essay about stress in students

Essay on Stress On Students

Students are often asked to write an essay on Stress On Students in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Stress On Students

Stress on students: a pressing concern.

Stress has become a significant problem for students of all ages. Many factors, such as academic pressure, social expectations, and family issues, can contribute to stress in students.

Impact On Students’ Well-being:

Stress can negatively affect students’ physical and mental health. It can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Physically, stress can cause headaches, stomach aches, and other physical symptoms.

Effects on Academic Performance:

Stress can interfere with students’ ability to learn and focus in school. When students are stressed, they may have difficulty paying attention, remembering information, and solving problems. This can lead to lower grades and a decreased interest in school.

Coping With Stress:

Students need to learn effective ways to manage stress. Some helpful strategies include:

• Talking to a trusted adult about their concerns.
• Getting regular exercise.
• Eating a healthy diet.
• Getting enough sleep.
• Practicing relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation.
• Learning time management skills.
• Seeking professional help if needed.

Conclusion:

Student stress is a serious issue that can impact their physical and mental health, as well as their academic performance. By recognizing the signs of stress and learning effective coping strategies, students can take control of their stress and improve their overall well-being.

250 Words Essay on Stress On Students

Stress on students.

School children always experience stress. Stress can be influenced by various factors including exams, relations with peers, and expectations from parents and teachers. A little bit of stress can be helpful as it can motivate a child to study harder and perform better. However, too much stress can be harmful. It can cause physical symptoms, such as headaches and stomachaches and emotional symptoms, such as anxiety and depression.

Causes of Stress In Students

Stress in students can be caused by a variety of factors, including academic pressure, extracurricular activities, and social interactions. Academic pressure can be a major source of stress for students. Students may feel stressed about getting good grades, taking tests, and meeting the expectations of their parents and teachers. Extracurricular activities can also be a source of stress, especially if students are trying to balance their academic and extracurricular commitments. Social interactions can also be a source of stress for students, especially if they are struggling to make friends or fit in.

Effects of Stress on Students

Stress can have a negative impact on students’ physical and mental health. Physically, stress can lead to headaches, stomachaches, and sleep problems. Mentally, stress can lead to anxiety, depression, and difficulty concentrating. Stress can also make it more difficult for students to learn and remember information.

Coping with Stress

There are a number of things that students can do to cope with stress. These include:

• Talking to a trusted adult, such as a parent, teacher, or counselor.
• Exercising regularly.
• Eating healthy foods.
• Learning how to relax and manage stress.

If stress is severe, it is important to seek professional help. A therapist can help students to identify the sources of their stress and develop coping mechanisms.

500 Words Essay on Stress On Students

What is stress.

Stress is a feeling we get when we are worried or uncomfortable about something. This feeling can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. In the case of students, stress is a very common experience. It often comes from the pressure of exams, homework, and the need to balance school with other activities.

Causes of Stress in Students

One of the main reasons students feel stressed is because of the pressure to do well in exams. Many students feel they have to get the best grades to be successful in the future. This pressure can come from their parents, teachers, or even themselves. Another reason is the amount of homework and assignments they have to complete. Sometimes, there is so much work that students don’t know how to manage their time well. This can make them feel overwhelmed and stressed.

Besides academic pressure, students also face stress from trying to fit in with their peers. This includes making friends, dealing with bullies, or trying to be part of a group. Social media also adds to this stress because students often compare themselves with others online.

Stress can affect students in many ways. It can make it hard for them to concentrate on their studies, leading to lower grades. It can also make them feel tired all the time and cause headaches or stomach aches. In some cases, students might feel so overwhelmed that they don’t want to go to school anymore.

Stress doesn’t just affect students’ health; it also affects their behavior. Some students might become irritable or angry easily, while others might withdraw and stop talking to their friends and family. This can make them feel lonely and even more stressed.

Dealing with Stress

The good news is there are ways to deal with stress. One of the most important things students can do is to manage their time well. This means making a schedule and sticking to it, so they have enough time for study, rest, and play. Taking short breaks while studying can also help to clear the mind and reduce stress.

Talking to someone about how you’re feeling can also make a big difference. This could be a friend, family member, or teacher. They can offer support and advice on how to cope with stress. Additionally, doing things you enjoy, like playing a sport, reading, or listening to music, can help take your mind off stress.

In conclusion, stress is a common issue that many students face. It comes from academic pressure, too much homework, and social issues. Stress can have negative effects on students’ health and behavior, but there are ways to manage it. By organizing their time, taking breaks, and talking to someone about their feelings, students can reduce their stress levels and enjoy their school life more.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Stress Management
• Essay on Stress In Life
• Essay on Stress Impact On Health

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

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 Psychiatry

Family and Academic Stress and Their Impact on Students' Depression Level and Academic Performance

1 School of Mechatronics Engineering, Daqing Normal University, Daqing, China

2 School of Marxism, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China

Jacob Cherian

3 College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Noor Un Nisa Khan

4 Faculty of Business Administration, Iqra University Karachi Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan

Kalpina Kumari

5 Faculty of Department of Business Administration, Greenwich University Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

Muhammad Safdar Sial

6 Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad, Pakistan

Ubaldo Comite

7 Department of Business Sciences, University Giustino Fortunato, Benevento, Italy

Beata Gavurova

8 Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Kosice, Kosice, Slovakia

József Popp

9 Hungarian National Bank–Research Center, John von Neumann University, Kecskemét, Hungary

10 College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Associated Data

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

Current research examines the impact of academic and familial stress on students' depression levels and the subsequent impact on their academic performance based on Lazarus' cognitive appraisal theory of stress. The non-probability convenience sampling technique has been used to collect data from undergraduate and postgraduate students using a modified questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. This study used the SEM method to examine the link between stress, depression, and academic performance. It was confirmed that academic and family stress leads to depression among students, negatively affecting their academic performance and learning outcomes. This research provides valuable information to parents, educators, and other stakeholders concerned about their childrens' education and performance.

