). Validation of two versions of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale among Norwegian adolescents . Scand. J. Public Health 46 , 718–725. 10.1177/1403494817735391 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Roberts C., Gilbert E., Allum N., Eisner L. (2019). Research synthesis: Satisficing in surveys: a systematic review of the literature . Public Opin. Q. 83 , 598–626. 10.1093/poq/nfz035 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Romeo R. D., Patel R., Pham L., So V. M. (2016). Adolescence and the ontogeny of the hormonal stress response in male and female rats and mice . Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 70 , 206–216. 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.020 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ruthig J. C., Haynes T. L., Stupnisky R. H., Perry R. P. (2009). Perceived Academic Control: mediating the effects of optimism and social support on college students' psychological health . Soc. Psychol. Educ. 12 , 233–249. 10.1007/s11218-008-9079-6 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ryan R. M., Deci E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being . Annu. Rev. Psychol. 52 , 141–166. 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Saleh D., Camart N., Romo L. (2017). Predictors of stress in college students . Front. Psychol. 8 , 19. 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00019 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Salerno J. P., Williams N. D., Gattamorta K. A. (2020). LGBTQ populations: psychologically vulnerable communities in the COVID-19 pandemic . Psychol. Trauma 12 , S239–S242. 10.1037/tra0000837 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Scales P. C., Benson P. L., Oesterle S., Hill K. G., Hawkins J. D., Pashak T. J. (2015). The dimensions of successful young adult development: a conceptual and measurement framework . Appl. Dev. Sci. 20 , 150–174. 10.1080/10888691.2015.1082429 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schneiderman N., Ironson G., Siegel S. D. (2005). Stress and health: psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants . Annu. Rev. Clin. Psychol. 1 , 607–628. 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144141 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schönfeld P., Brailovskaia J., Bieda A., Zhang X. C., Margraf J. (2016). The effects of daily stress on positive and negative mental health: mediation through self-efficacy . Int. J. Clin. Health Psychol. 16 , 1–10. 10.1016/j.ijchp.2015.08.005 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shah N., Cader M., Andrews B., McCabe R., Stewart-Brown S. L. (2021). Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS): performance in a clinical sample in relation to PHQ-9 and GAD-7 . Health Qual. Life Outcomes 19 , 260. 10.1186/s12955-021-01882-x [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shanahan M. J.. (2000). Pathways to adulthood in changing societies: variability and mechanisms in life course perspective . Annu. Rev. Sociol. 26 , 667–692. 10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.667 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skalski S. B., Konaszewski K., Büssing A., Surzykiewicz J. (2022). Resilience and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: serial mediation by persistent thinking and anxiety about coronavirus . Front. Psychiatry 12 , 810274. 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.810274 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith K. M., Chesin M. S., Jeglic E. L. (2014). Minority college student mental health: does majority status matter? Implications for college counseling services . J. Multicult. Counsel. Dev. 42 , 77–92. 10.1002/j.2161-1912.2014.00046.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Son C., Hegde S., Smith A., Wang X., Sasangohar F. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on college students' mental health in the United States: interview survey study . J. Med. Internet Res. 22 , e21279. 10.2196/21279 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Spear L. P.. (2000). The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations . Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 24 , 417–463. 10.1016/S0149-7634(00)00014-2 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Stewart-Brown S., Janmohamed K. (2008). Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale. User guide. Version, 1 . 10.1037/t80221-000 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Suresh R., Karkossa Z., Richard J., Karia M. (2021). Program evaluation of a student-led peer support service at a Canadian university . Int. J. Ment. Health Syst. 15 , 54. 10.1186/s13033-021-00479-7 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Surzykiewicz J., Konaszewski K., Skalski S., Dobrakowski P. P., Muszyńska J. (2021). Resilience and mental health in the polish population during the COVID-19 lockdown: a mediation analysis . J. Clin. Med. 10 , 4974. 10.3390/jcm10214974 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Syed N. B.. (2021). Impact of levels of education on perceived academic stress and mental wellbeing: an investigation into online mode of learning during pandemic . J. Psychol. Res. 3 , 12–18. 10.30564/jpr.v3i2.3032 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Taber K. S.. (2018). The use of Cronbach's alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education . Res. High. Educ. 48 , 1273–1296. 10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Team Prolific (2018). What Are the Advantages and Limitations of an Online Sample? Prolific Researcher Help Centre . Available online at: https://researcher-help.prolific.co/hc/en-gb/articles/360009501473-What-are-the-advantages-and-limitations-of-an-online-sample-#:~:text=Limitations%20Rapid-responder%20bias.%20Prolific%20predominantly%20uses%20convenience%20sampling%2C,and%20fairly%20distribute%20study%20places%20among%20active%20participants (accessed February 22, 2022).
• Tennant R., Hiller L., Fishwick R., Platt S., Joseph S., Weich S., et al.. (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation . Health Qual. Life Outcomes 5 , 63. 10.1186/1477-7525-5-63 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thorne N., Witcomb G. L., Nieder T., Nixon E., Yip A., Arcelus J. (2018). A comparison of mental health symptomatology and levels of social support in young treatment seeking transgender individuals who identify as binary and non-binary . Int. J. Transgender. 20 , 241–250. 10.1080/15532739.2018.1452660 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Toscos T., Carpenter M., Drouin M., Roebuck A., Kerrigan C., Mirro M. (2018). College students' experiences with, and willingness to use, different types of telemental health resources: do gender, depression/anxiety, or stress levels matter? Telemed. J. E Health 24 , 998–1005. 10.1089/tmj.2017.0243 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Trout I. Y., Alsandor D. J. (2020). Graduate student well-being: learning and living in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic . Int. J. Multidiscipl. Perspect. High. Educ. 5 , 150–155 10.32674/jimphe.v5i1.2576 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Verma R., Balhara Y. P., Gupta C. S. (2011). Gender differences in stress response: role of developmental and biological determinants . Ind. Psychiatry J. 20 , 4–10. 10.4103/0972-6748.98407 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wheaton B.. (1985). Models for the stress-buffering functions of coping resources . J. Health Soc. Behav. 26 , 352–364. 10.2307/2136658 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wyatt T. J., Oswalt S. B., Ochoa Y. (2017). Mental health and academic performance of first-year college students . Int. J. High. Educ. 6,178–187. 10.5430/ijhe.v6n3p178 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yang C., Chen A., Chen Y. (2021). College students' stress and health in the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of academic workload, separation from school, and fears of contagion . PLoS ONE 16 , e0246676. 10.1371/journal.pone.0246676 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yusufov M., Nicoloro-SantaBarbara J., Grey N. E., Moyer A., Lobel M. (2019). Meta-analytic evaluation of stress reduction interventions for undergraduate and graduate students . Int. J. Stress Mang . 26 , 132–145. 10.1037/str0000099 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

• Second Opinion
• Research & Innovation
• Patients & Families
• Health Professionals
• Recently Visited
• Segunda opinión
• Refer a patient
• MyChart Login

Healthier, Happy Lives Blog

Sort articles by..., sort by category.

• Celebrating Volunteers
• Community Outreach
• Construction Updates
• Family-Centered Care
• Healthy Eating
• Heart Center
• Interesting Things
• Mental Health
• Patient Stories
• Research and Innovation
• Safety Tips
• Sustainability
• World-Class Care

About Our Blog

• Back-to-School
• Pediatric Technology

Latest Posts

• A Night of Glitz and Glamour for Stanford Children’s Patients
• Practical Tips for Dealing With Bedwetting
• Understanding Culture to Address Mental Health in the AANHPI Community
• Local Gardener Lifts Spirits by Grooming on the Hospital’s Animal Topiaries
• Pediatric ICU Nurse Honored With 3 Employee Awards

Health Hazards of Homework

March 18, 2014 | Julie Greicius Pediatrics .

A new study by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and colleagues found that students in high-performing schools who did excessive hours of homework “experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives.”

Those health problems ranged from stress, headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems, to psycho-social effects like dropping activities, not seeing friends or family, and not pursuing hobbies they enjoy.

In the Stanford Report story about the research, Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of the  study published in the  Journal of Experimental Education , says, “Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good.”

The study was based on survey data from a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in California communities in which median household income exceeded $90,000. Of the students surveyed, homework volume averaged about 3.1 hours each night.

“It is time to re-evaluate how the school environment is preparing our high school student for today’s workplace,” says Neville Golden, MD , chief of adolescent medicine at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and a professor at the School of Medicine. “This landmark study shows that excessive homework is counterproductive, leading to sleep deprivation, school stress and other health problems. Parents can best support their children in these demanding academic environments by advocating for them through direct communication with teachers and school administrators about homework load.”

Related Posts

Top-ranked group group in Los Gatos, Calif., is now a part of one of the…

The Stanford Medicine Children’s Health network continues to grow with our newest addition, Town and…

• Julie Greicius
• more by this author...

Connect with us:

Download our App:

ABOUT STANFORD MEDICINE CHILDREN'S HEALTH

• Leadership Team
• Vision, Mission & Values
• The Stanford Advantage
• Government and Community Relations

LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH

• Get Involved
• Volunteering Services
• Auxiliaries & Affiliates
• Our Hospital
• Send a Greeting Card
• New Hospital
• Refer a Patient
• Pay Your Bill

Also Find Us on:

• Notice of Nondiscrimination
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Code of Conduct
• Price Transparency
• Stanford School of Medicine
• Stanford Health Care
• Stanford University

The Truth About Homework Stress: What Parents & Students Need to Know

• Fact Checked

Written by:

published on:

• December 21, 2023

Updated on:

• January 9, 2024

Looking for a therapist?

Homework is generally given out to ensure that students take time to review and remember the days lessons. It can help improve on a student’s general performance and enhance traits like self-discipline and independent problem solving.

Parents are able to see what their children are doing in school, while also helping teachers determine how well the lesson material is being learned. Homework is quite beneficial when used the right way and can improve student  performance.

This well intentioned practice can turn sour if it’s not handled the right way. Studies show that if a student is inundated with too much homework, not only do they get lower scores, but they are more likely to get stressed.

The age at which homework stress is affecting students is getting lower, some even as low as kindergarten. Makes you wonder what could a five year old possibly need to review as homework?

One of the speculated reasons for this stress is that the complexity of what a student is expected to learn is increasing, while the breaks for working out excess energy are reduced. Students are getting significantly more homework than recommended by the education leaders, some even nearly three times more.

To make matters worse, teachers may give homework that is both time consuming and will keep students busy while being totally non-productive.

Remedial work like telling students to copy notes word for word from their text books will  do nothing to improve their grades or help them progress. It just adds unnecessary stress.

Explore emotional well-being with BetterHelp – your partner in affordable online therapy. With 30,000+ licensed therapists and plans starting from only $65 per week, BetterHelp makes self-care accessible to all. Complete the questionnaire to match with the right therapist.

Effects of homework stress at home

Both parents and students tend to get stressed out at the beginning of a new school year due to the impending arrival of homework.

Nightly battles centered on finishing assignments are a household routine in houses with students.

Research has found that too much homework can negatively affect children. In creating a lack of balance between play time and time spent doing homework, a child can get headaches, sleep deprivation or even ulcers.

And homework stress doesn’t just impact grade schoolers. College students are also affected, and the stress is affecting their academic performance.

Even the parent’s confidence in their abilities to help their children with homework suffers due increasing stress levels in the household.

Fights and conflict over homework are more likely in families where parents do not have at least a college degree. When the child needs assistance, they have to turn to their older siblings who might already be bombarded with their own homework.

Parents who have a college degree feel more confident in approaching the school and discussing the appropriate amount of school work.

“It seems that homework being assigned discriminates against parents who don’t have college degree, parents who have English as their second language and against parents who are poor.” Said Stephanie Donaldson Pressman, the contributing editor of the study and clinical director of the New England Center for Pediatric Psychology.

With all the stress associated with homework, it’s not surprising that some parents have opted not to let their children do homework. Parents that have instituted a no-homework policy have stated that it has taken a lot of the stress out of their evenings.

The recommended amount homework

The standard endorsed by the National Education Association is called the “10 minute rule”; 10 minutes per grade level per night. This recommendation was made after a number of studies were done on the effects of too much homework on families.

The 10 minute rule basically means 10 minutes of homework in the first grade, 20 minute for the second grade all the way up to 120 minutes for senior year in high school. Note that no homework is endorsed in classes under the first grade.

Parents reported first graders were spending around half an hour on homework each night, and kindergarteners spent 25 minutes a night on assignments according to a study carried out by Brown University.

Making a five year old sit still for half an hour is very difficult as they are at the age where they just want to move around and play.

A child who is exposed to 4-5 hours of homework after school is less likely to find the time to go out and play with their friends, which leads to accumulation of stress energy in the body.

Their social life also suffers because between the time spent at school and doing homework, a child will hardly have the time to pursue hobbies. They may also develop a negative attitude towards learning.

The research highlighted that 56% of students consider homework a primary source of stress.

And if you’re curious how the U.S stacks up against other countries in regards to how much time children spend on homework, it’s pretty high on the list .

Signs to look out for on a student that has homework stress

Since not every student is affected by homework stress in the same way, it’s important to be aware of some of the signs your child might be mentally drained from too much homework.

Here are some common signs of homework stress:

• Sleep disturbances
• Frequent stomachaches and headaches
• Decreased appetite or changed eating habits
• New or recurring fears
• Not able to relax
• Regressing to behavior they had when younger
• Bursts of anger crying or whining
• Becoming withdrawn while others may become clingy
• Drastic changes in academic performance
• Having trouble concentrating or completing homework
• Constantly complains about their ability to do homework

If you’re a parent and notice any of these signs in your child, step in to find out what’s going on and if homework is the source of their stress.

If you’re a student, pay attention if you start experiencing any of these symptoms as a result of your homework load. Don’t be afraid to ask your teacher or parents for help if the stress of homework becomes too much for you.

What parents do wrong when it comes to homework stress

Most parents push their children to do more and be more, without considering the damage being done by this kind of pressure.

Some think that homework brought home is always something the children can deal with on their own. If the child cannot handle their homework then these parents get angry and make the child feel stupid.

This may lead to more arguing and increased dislike of homework in the household. Ultimately the child develops an even worse attitude towards homework.

Another common mistake parents make is never questioning the amount of homework their children get, or how much time they spend on it. It’s easy to just assume whatever the teacher assigned is adequate, but as we mentioned earlier, that’s not always the case.

Be proactive and involved with your child’s homework. If you notice they’re spending hours every night on homework, ask them about it. Just because they don’t complain doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem.

How can parents help?