Introduction

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are believed to be one of the strongest pillars in the growth of any nation ( 1 ). Being the principal stakeholder, the performance of HEIs mainly relies on the success of its students ( 2 ). To successfully compete in the prevailing dynamic industrial environment, students are not only supposed to develop their knowledge but are also expected to have imperative skills and abilities ( 3 ). In the current highly competitive academic environment, students' performance is largely affected by several factors, such as social media, academic quality, family and social bonding, etc. ( 4 ). Aafreen et al. ( 2 ) stated that students continuously experience pressure from different sources during academic life, which ultimately causes stress among students.

Stress is a common factor that largely diminishes individual morale ( 5 ). It develops when a person cannot handle their inner and outer feelings. When the stress becomes chronic or exceeds a certain level, it affects an individual's mental health and may lead to different psychological disorders, such as depression ( 6 ). Depression is a worldwide illness marked by feelings of sadness and the inability to feel happy or satisfied ( 7 ). Nowadays, it is a common disorder, increasing day by day. According to the World Health Organization ( 8 , 9 ), depression was ranked third among the global burden of disease and predicted to take over first place by 2030.

Depression leads to decreased energy, difficulty thinking, concentrating, and making career decisions ( 6 ). Students are a pillar of the future in building an educated society. For them, academic achievement is a big goal of life and can severely be affected if the students fall prey to depression ( 10 , 11 ). There can be several reasons for this: family issues, exposure to a new lifestyle in colleges and universities, poor academic grades, favoritism by teachers, etc. Never-ending stress or academic pressure of studies can also be a chief reason leading to depression in students ( 12 ). There is a high occurrence of depression in emerging countries, and low mental health literacy has been theorized as one of the key causes of escalating rates of mental illness ( 13 ).

Several researchers, such as ( 6 , 14 , 15 ) have studied stress and depression elements from a performance perspective and reported that stress and depression negatively affect the academic performance of students. However, Aafreen et al. ( 2 ) reported contradictory results and stated that stress sharpens the individual's mind and reflexes and enables workers to perform better in taxing situations. Ardalan ( 16 ) conducted a study in the United States (US). They reported that depression is a common issue among students in the US, and 20 percent of them may have a depressive disorder spanning 12 months or more. It affects students' mental and physical health and limits their social relationships and professional career.

However, the current literature provides mixed results on the relationship between stress and performance. Therefore, the current research investigates stress among students from family and academic perspectives using Lazaru's theory which describes stress as a relation between an individual and his environment and examines how it impacts students' depression level, leading to their academic performance. Most of the available studies on stress and depression are from industrial perspectives, and limited attention is paid to stress from family and institutional perspectives and examines its impact on students' depression level, leading to their academic performance, particularly in Pakistan, the place of the study. Besides, the present study follows a multivariate statistical technique, followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationship between stated variables which is also a study's uniqueness.

This paper is divided into five main sections. The current section provided introduction, theoretical perspective, and background of the study. In the second section, a theoretical framework, a detailed literature review and research hypotheses of the underlying relationships are being proposed. In the third and fourth section, methodology and analysis have been discussed. Finally, in the last section, the conclusion, limitations, implications, and recommendations for future research have been proposed.

Theory and Literature

The idea of cognitive appraisal theory was presented in 1966 by psychologist Richard Lazarus in Psychological Stress and Coping Process. According to this theory, appraisal and coping are two concepts that are central to any psychological stress theory. Both are interrelated. According to the theory, stress is the disparity between stipulations placed on the individuals and their coping resources ( 17 ). Since its first introduction as a comprehensive theory ( 18 ), a few modifications have been experienced in theory later. The recent adaptation states that stress is not defined as a specific incitement or psychological, behavioral, or subjective response. Rather, stress is seen as a relation between an individual and his environment ( 19 ). Individuals appraise the environment as significant for their well-being and try to cope with the exceeding demands and challenges.

Cognitive appraisal is a model based on the idea that stress and other emotional processes depend on a person's expectancies regarding the significance and outcome of an event, encounter, or function. This explains why there are differences in intensity, duration, and quality of emotions elicited in people in response to the environment, which objectively, are equal for all ( 18 ). These appraisals may be influenced by various factors, including a person's goals, values, motivations, etc., and are divided into primary and secondary appraisals, specific patterns of which lead to different kinds of stress ( 20 ). On the other hand, coping is defined as the efforts made by a person to minimize, tolerate, or master the internal and external demands placed on them, a concept intimately related to cognitive appraisal and, therefore, to the stress-relevant person-environment transactions.

Individuals experience different mental and physiological changes when encountering pressure, such as stress ( 21 , 22 ). The feelings of stress can be either due to factors in the external environment or subjective emotions of individuals, which can even lead to psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. Excess stress can cause health problems. A particularly negative impact has been seen in students due to the high level of stress they endure, affecting their learning outcomes. Various methods are used to tackle stress. One of the methods is trying to pinpoint the causes of stress, which leads us to different terms such as family stress and academic stress. The two factors, stress and depression, have greatly impacted the students' academic performances. This research follows the Lazarus theory based on stress to examine the variables. See the conceptual framework of the study in Figure 1 .

Conceptual framework.

Academic Stress

Academic issues are thought to be the most prevalent source of stress for college students ( 23 ). For example, according to Yang et al. ( 24 ), students claimed that academic-related pressures such as ongoing study, writing papers, preparing for tests, and boring professors were the most important daily problems. Exams and test preparation, grade level competitiveness, and gaining a big quantity of knowledge in a short period of time all contribute to academic pressure. Perceived stress refers to a condition of physical or psychological arousal in reaction to stressors ( 25 , 26 ). When college students face excessive or negative stress, they suffer physical and psychological consequences. Excessive stress can cause health difficulties such as fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, and gastrointestinal issues. Academic stress has been linked to a variety of negative effects, including ill health, anxiety, depression, and poor academic performance. Travis et al. ( 27 ), in particular, discovered strong links between academic stress and psychological and physical health.

Family Stress

Parental participation and learning effect how parents treat their children, as well as how they handle their children's habits and cognitive processes ( 28 ). This, in turn, shapes their children's performance and behaviors toward them. As a result, the parent-child relationship is dependent on the parents' attitudes, understanding, and perspectives. When parents have positive views, the relationship between them and their children will be considerably better than when they have negative attitudes. Parents respond to unpleasant emotions in a variety of ways, which can be classified as supportive or non-supportive ( 29 ). Parents' supportive reactions encourage children to explore their emotions by encouraging them to express them or by assisting them in understanding and coping with an emotion-eliciting scenario. Non-supportive behaviors, such as downplaying the kid's emotional experience, disciplining the child, or getting concerned by the child's display, transmit the child the message that expressing unpleasant emotions is inappropriate and unacceptable. Supportive parental reactions to unpleasant emotions in children have been linked to dimensions of emotional and social competence, such as emotion comprehension and friendship quality. Non-supportive or repressive parental reactions, on the other hand, have been connected to a child's stored negative affect and disordered behaviors during emotion-evoking events, probably due to an inability or unwillingness to communicate unpleasant sentiments ( 30 , 31 ).

Academic Stress and Students' Depression Levels

Generally, it is believed that mental health improves as we enter into adulthood, and depression disorder starts to decline between the age of 18 and 25. On the other hand, excessive depression rates are the highest pervasiveness during this evolution ( 15 ), and many university students in the particular screen above clinical cut-off scores for huge depression ( 14 , 32 ). Afreen et al. ( 2 ) stated that 30% of high school students experience depression from different perspectives. This means a major chunk of fresh high school graduates are more likely to confront depression or are more vulnerable to encountering depression while enrolling in the university. As the students promote to a higher level of education, there are many factors while calculating the stress like, for example, the syllabus is tough to comprehend, assignments are quite challenging with unrealistic deadlines, and accommodation problems for the students who are shifted from other cities, etc. ( 33 ). Experiences related to university can also contribute while studying depression. The important thing to consider is depression symptoms vary from time to time throughout the academic years ( 34 ); subjective and objective experiences are directly connected to the depression disorder ( 6 ), stress inherent in the university situation likely donates to the difference in university students' depressing experiences.

Stress negatively impacts students' mental peace, and 42.3% of students of Canadian university respondents testified devastating levels of anxiety and stress ( 35 , 36 ). Moreover, there were (58.1%) students who stated academic projects are too tough to handle for them. In Germany, Bulgaria, and Poland, a huge sample of respondents consider assignments a burden on their lives that cannot stand compared to relationships or any other concern in life ( 14 ).

In several countries, university students were studied concerning stress, and results show that depression disorder and apparent anxiety are correlated to educational needs and demands ( 37 ). In their cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of 900 Canadian students, Lörz et al. ( 38 ) concluded that strain confronted due to academic workload relatively has high bleak symptoms even after controlling 13 different risk affecting factors for depression (e.g., demographic features, abusive past, intellectual way, and personality, currently experienced stressful trials in life, societal support). Few have exhibited that students who are tired of educational workload or the students who name them traumatic tend to have more depressing disorders ( 15 ).

These relations can be described by examining the stress and coping behaviors that highlight the role of positive judgments in the stress times ( 39 ), containing the Pancer and colleagues' university modification framework ( 40 , 41 ). The evaluation concept includes examining the circumstances against the available resources, for instance, the effectiveness of coping behavior and societal support. As per these frameworks, if demand is considered unapproachable and resources are lacking, confronted stress and interrelated adverse effects will be high, conceivably giving birth to difficulties in an adjustment like mental instability. Stress triggering situations and the resources in the educational area led to excessive workload, abilities, and study and enhanced time managing skills.