• While every parent wants their child to become successful and achieve the very best, it’s important to pull back on the mounting pressure and remember that they’re still just kids. They need time out to release their stress and connect with other children.
• Many children may be afraid to admit that they’re overwhelmed by homework because they might be misconstrued as failures. The best thing a parent can do is make home a safe place for children to express themselves freely. You can do this by lending a listening ear and not judging your kids.
• Parents can also take the initiative to let the school know that they’re unhappy with the amount of homework being given. Even if you don’t feel comfortable complaining, you can approach the school through the parent-teacher association available and request your representative to plead your case.
• It may not be all the subjects that are causing your child to get stressed. Parents should find out if there is a specific subject of homework that is causing stress. You could also consult with other parents to see what they can do to fix the situation. It may be the amount or the content that causes stress, so the first step is identifying the problem.
• Work with your child to create a schedule for getting homework done on time. You can set a specific period of time for homework, and schedule time for other activities too. Strike a balance between work and play.
• Understanding that your child is stressed about homework doesn’t mean you have to allow them not to try. Let them sit down and work on it as much as they’re able to, and recruit help from the older siblings or a neighbor if possible.
• Check out these resources to help your child with their homework .

The main idea here is to not abolish homework completely, but to review the amount and quality of homework being given out. Stress, depression and lower grades are the last things parents want for their children.

The schools and parents need to work together to find a solution to this obvious problem.

Take the stress test!

Join the Find-a-therapist community and get access to our free stress assessment!

Additional Resources

Online therapy.

Discover a path to emotional well-being with BetterHelp – your partner in convenient and affordable online therapy. With a vast network of 30,000+ licensed therapists, they’re committed to helping you find the one to support your needs. Take advantage of their Free Online Assessment, and connect with a therapist who truly understands you. Begin your journey today.

Relationship Counceling

Whether you’re facing communication challenges, trust issues, or simply seeking to strengthen your connection, ReGain’ s experienced therapists are here to guide you and your partner toward a healthier, happier connection from the comfort of your own space. Get started.

Therapist Directory

Discover the perfect therapist who aligns with your goals and preferences, allowing you to take charge of your mental health. Whether you’re searching for a specialist based on your unique needs, experience level, insurance coverage, budget, or location, our user-friendly platform has you covered. Search here.

About the author

You might also be interested in

I Have No Patience for My ADHD Child: Tips & Strategies

How to Deal With Frustration (In a Healthy Way)

How to Be More Outgoing (Even If You’re Introverted)

Disclaimers

Online Therapy, Your Way

Follow us on social media

We may receive a commission if you click on and become a paying customer of a therapy service that we mention.

The information contained in Find A Therapist is general in nature and is not medical advice. Please seek immediate in-person help if you are in a crisis situation.

Therapy Categories

More information

If you are in a life threatening situation – don’t use this site. Call +1 (800) 273-8255 or check these resources to get immediate help.

• How It Works
• Sleep Meditation
• VA Workers and Veterans

• How It Works 01
• Sleep Meditation 02
• Mental Fitness 03
• Neurofeedback 04
• Healium for Business 05
• VA Workers and Veterans 06
• Sports Meditation 07
• VR Experiences 08
• Social Purpose 11

Does Homework Cause Stress? Exploring the Impact on Students’ Mental Health

How much homework is too much?

Jump to: The Link Between Homework and Stress | Homework’s Impact on Mental Health | Benefits of Homework | How Much Homework Should Teacher’s Assign? | Advice for Students | How Healium Helps

Homework has become a matter of concern for educators, parents, and researchers due to its potential effects on students’ stress levels. It’s no secret students often find themselves grappling with high levels of stress and anxiety throughout their academic careers, so understanding the extent to which homework affects those stress levels is important. 

By delving into the latest research and understanding the underlying factors at play, we hope to curate insights for educators, parents, and students who are wondering  is homework causing stress in their lives?

The Link Between Homework and Stress: What the Research Says

Over the years, numerous studies investigated the relationship between homework and stress levels in students. 

One study published in the Journal of Experimental Education found that students who reported spending more than two hours per night on homework experienced higher stress levels and physical health issues . Those same students reported over three hours of homework a night on average.

This study, conducted by Stanford lecturer Denise Pope, has been heavily cited throughout the years, with WebMD eproducing the below video on the topic– part of their special report series on teens and stress : 

Additional studies published by Sleep Health Journal found that long hours on homework on may be a risk factor for depression while also suggesting that reducing workload outside of class may benefit sleep and mental fitness .

Lastly, a study presented by Frontiers in Psychology highlighted significant health implications for high school students facing chronic stress, including emotional exhaustion and alcohol and drug use.

Homework’s Potential Impact on Mental Health and Well-being

Homework-induced stress on students can involve both psychological and physiological side effects. 

1. Potential Psychological Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Anxiety: The pressure to perform academically and meet homework expectations can lead to heightened levels of anxiety in students. Constant worry about completing assignments on time and achieving high grades can be overwhelming.

• Sleep Disturbances : Homework-related stress can disrupt students’ sleep patterns, leading to sleep anxiety or sleep deprivation, both of which can negatively impact cognitive function and emotional regulation.

• Reduced Motivation: Excessive homework demands could drain students’ motivation, causing them to feel fatigued and disengaged from their studies. Reduced motivation may lead to a lack of interest in learning, hindering overall academic performance.

2. Potential Physical Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Impaired Immune Function: Prolonged stress could weaken the immune system, making students more susceptible to illnesses and infections.

• Disrupted Hormonal Balance : The body’s stress response triggers the release of hormones like cortisol, which, when chronically elevated due to stress, can disrupt the delicate hormonal balance and lead to various health issues.

• Gastrointestinal Disturbances: Stress has been known to affect the gastrointestinal system, leading to symptoms such as stomachaches, nausea, and other digestive problems.

• Cardiovascular Impact: The increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure associated with stress can strain the cardiovascular system, potentially increasing the risk of heart-related issues in the long run.

• Brain impact: Prolonged exposure to stress hormones may impact the brain’s functioning , affecting memory, concentration, and cognitive abilities.

The Benefits of Homework

It’s important to note that homework also offers many benefits that contribute to students’ academic growth and development, such as: 

• Development of Time Management Skills: Completing homework within specified deadlines encourages students to manage their time efficiently. This valuable skill extends beyond academics and becomes essential in various aspects of life.

• Preparation for Future Challenges : Homework helps prepare students for future academic challenges and responsibilities. It fosters a sense of discipline and responsibility, qualities that are crucial for success in higher education and professional life.

• Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities: Homework often presents students with challenging problems to solve. Tackling these problems independently nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

While homework can foster discipline, time management, and self-directed learning, the middle ground may be to  strike a balance that promotes both academic growth and mental well-being .

How Much Homework Should Teachers Assign?

As a general guideline, educators suggest assigning a workload that allows students to grasp concepts effectively without overwhelming them . Quality over quantity is key, ensuring that homework assignments are purposeful, relevant, and targeted towards specific objectives. 

Advice for Students: How to balance Homework and Well-being

Finding a balance between academic responsibilities and well-being is crucial for students. Here are some practical tips and techniques to help manage homework-related stress and foster a healthier approach to learning:

• Effective Time Management : Encourage students to create a structured study schedule that allocates sufficient time for homework, breaks, and other activities. Prioritizing tasks and setting realistic goals can prevent last-minute rushes and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.

• Break Tasks into Smaller Chunks : Large assignments can be daunting and may contribute to stress. Students should break such tasks into smaller, manageable parts. This approach not only makes the workload seem less intimidating but also provides a sense of accomplishment as each section is completed.

• Find a Distraction-Free Zone : Establish a designated study area that is free from distractions like smartphones, television, or social media. This setting will improve focus and productivity, reducing time needed to complete homework.