Sketching the overall evaluation frameworks, Pancer et al. ( 40 ) established their framework to exhibit the constructive and damaging adjustment results for the university students dealing with the academic challenges. They stated that while students enroll in the university, they evaluate all the stress-related factors that students confront. They consider them manageable as long as they have sufficient resources. On the other hand, if the available resources do not match the stress factors, it will surely result in a negative relationship, which will lead students to experience depression for sure. Based on the given arguments, the researcher formulates the following hypothesis:

• H1: Increased academic stress results in increased depression levels in students.

Family Stress and Students' Depression Levels

According to Topuzoglu et al. ( 42 ), 3% to 16.9% of individuals are affected by depression worldwide. There are fewer chances for general people to confront depression than university students ( 43 , 44 ). In Mirza et al.'s ( 45 ) study, 1/3 of students encounter stress and depression (a subjective mean occurrence of 30.6%) of all participant students, which suggests students have a 9% higher rate of experiencing depression than general people. Depression can destroy life; it greatly impacts living a balanced life. It can impact students' personal and social relationships, educational efficiency, quality of life, affecting their social and family relationships, academic productivity, and bodily operations ( 46 , 47 ). This declines their abilities, and they get demotivated to learn new things, resulting in unsatisfactory performances, and it can even result in university dropouts ( 48 ). Depression is a continuous substantial risk aspect for committing suicide for university students ( 49 ); thus, it is obliged to discover the factors that can give rise to students' depression.

Seventy-five percentage of students in China of an intermediate school are lucky enough to enroll in higher education. The more students pursue higher education, the more they upsurge for depression (in 2002, the depression rate was 5 to 10%, 2011 it rises 24 to 38%) ( 5 ). Generally, University students' age range is late teens to early twenties, i.e., 18–23 years. Abbas ( 50 ) named the era of university students as “post-adolescence. Risk factors for teenage depression have several and complicated problems of individual characteristics and family and educational life ( 51 ). Amongst the huge depression factors, relationship building with family demands a major chunk of attention and time since factors like parenting and family building play an important role in children's development ( 52 , 53 ). Halonen et al. ( 54 ) concluded that factors like family binding play a major role in development, preservation, and driving adolescent depression. Generally speaking, depressed teenagers tend to have a weaker family relationship with their parents than non-depressed teenagers.

There are two types of family risk factors, soft and hard. Hard factors are encountered in families with a weak family building structure, parents are little to no educated at all, and of course, the family status (economically). Several studies have proved that students of hard risk factors are more likely to encounter depression. Firstly, students from broken families have low confidence in every aspect of life, and they are weak at handling emotional breakdowns compared to students from complete and happy families ( 55 – 57 ). Secondly, the university students born in educated families, especially mothers (at least a college degree or higher degree), are less likely to confront depression than the university students born in families with little to no educated families. Secondly, children born with educated mothers or mothers who at least have a college degree tend to be less depressive than the children of less-educated mothers ( 58 ). However, Parker et al. and Mahmood et al. ( 59 , 60 ) stated a strong relationship between depression and mothers with low literacy levels.

On the other hand, Chang et al. ( 46 ) couldn't prove the authentication of this relationship in university students. Thirdly, university students who belong to lower class families tend to have more unstable mental states and are more likely to witness depression than middle or upper-class families ( 61 ). Jadoon et al. and Abbas et al. ( 62 , 63 ) said that there is no link between depression and economic status. Their irrelevance can be because medical students often come from educated and wealthy families and know their jobs are guaranteed as soon as they graduate. Therefore, the relationship between the hard family environment and depression can be known by targeting a huge audience, and there are several factors to consider while gauging this relationship.

The soft family environment is divided into clear factors (parenting style example, family guidelines, rules, the parent with academic knowledge, etc.) and implied factors (family norm, parent-child relationship, communication within the family, etc.). The soft factor is the key factor within the family that cannot be neglected while studying the teenagers' mental state or depression. Families make microsystems within the families, and families are the reason to build and maintain dysfunctional behavior by multiple functional procedures ( 64 ). Amongst the soft family environmental factors, consistency and struggles can be helpful while forecasting the mental health of teenagers. The youth of broken families, family conflict, weak family relationships, and marital issues, especially unhappy married life, are major factors for youth depression ( 65 ). Ruchkin et al. ( 66 ) stated that African Americans usually have weak family bonding, and their teenagers suffer from depression even when controlling for source bias. Whereas, few researchers have stated, family unity is the most serious factor while foreseeing teenagers' depression. Eaton noted that extreme broken family expressions might hurt emotionality and emotional regulation ( 67 , 68 ).

Social circle is also considered while studying depression in teenagers ( 69 – 71 ). The traditional Pakistani culture emphasizes collectivism and peace and focuses on blood relations and sensitive sentiments. Adolescents with this type of culture opt to get inspired by family, but students who live in hostels or share the room with other students lose this family inspiration. This transformation can be a big risk to encounter depression ( 72 ). Furthermore, in Pakistan securing employment is a big concern for university students. If they want a good job in the future, they have to score good grades and maintain GPA from the beginning. They have to face different challenges all at once, like aggressive educational competition, relationships with peers and family, and of course the biggest employment stress all alone. The only source for coping with these pressures is the family that can be helpful for fundings. If the students do not get ample support the chances are of extreme depression. The following hypothesis is suggested:

• H2: Increased family stress level results in increased depression levels in students.

Students' Depression Levels and Students' Academic Performance

University students denote many people experiencing a crucial conversion from teenagers to adulthood: a time that is generally considered the most traumatic time in one's ( 73 ). This then gets accumulated with other challenges like changes in social circle and exams tension, which possibly puts students' mental health at stake. It has been concluded that one-third of students experience moderate to severe depression in their entire student life ( 74 ). This is the rate that can be increased compared to the general people ( 75 , 76 ). Students with limited social-class resources tend to be more helpless. Additionally, depressed students in attainable-focused environments (for instance, higher academic institutes) are likely to score lower grades with a sense of failure and more insufficient self-assurance because they consider themselves failures, find the world unfair, and have future uncertainties. Furthermore, students with low self-esteem are rigid to take on challenging assignments and projects, hence they are damaging their educational career ( 77 ).

Depression can be defined as a blend of physical, mental, bodily processes, and benightedness which can make themselves obvious by symptoms like, for example, poor sleep schedule, lack of concentration, ill thoughts, and state of remorse ( 78 , 79 ). But, even after such a huge number of depressions in students and the poor academic system, research has not explored the effect of depression on educational performance. A study has shown that the relationship between emotional stability and academic performance in university students and financial status directly results in poor exam performance. As the study further concluded, it was verified depression is an independent factor ( 80 ). Likewise, students suffering from depression score poor grades, but this relationship vanished if their depression got treated. Apart from confidence breaking, depression is a big failure for their academic life. Students with depression symptoms bunk more classes, assessments, and assignments. They drop courses if they find them challenging than non-depressed peers, and they are more likely to drop out of university completely ( 81 ). Students suffering from depression can become ruthless, ultimately affecting their educational performance and making them moody ( 82 ).

However, it has been stated that the association between anxiety and educational performance is even worse and ambiguous. At the same time, some comprehensive research has noted that the greater the anxiousness, the greater the student's performance. On the other hand, few types of research have shown results where there is no apparent relationship between anxiety and poorer academic grades ( 83 ). Ironically, few studies have proposed that a higher anxiety level may improve academic performance ( 84 , 85 ). Current research by Khan et al. ( 86 ) on the undergraduate medical students stated that even though the high occurrence of huge depression between the students, the students GPA is unharmed. Therefore, based on given differences in various research findings, this research is supposed to find a more specific and clear answer to the shared relationship between students' depression levels and academic performance. Based on the given arguments, the researcher formulates the following hypothesis:

• H3: Students' depression level has a significant negative effect on their academic performance.

Methodology

Target population and sampling procedure.

The target audience of this study contains all male and female students studying in the public, private, or semi-government higher education institutions located in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. The researchers collected data from undergraduate and postgraduate students from the management sciences, engineering, and computer science departments. The sampling technique which has been used is the non-probability sampling technique. A questionnaire was given to the students, and they were requested to fill it and give their opinion independently. The questionnaire is based on five points Likert scale.

However, stress and depression are the most common issue among the students, which affects their learning outcomes adversely. A non-probability sampling technique gathered the data from February 2020 to May 2020. The total questionnaires distributed among students were 220, and 186 responses were useful. Of which 119 respondents were females, 66 males, and 1 preferred not to disclose. See Table 1 for detailed demographic information of respondents.

Respondent's demographic profile.

Measurement Scales

We have divided this instrument into two portions. In the first section, there is demographic information of respondents. The second section includes 14 items based on family stress, academic stress, students' depression levels, and students' academic performance. Academic and family stress were measured by 3 item scale for each construct, and students' depression level and academic performance were measured by 4 item scale for each separate construct. The five-point Likert scale is used to measure the items, in which one signifies strongly disagree (S.D), second signifies disagree (D.A), third signifies neither agree nor disagree (N), fourth signifies agree (A.G), and the fifth signifies strongly agree (S.A). The questionnaire has been taken from Gold Berg ( 87 ), which is modified and used in the given questionnaire.

Data Analysis and Results

The researchers used the SEM technique to determine the correlation between stress, depression, and academic performance. According to Prajogo and Cooper ( 88 ), it can remove biased effects triggered by the measurement faults and shape a hierarchy of latent constructs. SPSS v.23 and AMOS v.23 have been used to analyze the collected data. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test is used to test the competence of the sample. The value obtained is 0.868, which fulfills the Kaiser et al. ( 89 ), a minimum requirement of 0.6. The multicollinearity factor was analyzed through the variance inflation factor (VIF). It shows the value of 3.648 and meets the requirement of Hair et al. ( 90 ), which is < 4. It also indicates the absence of multicollinearity. According to Schwarz et al. ( 91 ), common method bias (CMB) is quite complex in quantitative studies. Harman's test of a single factor has been used to analyze CMB. The result obtained for the single factor is 38.63%. As stated by Podsakoff et al. ( 92 ), if any of the factors gives value < 50% of the total variance, it is adequate and does not influence the CMB. Therefore, we can say that there is no issue with CMB. Considering the above results are adequate among the measurement and structural model, we ensure that the data is valued enough to analyze the relation.