• Be Active : Regular exercise is known to reduce stress and enhance mood. Encourage students to incorporate physical activity into their daily routine, whether it’s going for a walk, playing a sport, or doing yoga.

• Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques : Encourage students to engage in mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing exercises or meditation, to alleviate stress and improve concentration. Taking short breaks to relax and clear the mind can enhance overall well-being and cognitive performance.

• Seek Support : Teachers, parents, and school counselors play an essential role in supporting students. Create an open and supportive environment where students feel comfortable expressing their concerns and seeking help when needed.

How Healium is Helping in Schools

Stress is caused by so many factors and not just the amount of work students are taking home.  Our company created a virtual reality stress management solution… a mental fitness tool called “Healium” that’s teaching students how to learn to self-regulate their stress and downshift in a drugless way. Schools implementing Healium have seen improvements from supporting dysregulated students and ADHD challenges to empowering students with body awareness and learning to self-regulate stress . Here’s one of their stories. 

By providing students with the tools they need to self-manage stress and anxiety, we represent a forward-looking approach to education that prioritizes the holistic development of every student. 

To learn more about how Healium works, watch the video below.

About the Author

Sarah Hill , a former interactive TV news journalist at NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Missouri, gained recognition for pioneering interactive news broadcasting using Google Hangouts. She is now the CEO of Healium, the world’s first biometrically powered immersive media channel, helping those with stress, anxiety, insomnia, and other struggles through biofeedback storytelling. With patents, clinical validation, and over seven million views, she has reshaped the landscape of immersive media.

Opinion | Social-Emotional Learning

If we’re serious about student well-being, we must change the systems students learn in, here are five steps high schools can take to support students' mental health., by tim klein and belle liang     oct 14, 2022.

Shutterstock / SvetaZi

Educators and parents started this school year with bated breath. Last year’s stress led to record levels of teacher burnout and mental health challenges for students.

Even before the pandemic, a mental health crisis among high schoolers loomed. According to a survey administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2019, 37 percent of high school students said they experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness and 19 percent reported suicidality. In response, more than half of all U.S. states mandated that schools have a mental health curriculum or include mental health in their standards .

As mental health professionals and co-authors of a book about the pressure and stress facing high school students, we’ve spent our entire careers supporting students’ mental health. Traditionally, mental health interventions are individualized and they focus on helping students manage and change their behaviors to cope with challenges they’re facing. But while working with schools and colleges across the globe as we conducted research for our book , we realized that most interventions don’t address systemic issues causing mental health problems in the first place.

It’s time we acknowledge that our education systems are directly contributing to the youth mental health crisis. And if we are serious about student well-being, we must change the systems they learn in.

Here are five bold steps that high schools can take to boost mental health.

Limit Homework or Make it Optional

Imagine applying for a job, and the hiring manager informs you that in addition to a full workday in the office, you’ll be assigned three more hours of work every night. Does this sound like a healthy work-life balance? Most adults would consider this expectation ridiculous and unsustainable. Yet, this is the workload most schools place on high school students.

Research shows that excessive homework leads to increased stress, physical health problems and a lack of balance in students' lives. And studies have shown that more than two hours of daily homework can be counterproductive , yet many teachers assign more.

Homework proponents argue that homework improves academic performance. Indeed, a meta-analysis of research on this issue found a correlation between homework and achievement. But correlation isn’t causation. Does homework cause achievement or do high achievers do more homework? While it’s likely that homework completion signals student engagement, which in turn leads to academic achievement, there’s little evidence to suggest that homework itself improves engagement in learning.

Another common argument is that homework helps students develop skills related to problem-solving, time-management and self-direction. But these skills can be explicitly taught during the school day rather than after school.

Limiting homework or moving to an optional homework policy not only supports student well-being, but it can also create a more equitable learning environment. According to the American Psychological Association, students from more affluent families are more likely to have access to resources such as devices, internet, dedicated work space and the support necessary to complete their work successfully—and homework can highlight those inequities .

Whether a school limits homework or makes it optional, it’s critical to remember that more important than the amount of homework assigned, is designing the type of activities that engage students in learning. When students are intrinsically motivated to do their homework, they are more engaged in the work, which in turn is associated with academic achievement.

Cap the Number of APs Students Can Take

Advanced Placement courses give students a taste of college-level work and, in theory, allow them to earn college credits early. Getting good grades on AP exams is associated with higher GPAs in high school and success in college, but the research tends to be correlational rather than causational.

In 2008, a little over 180,000 students took three or more AP exams. By 2018, that number had ballooned to almost 350,000 students .

However, this expansion has come at the expense of student well-being.

Over the years, we’ve heard many students express that they feel pressure to take as many AP classes as possible, which overloads them with work. That’s troubling because studies show that students who take AP classes and exams are twice as likely to report adverse physical and emotional health .

AP courses and exams also raise complex issues of equity. In 2019, two out of three Harvard freshmen reported taking AP Calculus in high school, according to Jeff Selingo, author of “ Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions ,” yet only half of all high schools in the country offer the course. And opportunity gaps exist for advanced coursework such as AP courses and dual enrollment, with inequitable distribution of funding and support impacting which students are enrolling and experiencing success. According to the Center for American Progress, “National data from the Civil Rights Data Collection show that students who are Black, Indigenous, and other non-Black people of color (BIPOC) are not enrolled in AP courses at rates comparable to their white and Asian peers and experience less success when they are—and the analysis for this report finds this to be true even when they attend schools with similar levels of AP course availability.”

Limiting the number of AP courses students take can protect mental health and create a more equitable experience for students.

Eliminate Class Rankings

In a study we conducted about mental health problems among high school girls, we found that a primary driver of stress was their perception of school as a hypercompetitive, zero-sum game where pervasive peer pressure to perform reigns supreme.

Class rankings fuel these cutthroat environments. They send a toxic message to young people: success requires doing better than your peers.

Ranking systems help highly selective colleges decide which students to admit or reject for admission. The purpose of high school is to develop students to their own full potential, rather than causing them to fixate on measuring up to others. Research shows that ranking systems undercut students’ learning and damage social relationships by turning peers into opponents.

Eliminating class rankings sends a powerful message to students that they are more than a number.

Become an Admission Test Objector

COVID-19 ushered in the era of test-optional admissions. De-centering standardized tests in the college application process is unequivocally a good thing. Standardized tests don’t predict student success in college , they only widen the achievement gap between privileged and underprivileged students and damage students' mental health .

Going “test optional” is an excellent first step, but it's not enough.

Even as more colleges have made tests optional, affluent students submit test scores at a higher rate than their lower-income peers and are admitted at higher rates , suggesting that testing still gives them an edge.

High schools must adhere to standardized test mandates, but they don’t have to endorse them. They can become test objectors by publicly proclaiming that these tests hold no inherent value. They can stop teaching to the test and educate parents on why they are doing so. Counseling departments can inform colleges that their school is a test objector so admission teams won’t penalize students.

Of course, students and families will still find ways to wield these tests as a competitive advantage. Over time, the more schools and educators unite to denounce these tests, the less power they will hold over students and families.

Big change starts with small steps.

Stand For What You Value

Critics may argue that such policies might hurt student outcomes. How will colleges evaluate school rigor if we limit AP courses and homework? How will students demonstrate their merits without class rankings and standardized test scores?

The truth is, the best school systems in the world succeed without homework, standardized test scores or an obsession with rigorous courses. And many U.S. schools have found creative and empowering ways to showcase student merit beyond rankings and test scores.

If we aren’t willing to change policies and practices that have been shown to harm students’ well-being, we have to ask ourselves: Do we really value mental health?