Assessment of the Measurement and Structural Model

The association between the manifest factors and their elements is examined by measuring model and verified by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). CFA guarantees legitimacy and the unidimensional of the measurement model ( 93 ). Peterson ( 94 ) stated that the least required, i.e., 0.8 for the measurement model, fully complies with its Cronbach's alpha value, i.e., 0.802. Therefore, it can confidently be deduced that this measurement model holds satisfactory reliability. As for the psychological legitimacy can be analyzed through factor loading, where the ideal loading is above 0.6 for already established items ( 95 ). Also, according to the recommendation of Molina et al. ( 96 ), the minimum value of the average variance extracted (AVE) for all results is supposed to be >0.5. Table 2 gives detail of the variables and their quantity of things, factor loading, merged consistency, and AVE values.

Instrument reliability and validity.

A discriminant validity test was performed to ensure the empirical difference of all constructs. For this, it was proposed by Fornell and Larcker ( 97 ) that the variance of the results is supposed to be greater than other constructs. The second indicator of discriminant validity is that the square root values of AVE have a greater correlation between the two indicators. Hair et al. ( 90 ) suggested that the correlation between the pair of predictor variables should not be higher than 0.9. Table 3 shows that discriminant validity recommended by Hair et al. ( 90 ) and Fornell and Larcker ( 97 ) was proved clearly that both conditions are fulfilled and indicates that the constructs have adequate discriminant validity.

Discriminant validity analysis.

Acd. Strs, Academic Stress; Fam. Strs, Family Stress; Std. Dep. Lev, Student's Depression Level; Std. Acd. Perf, Student's Academic Performance .

Kaynak ( 98 ) described seven indicators that ensure that the measurement model fits correctly. These indicators include standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR), root means a square error of approximation (RMSEA), comparative fit index (CFI), normative fit index (NFI), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), the goodness of fit index (GFI) and chi-square to a degree of freedom (x 2 /DF). Tucker-Lewis's index (TLI) is also included to ensure the measurement and structural model's fitness. In the measurement model, the obtained result shows that the value of x 2 /DF is 1.898, which should be lower than 2 suggested by Byrne ( 99 ), and this value also meets the requirement of Bagozzi and Yi ( 100 ), i.e., <3. The RMSEA has the value 0.049, which fully meets the requirement of 0.08, as stated by Browne and Cudeck ( 101 ). Furthermore, the SRMR acquired value is 0.0596, which assemble with the required need of < 0.1 by Hu and Bentler ( 102 ). Moreover, according to Bentler and Bonett ( 103 ), McDonald and Marsh ( 104 ), and Bagozzi and Yi ( 100 ), the ideal value is 0.9, and the values obtained from NFI, GFI, AGFI, CFI, and TLI are above the ideal value.

Afterward, the structural model was analyzed and achieved the findings, which give the value of x 2 /DF 1.986. According to Browne and Cudeck ( 101 ), the RMSEA value should not be greater than 0.08, and the obtained value of RMSEA is 0.052, which meets the requirement perfectly. The minimum requirement of Hu and Bentler ( 102 ) should be <0.1, for the structural model fully complies with the SRMR value 0.0616. According to a recommendation of McDonald and Marsh ( 104 ) and Bagozzi and Yi ( 100 ), the ideal value must be up to 0.9, and Table 4 also shows that the values of NFI, GFI, AGFI, CFI, and TLI, which are above than the ideal value and meets the requirement. The above results show that both the measurement and structural models are ideally satisfied with the requirements and the collected data fits correctly.

Analysis of measurement and structural model.

Testing of Hypotheses

The SEM technique is used to examine the hypotheses. Each structural parameter goes along with the hypothesis. The academic stress (Acd. Strs) with the value β = 0.293 while the p -value is 0.003. These outcomes show a significant positive relationship between academic stress (Acd. Strs) and students' depression levels (Std. Dep. Lev). With the β = 0.358 and p = 0.001 values, the data analysis discloses that the family stress (Fam. Strs) has a significant positive effect on the students' depression level (Std. Dep. Lev). However, the student's depression level (Std. Dep. Lev) also has a significant negative effect on their academic performance (Std. Acd. Perf) with the values of β = −0.319 and p = 0.001. Therefore, the results supported the following hypotheses H 1 , H 2 , and H 3 . The sub-hypotheses analysis shows that the results are statistically significant and accepted. In Table 5 , the details of the sub-hypotheses and the principals are explained precisely. Please see Table 6 to review items with their mean and standard deviation values. Moreover, Figure 2 represents the structural model.

Examining the hypotheses.

Description of items, mean, and standard deviation.

Structural model.