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario: We can design school systems that help students thrive academically and psychologically.

Belle Liang and Tim Klein are mental health professionals and co-authors of “How To Navigate Life: The New Science of Finding Your Way in School, Career and Life.”

More from EdSurge

Inclusive by Design: Sharing Insights for Crafting Accessible Conferences

By amy lomellini.

Choosing Wisely: Lessons for Leaders in AI Integration

By wendy mcmahon.

Teaching and Learning

Professors try ‘restrained ai’ approach to help teach writing, by jeffrey r. young.

Assessment Culture: What It Is and Why It Matters

By erika landl.

Journalism that ignites your curiosity about education.

EdSurge is an editorially independent project of and

• Product Index
• Write for us
• Advertising

FOLLOW EDSURGE

© 2024 All Rights Reserved

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Is Homework a Waste of Students' Time? Study Finds It's the Biggest Cause of Teen Stress

As the debate over the need for homework continues, a new study found that it's the biggest cause of teen stress, leading to sleepless nights and poor academic performance

Julie Mazziotta is the Sports Editor at PEOPLE, covering everything from the NFL to tennis to Simone Biles and Tom Brady. She was previously an Associate Editor for the Health vertical for six years, and prior to joining PEOPLE worked at Health Magazine. When not covering professional athletes, Julie spends her time as a (very) amateur athlete, training for marathons, long bike trips and hikes.

It’s the bane of every teen’s existence. After sitting through hours at school, they leave only to get started on mountains of homework. And educators are mixed on its effectiveness . Some say the practice reinforces what students learned during the day, while others argue that it put unnecessary stress on kids and parents , who are often stuck nagging or helping.

According to a new study, conducted by the Better Sleep Council , that homework stress is the biggest source of frustration for teens, with 74 percent of those surveyed ranking it the highest, above self-esteem (51 percent) parental expectations (45 percent) and bullying (15 percent).

Homework is taking up a large chunk of their time , too — around 15-plus hours a week, with about one-third of teens reporting that it’s closer to 20-plus hours.

The stress and excessive homework adds up to lost sleep, the BSC says. According to the survey, 57 percent of teenagers said that they don’t get enough sleep, with 67 reporting that they get just five to seven hours a night — a far cry from the recommended eight to ten hours. The BSC says that their research shows that when teens feel more stressed, their sleep suffers. They go to sleep later, wake up earlier and have more trouble falling and staying asleep than less-stressed teens.

“We’re finding that teenagers are experiencing this cycle where they sacrifice their sleep to spend extra time on homework, which gives them more stress — but they don’t get better grades,” said Mary Helen Rogers, the vice president of marketing and communications for the BSC.

RELATED VIDEO: To Help Or Not To Help: Moms Talk About Whether Or Not They Help Their Children With Homework

Another interesting finding from this study: students who go to bed earlier and wake up earlier do better academically than those who stay up late, even if those night owls are spending that time doing homework.

To end this cycle of sleep deprivation and stress, the BSC recommends that students try setting a consistent time to go to sleep each night, regardless of leftover homework. And their other sleep tips are good for anyone, regardless of age — keep the temperature between 65 and 67 degrees, turn off the electronic devices before bed, make sure the mattress is comfy and reduce noise with earplugs or sound machines.

Related Articles

The New York Times

Motherlode | when homework stresses parents as well as students, when homework stresses parents as well as students.

Educators and parents have long been concerned about students stressed by homework loads , but a small research study asked questions recently about homework and anxiety of a different group: parents. The results were unsurprising. While we may have already learned long division and let the Magna Carta fade into memory, parents report that their children’s homework causes family stress and tension — particularly when additional factors surrounding the homework come into play.

The researchers, from Brown University, found that stress and tension for families (as reported by the parents) increased most when parents perceived themselves as unable to help with the homework, when the child disliked doing the homework and when the homework caused arguments, either between the child and adults or among the adults in the household.

The number of parents involved in the research (1,173 parents, both English and Spanish-speaking, who visited one of 27 pediatric practices in the greater Providence area of Rhode Island) makes it more of a guide for further study than a basis for conclusions, but the idea that homework can cause significant family stress is hard to seriously debate. Families across income and education levels may struggle with homework for different reasons and in different ways, but “it’s an equal opportunity problem,” says Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman , a contributing editor to the research study and co-author of “ The Learning Habit .”

“Parents may find it hard to evaluate the homework,” she says. “They think, if this is coming home, my child should be able to do it. If the child can’t, and especially if they feel like they can’t help, they may get angry with the child, and the child feels stupid.” That’s a scenario that is likely to lead to more arguments, and an increased dislike of the work on the part of the child.

The researchers also found that parents of students in kindergarten and first grade reported that the children spent significantly more time on homework than recommended. Many schools and organizations, including the National Education Association and the Great Schools blog , will suggest following the “10-minute rule” for how long children should spend on school work outside of school hours: 10 minutes per grade starting in first grade, and most likely more in high school. Instead, parents described their first graders and kindergartners working, on average, for 25 to 30 minutes a night. That is consistent with other research , which has shown an increase in the amount of time spent on homework in lower grades from 1981 to 2003.

“This study highlights the real discrepancy between intent and what’s actually happening,” Ms. Donaldson-Pressman said, speaking of both the time spent and the family tensions parents describe. “When people talk about the homework, they’re too often talking about the work itself. They should be talking about the load — how long it takes. You can have three problems on one page that look easy, but aren’t.”

The homework a child is struggling with may not be developmentally appropriate for every child in a grade, she suggests, noting that academic expectations for young children have increased in recent years . Less-educated or Spanish-speaking parents may find it harder to evaluate or challenge the homework itself, or to say they think it is simply too much. “When the load is too much, it has a tremendous impact on family stress and the general tenor of the evening. It ruins your family time and kids view homework as a punishment,” she said.

At our house, homework has just begun; we are in the opposite of the honeymoon period, when both skills and tolerance are rusty and complaints and stress are high. If the two hours my fifth-grade math student spent on homework last night turn out the be the norm once he is used to the work and the teacher has had a chance to hear from the students, we’ll speak up.

We should, Ms. Donaldson-Pressman says. “Middle-class parents can solve the problem for their own kids,” she says. “They can make sure their child is going to all the right tutors, or get help, but most people can’t.” Instead of accepting that at home we become teachers and homework monitors (or even taking classes in how to help your child with his math ), parents should let the school know that they’re unhappy with the situation, both to encourage others to speak up and to speak on behalf of parents who don’t feel comfortable complaining.

“Home should be a safe place for students,” she says. “A child goes to school all day and they’re under stress. If they come home and it’s more of the same, that’s not good for anyone.”

Read more about homework on Motherlode: Homework and Consequences ; The Mechanics of Homework ; That’s Your Child’s Homework Project, Not Yours and Homework’s Emotional Toll on Students and Families.

What's Next

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

Stress and The Dangers of Homework

The anxiety of not completing an assignment that you have been stuck on for the past hour can be overwhelming, right? What if I told you millions of people feel the same way you do and there can be consequences of it, I’m not talking grade wise, I’m talking mentally. Homework as we have experienced causes a great amount of stress which can lead you to a poor mental state, sleep deprivation, and many more bad things. Which can be prevented by decreasing the amount of homework significantly and/or being taught how to combat such stress. [A couple of such ways is by managing time, controlling emotions, and monitoring your motivation.] (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1054844.pdf)

[Controlling Emotion] (https://www.rewireme.com/brain-insight/how-to-control-your-emotions/)

[Time Management] (https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/7-essential-time-management-strategies/)

[Motivation] (https://ucsccaps.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/staying-motivated/)

A school can start to teach these things so life can be easier for the students, but not just for them though but their family and their teachers too. A study made in 2017 about [the effects of homework on middle class families] (https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&=&context=cup_commons_grad_edd&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Furl%253Fq%253Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.csp.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%25253D1069%252526context%25253Dcup_commons_grad_edd%2526sa%253DD%2526source%253Deditors%2526ust%253D1616434140114000%2526usg%253DAOvVaw0FRSYatcLU9NO7fYRvpdUB#search=%22https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcommons.csp.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1069%26context%3Dcup_commons_grad_edd%22) shows that homework is the leading cause of stress in the household because it’s hard to have a “healthy balance of homework and family life”. This stress and less family time can lead to troubles in a family, and might even lead to divorce if it is disruptive enough.

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA), suggests there to be ten minutes of homework per grade level which is seemed to not be followed, [some kindergarteners are getting up to] (https://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-more-homework-means-more-stress-031114) 25 minutes of homework per day when they even aren’t supposed to get homework at all according to the National Education Association (NEA), and some second and third graders are even getting 28-29 minutes of homework per day taken in a survey in rhode island. It just doesn’t affect younger grades [but college students as] (https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/) well.

[Chart] (https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/)

The stress can be overwhelming sometimes but the United States is not the only country with a homework problem, Italy, UK, France, and many more suffer the consequences. A survey taken in the UK, in March of 2020 shows that 66% of students in the age range of 8-17 said that “they felt most stressed about homework and/or exams” compared to everything else. Which is pretty alarming considering that this was a survey with almost 2,000 kids, and 66% of 2,000 is 1,320. Just imagine how many people are struggling with it as well on a global level.

Now you might be wondering how can we stop this monstrosity of stress, well looking at countries like [Finland, Japan, and South Korea] (https://www.geekycamel.com/countries-give-less-homework-theyre-successful/#:~:text=Finland,they%20are%20seven%20years%20old.) which are countries that give very little homework per week, ranging from 2.9 hours to 3.9. They mostly rely on trust in the teachers and students, more testing, and new ways to learn that is more beneficial for the students later in life. And it seems to have paid off, Finland, South Korea, and Japan seem to be at the [top in the world for Math and Science at the age of 15.] (https://www.bbc.com/news/education-37716005) So why don’t we start making the change to no homework? Well, that’s the next step, students should start to spread awareness and make petitions to the school board calling for change.

[Bibliography] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JCUpxbJm75pB3KNpx6rgm3gX1t_oSuAePhx-5FVyNws/edit#)

No comments have been posted yet.

Log in to post a comment.

You can also log in with your email address.

Request More Info

Fill out the form below and a member of our team will reach out right away!

" * " indicates required fields

Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students

The Problem with Homework: It Highlights Inequalities

How much homework is too much homework, when does homework actually help, negative effects of homework for students, how teachers can help.

Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif. Although the no-homework trend may sound alarming, especially to parents dreaming of their child’s acceptance to Harvard, Stanford or Yale, there is mounting evidence that eliminating homework in grade school may actually have great benefits , especially with regard to educational equity.

In fact, while the push to eliminate homework may come as a surprise to many adults, the debate is not new . Parents and educators have been talking about this subject for the last century, so that the educational pendulum continues to swing back and forth between the need for homework and the need to eliminate homework.

One of the most pressing talking points around homework is how it disproportionately affects students from less affluent families. The American Psychological Association (APA) explained:

“Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs.”

[RELATED] How to Advance Your Career: A Guide for Educators >> 

While students growing up in more affluent areas are likely playing sports, participating in other recreational activities after school, or receiving additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely headed to work after school, taking care of siblings while their parents work or dealing with an unstable home life. Adding homework into the mix is one more thing to deal with — and if the student is struggling, the task of completing homework can be too much to consider at the end of an already long school day.

While all students may groan at the mention of homework, it may be more than just a nuisance for poor and disadvantaged children, instead becoming another burden to carry and contend with.

Beyond the logistical issues, homework can negatively impact physical health and stress — and once again this may be a more significant problem among economically disadvantaged youth who typically already have a higher stress level than peers from more financially stable families .

Yet, today, it is not just the disadvantaged who suffer from the stressors that homework inflicts. A 2014 CNN article, “Is Homework Making Your Child Sick?” , covered the issue of extreme pressure placed on children of the affluent. The article looked at the results of a study surveying more than 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private high schools in upper-middle-class California communities.

“Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children’s lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives,” according to the CNN story. “That children growing up in poverty are at-risk for a number of ailments is both intuitive and well-supported by research. More difficult to believe is the growing consensus that children on the other end of the spectrum, children raised in affluence, may also be at risk.”

When it comes to health and stress it is clear that excessive homework, for children at both ends of the spectrum, can be damaging. Which begs the question, how much homework is too much?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework . That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on. But a study published by The American Journal of Family Therapy found that students are getting much more than that.

While 10 minutes per day doesn’t sound like much, that quickly adds up to an hour per night by sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week, a figure that is much too high according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is also to be noted that this figure does not take into consideration the needs of underprivileged student populations.

In a study conducted by the OECD it was found that “after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance .” That means that by asking our children to put in an hour or more per day of dedicated homework time, we are not only not helping them, but — according to the aforementioned studies — we are hurting them, both physically and emotionally.

What’s more is that homework is, as the name implies, to be completed at home, after a full day of learning that is typically six to seven hours long with breaks and lunch included. However, a study by the APA on how people develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work for about only four hours per day. Similarly, companies like Tower Paddle Boards are experimenting with a five-hour workday, under the assumption that people are not able to be truly productive for much longer than that. CEO Stephan Aarstol told CNBC that he believes most Americans only get about two to three hours of work done in an eight-hour day.

In the scope of world history, homework is a fairly new construct in the U.S. Students of all ages have been receiving work to complete at home for centuries, but it was educational reformer Horace Mann who first brought the concept to America from Prussia. 

Since then, homework’s popularity has ebbed and flowed in the court of public opinion. In the 1930s, it was considered child labor (as, ironically, it compromised children’s ability to do chores at home). Then, in the 1950s, implementing mandatory homework was hailed as a way to ensure America’s youth were always one step ahead of Soviet children during the Cold War. Homework was formally mandated as a tool for boosting educational quality in 1986 by the U.S. Department of Education, and has remained in common practice ever since.  

School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school. 

Homework improves student achievement.

• Source: The High School Journal, “ When is Homework Worth the Time?: Evaluating the Association between Homework and Achievement in High School Science and Math ,” 2012. 
• Source: IZA.org, “ Does High School Homework Increase Academic Achievement? ,” 2014. **Note: Study sample comprised only high school boys. 

Homework helps reinforce classroom learning.

• Source: “ Debunk This: People Remember 10 Percent of What They Read ,” 2015.

Homework helps students develop good study habits and life skills.

• Sources: The Repository @ St. Cloud State, “ Types of Homework and Their Effect on Student Achievement ,” 2017; Journal of Advanced Academics, “ Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework ,” 2011.
• Source: Journal of Advanced Academics, “ Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework ,” 2011.

Homework allows parents to be involved with their children’s learning.

• Parents can see what their children are learning and working on in school every day. 
• Parents can participate in their children’s learning by guiding them through homework assignments and reinforcing positive study and research habits.
• Homework observation and participation can help parents understand their children’s academic strengths and weaknesses, and even identify possible learning difficulties.
• Source: Phys.org, “ Sociologist Upends Notions about Parental Help with Homework ,” 2018.