Discussion and Conclusion

These findings add to our knowledge of how teenage depression is predicted by academic and familial stress, leading to poor academic performance, and they have practical implications for preventative and intervention programs to safeguard adolescents' mental health in the school context. The outcomes imply that extended academic stress positively impacts students' depression levels with a β of 0.293 and a p -value sof 0.003. However, according to Wang et al. ( 5 ), a higher level of academic stress is linked to a larger level of school burnout, which leads to a higher degree of depression. Satinsky et al. ( 105 ) also claimed that university officials and mental health specialists have expressed worry about depression and anxiety among Ph.D. students, and that his research indicated that depression and anxiety are quite common among Ph.D. students. Deb et al. ( 106 ) found the same results and concluded that depression, anxiety, behavioral difficulties, irritability, and other issues are common among students who are under a lot of academic stress. Similarly, Kokou-Kpolou et al. ( 107 ) revealed that depressive symptoms are common among university students in France. They also demonstrate that socioeconomic and demographic characteristics have a role.

However, Wang et al. ( 5 ) asserted that a higher level of academic stress is associated with a higher level of school burnout, which in return, leads to a higher level of depression. Furthermore, Satinsky et al. ( 105 ) also reported that university administrators and mental health clinicians have raised concerns about depression and anxiety and concluded in his research that depression and anxiety are highly prevalent among Ph.D. students. Deb et al. ( 106 ) also reported the same results and concluded that Depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, irritability, etc. are few of the many problems reported in students with high academic stress. Similary, Kokou-Kpolou et al. ( 107 ) confirmed that university students in France have a high prevalence of depressive symptoms. They also confirm that socio-demographic factors and perceived stress play a predictive role in depressive symptoms among university students. As a result, academic stress has spread across all countries, civilizations, and ethnic groups. Academic stress continues to be a serious problem impacting a student's mental health and well-being, according to the findings of this study.

With the β= 0.358 and p = 0.001 values, the data analysis discloses that the family stress (Fam. Strs) has a significant positive effect on the students' depression level (Std. Dep. Lev). Aleksic ( 108 ) observed similar findings and concluded that many and complicated concerns of personal traits, as well as both home and school contexts, are risk factors for teenage depression. Similarly, Wang et al. ( 109 ) indicated that, among the possible risk factors for depression, family relationships need special consideration since elements like parenting styles and family dynamics influence how children grow. Family variables influence the onset, maintenance, and course of juvenile depression, according to another study ( 110 ). Depressed adolescents are more likely than normal teenagers to have bad family and parent–child connections.

Conversely, students' depression level has a significantly negative impact on their academic performance with β and p -values of −0.319 and 0.001. According ( 111 ), anxiety and melancholy have a negative influence on a student's academic performance. Adolescents and young adults suffer from depression, which is a common and dangerous mental illness. It's linked to an increase in family issues, school failure, especially among teenagers, suicide, drug addiction, and absenteeism. While the transition to adulthood is a high-risk period for depression in general ( 5 ), young people starting college may face extra social and intellectual challenges that increase their risk of melancholy, anxiety, and stress ( 112 ). Students' high rates of depression, anxiety, and stress have serious consequences. Not only may psychological morbidity have a negative impact on a student's academic performance and quality of life, but it may also disturb family and institutional life ( 107 ). Therefore, long-term untreated depression, anxiety, or stress can have a negative influence on people's ability to operate and produce, posing a public health risk ( 113 ).

Theoretical Implications

The current study makes various contributions to the existing literature on servant leadership. Firstly, it enriches the limited literature on the role of family and academic stress and their impact on students' depression levels. Although, a few studies have investigated stress and depression and its impact on Students' academic performance ( 14 , 114 ), however, their background i.e., family and institutions are largely ignored.

Secondly, it explains how the depression level impacts students' academic learning, specifically in the Asian developing countries region. Though a substantial body of empirical research has been produced in the last decade on the relationship between students' depression levels and its impact on their academic achievements, however, the studies conducted in the Pakistani context are scarce ( 111 , 115 ). Thus, this study adds further evidence to prior studies conducted in different cultural contexts and validates the assumption that family and academic stress are key sources depression and anxiety among students which can lead toward their low academic grades and their overall performance.

This argument is in line with our proposed theory in the current research i.e., cognitive appraisal theory which was presented in 1966 by psychologist Richard Lazarus. Lazarus's theory is called the appraisal theory of stress, or the transactional theory of stress because the way a person appraises the situation affects how they feel about it and consequently it's going to affect his overall quality of life. In line with the theory, it suggests that events are not good or bad, but the way we think about them is positive or negative, and therefore has an impact on our stress levels.

Practical Implications

According to the findings of this study, high levels of depressive symptoms among college students should be brought to the attention of relevant departments. To prevent college student depression, relevant departments should improve the study and life environment for students, try to reduce the generation of negative life events, provide adequate social support for students, and improve their cognitive and coping capacities to improve their mental qualities.

Stress and depression, on the other hand, may be managed with good therapy, teacher direction, and family support. The outcomes of this study provide an opportunity for academic institutions to address students' psychological well-being and requirements. Emotional well-being support services for students at Pakistan's higher education institutions are lacking in many of these institutions, which place a low priority on the psychological requirements of these students. As a result, initiatives that consistently monitor and enhance kids' mental health are critical. Furthermore, stress-reduction treatments such as biofeedback, yoga, life-skills training, mindfulness meditation, and psychotherapy have been demonstrated to be useful among students. Professionals in the sector would be able to adapt interventions for pupils by understanding the sources from many spheres.