While some amount of homework may help students connect to their learning and enhance their in-class performance, too much homework can have damaging effects. 

Students with too much homework have elevated stress levels. 

• Source: USA Today, “ Is It Time to Get Rid of Homework? Mental Health Experts Weigh In ,” 2021.
• Source: Stanford University, “ Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework ,” 2014.

Students with too much homework may be tempted to cheat. 

• Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, “ High-Tech Cheating Abounds, and Professors Bear Some Blame ,” 2010.
• Source: The American Journal of Family Therapy, “ Homework and Family Stress: With Consideration of Parents’ Self Confidence, Educational Level, and Cultural Background ,” 2015.

Homework highlights digital inequity. 

• Sources: NEAToday.org, “ The Homework Gap: The ‘Cruelest Part of the Digital Divide’ ,” 2016; CNET.com, “ The Digital Divide Has Left Millions of School Kids Behind ,” 2021.
• Source: Investopedia, “ Digital Divide ,” 2022; International Journal of Education and Social Science, “ Getting the Homework Done: Social Class and Parents’ Relationship to Homework ,” 2015.
• Source: World Economic Forum, “ COVID-19 exposed the digital divide. Here’s how we can close it ,” 2021.

Homework does not help younger students.

• Source: Review of Educational Research, “ Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Researcher, 1987-2003 ,” 2006.

To help students find the right balance and succeed, teachers and educators must start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But in order to successfully advocate on behalf of students, teachers must be well educated on the subject, fully understanding the research and the outcomes that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a plethora of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.

For teachers looking for a more in-depth approach or for educators with a keen interest in educational equity, formal education may be the best route. If this latter option sounds appealing, there are now many reputable schools offering online master of education degree programs to help educators balance the demands of work and family life while furthering their education in the quest to help others.

YOU’RE INVITED! Watch Free Webinar on USD’s Online MEd Program >>

Be Sure To Share This Article

• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn

Top 11 Reasons to get Your Master of Education Degree

Free 22-page Book

• Master of Education

Related Posts

Knight Life

A source of stress: why homework needs to go away

Hank Perkins , Staff Writer December 17, 2021

When Owen Davis goes home after a long day of school at Loy Norrix and KAMSC, all he wants to do is relax and spend time with friends and family, but he realizes he has loads of homework to complete for the next day. Davis is in difficult classes, including Geology, AP Statistics, and Advanced Computer Science, which all give him a lot of homework. 

Homework is a burden for students, as they usually have substantial amounts of homework every day after school where they do not have a sufficient amount of time to complete it due to other priorities they have, such as extracurriculars and family obligations. Homework is supposed to be beneficial for students, yet it is the complete opposite as all it does is increase student’s levels of stress dramatically and makes their life harder. 

According to When Homework Causes Stress , “In 2013, research conducted by Stanford University demonstrated that students from high-achieving communities experience stress, physical health problems, an imbalance in their lives, and alienation from society as a result of spending too much time on homework. According to the survey data, 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress. The remaining students viewed tests and the pressure to get good grades as the primary stressors. Notably, less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.”

Many students at Loy Norrix feel tremendous stress due to the large amount of homework they get every night as they would like to relax after a long day at school, yet they need to continue their diligent studies at home. 

From a survey of 124 students, about 100 agreed that homework is unnecessary and students feel overwhelmed from it due to their extracurriculars outside of school. 

A majority of students claim to spend 2+ hours on doing homework every night.

One third of students surveyed are in AP classes or are in KAMSC and claim these types of classes assign them a lot of homework, causing them stress. 

Students in regular classes claim to have less homework than those in honors and AP classes, yet these students in regular classes still believe their homework is unnecessary. 

Senior Ari’el Abbott who is taking AP classes at Loy Norrix mentioned her disapproval of homework’s effects on her mental strength.

“ Sometimes homework goes to the point where you are doing so much it’s harder to retain what you are learning compared to what is needed to know,” Abbott said. “I can be working for 4 hours in a class, and by the time I finish with the one class, I am too tired to even attempt to do another class which could cause one of two things: me working hard overdoing myself and possibly getting a bad grade on the assignments or mentally exhausting myself and then becoming behind in multiple classes. Either way the assignments are taking too long to complete which causes me to overwork myself.”

According to Kalamazoo Public Schools sets districtwide homework policy , the KPS District suggests that teachers give 10 minutes of homework per night for students in kindergarten and first grade and increase the amount by 10 minutes per night as grade levels go up. This means that seniors in high school are recommended to have roughly two hours of homework per night. 

Students in high school get way too much homework every night as they also have extracurricular activities and other duties to do, and the last thing they want to do after a hard day of school is to continue learning what they have already covered in school. 

Many students feel the amount of homework they receive influences their lives in a way where they cannot do the things they love. Senior Matthew Gray said how homework has affected his life during virtual learning.

“Online, I’d be getting huge projects and essays to do, so I would just be on my computer all day and miss out on other things I could be doing, such as hanging out with friends and family, since I have things to get done,” Gray said.

Another person that doesn’t see the positives of homework is AP Spanish teacher Christina Holmes.

“I try to keep homework to a minimum,” Holmes said. “I feel like homework should only continue something that has been worked on in class. I would never assign new material as homework. Homework, if given, is one of two things, an opportunity to complete an assignment that was worked on in class or an opportunity to use the language in a real life setting, such as watching a TV show in Spanish or talking to someone in Spanish,” Holmes said. 

While some students and teachers do not admire and agree with homework, other students and teachers do see the necessity of homework. AP Calculus teacher Adam Hosler is a proponent in favor of homework. 

“Homework is especially important for math as you have to practice the skills on your own to internalize it, to know what you’re doing,” Hosler said, “I think the amount of homework students should do is dependent on the student’s level, so AP kids would have more homework than kids in Algebra II, so I think there’s a feel on how much homework students should do. I base homework on quality over quantity: as long as you understand the topics, instead of how much homework you do. Students do need more practice based on their levels on certain topics though.”

According to Is Homework Beneficial? – Top 3 Pros and Cons , students who do homework for 30 to 90 minutes a day score 40 points higher on the SAT Math portion than students who do no homework a day. 

Additionally, in relation to standardized tests and grades, students who do homework perform better than 69% of students who do not have homework. 

Statistical research from the High School Journal on the impact of homework showed that 64% of students in one study and 72% of students in another study, improved academic achievement due to having homework.

Homework’s so-called purpose is to be beneficial to students, yet it appears to be the direct opposite, as homework usually causes negative effects for students. 

If teachers are to give students homework, it should be homework that is relevant to the real world. It should contain skills that are realistic to the skills you would use in real life. Homework should not be worksheets that are irrelevant to the world outside of their classes. 

Teachers should be more mindful of students’ lives outside of school as teachers often load students with immense amounts of homework that students are not capable of completing, which makes their lives even more difficult on top of other obligations outside of school. 

A change needs to be made on the homework policy. Homework should be relevant to the real world and not just monotonous daily worksheets that don’t seem to serve a purpose to the real world. 

Less amounts of homework need to be given to allow students to relax outside of school and enjoy their lives, instead of constantly being stressed due to their homework duties. 

• adam hosler
• Ari'el Abbott
• Christina Holmes
• hank perkins
• Matthew Gray

Sahriah Casey , Staff Writer

May 22, 2024

From 1913 to 2024: the Stanley Cup has revamped itself and is more popular than ever before

Quentin Tarantino's top 8 movies and what makes them great

The outdated and racially biased SAT needs a complete overhaul or should be eliminated

The Westnedge Hill Neighborhood garage sales bring the community together in one special day

Out-of-school suspension prevents students from getting beneficial in-class experience

Though the 13 AP classes offered at Loy Norrix are very different, both in content and demographics, the electrifying atmosphere of a classroom...

Your day has been exhaustingly long. You had to do the Pacer test in PE, you failed your math test terribly, you spent three hours taking that...

 Balance out the heavy stress by moving some heavy weights. Working out in the gym is a complete mental detox from the built up stress of school. When...

The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Comments (0)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Global Ties Kzoo 2024
• Global Ties Kzoo 2023
• Staff Editorials
• Letters to the Editor
• Scores and Schedules
• Morning Announcements
• Submit a Letter to the Editor
• Publication Policy
• State of Mind

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

PTSD Has Surged Among College Students

The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among college students rose to 7.5 percent in 2022, more than double the rate five years earlier, researchers found.

By Ellen Barry

Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, climbing most sharply as the coronavirus pandemic shut down campuses and upended young adults’ lives, according to new research published on Thursday.

The prevalence of PTSD rose to 7.5 percent from 3.4 percent during that period, according to the findings . Researchers analyzed responses from more than 390,000 participants in the Healthy Minds Study, an annual web-based survey.

“The magnitude of this rise is indeed shocking,” said Yusen Zhai, the paper’s lead author, who heads the community counseling clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His clinic had seen more young people struggling in the aftermath of traumatic events. So he expected an increase, but not such a large one.

Dr. Zhai, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Studies, attributed the rise to “broader societal stressors” on college students, such as campus shootings, social unrest and the sudden loss of loved ones from the coronavirus.

PTSD is a mental health disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts, flashbacks and heightened sensitivity to reminders of an event, continuing more than a month after it occurs.

It is a relatively common disorder , with an estimated 5 percent of adults in the United States experiencing it in any given year, according to the most recent epidemiological survey conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services. Lifetime prevalence is 8 percent in women and 4 percent in men, the survey found.

The new research also found a sharp rise in the prevalence of a similar condition, acute stress disorder, which is diagnosed less than a month after a trauma. Diagnoses rose to 0.7 percent among college students in 2022, up from 0.2 percent five years earlier.

Use of mental health care increased nationally during the pandemic, as teletherapy made it far easier to see clinicians. Treatment for anxiety disorders increased most steeply, followed by PTSD, bipolar disorder and depression, according to economists who analyzed more than 1.5 million insurance claims for clinician visits between 2020 and 2022.

PTSD was introduced as an official diagnosis in 1980, as it became clear that combat experiences had imprinted on many Vietnam veterans, making it difficult for them to work or participate in family life. Over the decades that followed, the definition was revised to encompass a larger range of injury, violence and abuse, as well as indirect exposure to traumatic events.

However, the diagnosis still requires exposure to a Criterion A trauma, defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as “death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence.”

It is not uncommon for young adults to experience traumatic events. A 1996 study of Detroit residents found that exposure to traumatic events — such as violent assaults, injuries or unexpected death — peaked sharply between the ages of 16 and 20. It then declined precipitously after age 20.

Research suggests that less than one-third of people exposed to traumatic events go on to develop PTSD.

Shannon E. Cusack, an academic researcher who has studied PTSD in college students, said there was division within the field about whether the profound disruptions that young adults experienced during the pandemic — abrupt loss of housing and income, social isolation and fear about infections — amount to triggering events.

“They’re causing symptoms that are consistent with the PTSD diagnosis,” said Dr. Cusack, a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Am I not going to treat them because their stressor doesn’t count as a trauma?”

The prevalence data, she said, points to a pressing need for PTSD treatment on college campuses. Short-term treatments developed for veterans, such as prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy, have proved effective in managing PTSD symptoms.

Stephen P. Hinshaw, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the disruptions of the pandemic might have left college students emotionally depleted and less resilient when faced with traumatic events.

“Midway through this study, there may have been legitimately more trauma and death,” he said, adding that the lockdowns may have caused more general despair among young people. “With the general mental health deterioration, is it harder to cope with traumatic stressors if you do get exposed to them?”

Some changes to the diagnostic manual may have blurred the line between PTSD and disorders like depression or anxiety, Dr. Hinshaw said. In 2013, the committee overseeing revisions to the manual expanded the list of potential PTSD symptoms to include dysphoria, or a deep sense of unease, and a negative worldview, which could also be caused by depression, he said. But the changes, he added, do not account for the sharp increase in diagnoses.

Ellen Barry is a reporter covering mental health for The Times. More about Ellen Barry

• Latest Latest
• The West The West
• Sports Sports
• Opinion Opinion
• Magazine Magazine

PTSD is rising among college students, recent studies find — here’s how to manage it

The covid-19 pandemic, among other factors, could be contributing to the rise of mental health disorders among young adults.

By Caroline McDonald

Recent studies have shown that post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety are on the rise in college students.

The research, published on JAMA Network , indicated that PTSD among college students increased from 3.4% to 7.5% between 2017 and 2022. Over 390,000 participants were involved in the study.

The study also analyzed the rise in ASD, acute stress disorder. The data revealed a “notable increase” in both PTSD and ASD, which “highlight the escalating mental health challenges among college students.”

Experts are now seeking to understand why these disorders are increasing among young adults.

Why are college students struggling with PTSD?

According to The New York Times , the disorder diagnoses peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, when campuses across the nation shut down and “upended young adults’ lives.”

The research pointed to contributing factors such as “pandemic-related stressors (e.g., loss of loved ones) and the effect of traumatic events (e.g., campus shootings, racial trauma).”

About six out of every 100 people will experience PTSD in their lifetime, according to the National Center for PTSD . The disorder occurs after an individual has “been through a traumatic event.” The likeliness of developing the disorder is higher in women than it is in men.

The symptoms of PTSD can include flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and sensitivity to reminders of a traumatic event, according to The New York Times , with the symptoms continuing more than a month after the event occurs.

Academic researcher Shannon E. Cusack told The New York Times that some are skeptical about whether the “profound disruptions” caused by the pandemic connote the kinds of “triggering events” linked to PTSD.

“They’re causing symptoms that are consistent with the PTSD diagnosis,” Cusack said. “Am I not going to treat them because their stressor doesn’t count as a trauma?”

According to the study , “these findings suggest the need for targeted, trauma-informed prevention and intervention strategies by mental health professionals and policy makers to support the affected student population.”

How can I cope with PTSD in college?

“It is important for anyone with PTSD symptoms to work with a mental health professional who has experience treating PTSD,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health . Professionals are equipped with the knowledge and expertise necessary to help people with treatment plans.

The National Institute of Mental Health provided further methods to help those struggling with symptoms of PTSD:

• Create realistic, manageable goals.
• Practice activities, like exercise, that reduce stress.
• Avoid drugs and alcohol.
• Have routines for meals, sleep and exercise.
• Understand that your symptoms will “improve gradually, not immediately.”
• Talk with a trusted friend or member of your family.

Harvard Health provided some ways college students can manage symptoms of anxiety:

• Work on self-care. Self-care is a critical way to ease stress. A self-care routine can consist of healthy eating habits, exercise and proper sleep.
• Utilize campus resources. Campuses have resources to help students cope with stress and adapt to new situations. Search for mental health counseling, academic advising and student groups.
• Don’t avoid others. Some students try to combat intense stress by skipping class or avoiding stressors. But this will make anxiety worse. Try introducing yourself to someone new or emailing a professor or TA. Practice the small steps.