Counseling clinics should be established at colleges to teach students about stress and sadness. Counselors should instill in pupils the importance of positive conduct and decision-making. The administration of the school should work to create a good and safe atmosphere. Furthermore, teachers should assume responsibility for assisting and guiding sad pupils, since this will aid in their learning and performance. Support from family members might also help you get through difficult times.

Furthermore, these findings support the importance of the home environment as a source of depression risk factors among university students, implying that family-based treatments and improvements are critical in reducing depression among university students.

Limitations and Future Research Implications

The current study has a few limitations. The researcher gathered data from the higher education level of university students studying in Islamabad and Rawalpindi institutions. In the future, researchers are required to widen their region and gather information from other cities of Pakistan, for instance, Lahore, Karachi, etc. Another weakness of the study is that it is cross-sectional in nature. We need to do longitudinal research in the future to authoritatively assert the cause-and-effect link between academic and familial stress and their effects on students' academic performance since cross-sectional studies cannot establish significant cause and effect relationships. Finally, the study's relatively small sample size is a significant weakness. Due to time and budget constraints, it appears that the capacity to perform in-depth research of all firms in Pakistan's pharmaceutical business has been limited. Even though the findings are substantial and meaningful, the small sample size is predicted to limit generalizability and statistical power. This problem can be properly solved by increasing the size of the sample by the researchers, in future researches.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, writing and editing of the original draft, and read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This work was funded by the 2020 Heilongjiang Province Philosophy and Social Science Research Planning Project on Civic and Political Science in Universities (Grant No. 20SZB01). This work is supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy Sciences as part of the research project VEGA 1/0797/20: Quantification of Environmental Burden Impacts of the Slovak Regions on Health, Social and Economic System of the Slovak Republic.

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

Authors would like to thank all persons who directly or indirectly participated in the completion of this manuscript.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Academic stress and mental well-being in college students: correlations, affected groups, and covid-19.

• 1 Department of Neurology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States
• 2 Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States
• 3 Office for Diversity and Community Engagement, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, United States
• 4 Department of Biology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, United States

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.

Table 1 . 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.

Figure 1 . 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.

Table 2 . Results of the MANOVA.

Figure 2 . SWEMWBS and PAS scores according to gender (mean ± SEM). Different letters for SWEMWBS scores indicate different statistical groupings ( p < 0.05).

Figure 3 . SWEMWBS and PAS scores according to race/ethnicity (mean ± SEM).

Figure 4 . SWEMWBS and PAS scores according to year in college (mean ± SEM). Different letters for PAS scores indicate different statistical groupings ( p < 0.05).

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).

Table 3 . 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

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

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., and 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. doi: 10.1007/s40615-018-0516-8

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Alborzkouh, P., Nabati, M., Zainali, M., Abed, Y., and 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.

PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar

Allen, S., and Hiebert, B. (1991). Stress and coping in adolescents. Can. J. Counsel. 25, 19–32.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Stress in AmericaTM2020: A National Mental Health Crisis . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Arnett, J. J.. (2000). Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. Am. Psychol. 55, 469–480. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469

Baqutayan, S.. (2011). Stress and social support. Indian J. Psychol. Med. 33, 29–34. doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.85392

Barbayannis, G., Franco, D., Wong, S., Galdamez, J., Romeo, R. D., and 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. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.07.058

Bedewy, D., and 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. doi: 10.1177/2055102915596714

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. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.65.12.1429

Bound, J., Hershbein, B., and Long, B. T. (2009). Playing the admissions game: student reactions to increasing college competition. J. Econ. Perspect. 23, 119–146. doi: 10.1257/jep.23.4.119

Brown, D. L.. (2008). African American resiliency: examining racial socialization and social support as protective factors. J. Black Psychol. 34, 32–48. doi: 10.1177/0095798407310538

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Budge, S. L., Domínguez, S. Jr., and 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. doi: 10.1037/sgd0000360

Byrd, D. R., and 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. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2011.584334

Cage, E., Stock, M., Sharpington, A., Pitman, E., and Batchelor, R. (2020). Barriers to accessing support for mental health issues at university. Stud. High. Educ. 45, 1637–1649. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2018.1544237

Chen, T., and Lucock, M. (2022). The mental health of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey in the UK. PLoS ONE 17, e0262562. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262562

Chiang, J. J., Ko, A., Bower, J. E., Taylor, S. E., Irwin, M. R., and Fuligni, A. J. (2019). Stress, psychological resources, and HPA and inflammatory reactivity during late adolescence. Dev. Psychopathol. 31, 699–712. doi: 10.1017/S0954579418000287

Clabaugh, A., Duque, J. F., and 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. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.628787

Cole, J. S., Sarraf, S. A., and 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. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.646916

Dong, L., and Bouey, J. (2020). Public mental health crisis during COVID-19 Pandemic, China. Emerging Infect. Dis. 26, 1616–1618. doi: 10.3201/eid2607.200407

Dusselier, L., Dunn, B., Yongyi, W., Shelley, M. II, and Whalen, D. (2005). Personal, health, academic, and environmental predictors of stress in residence halls. J. Am. Coll. Health 54, 15–24. doi: 10.3200/JACH.54.1.15-24

Eisenberg, D., Golberstein, E., and Hunt, J. B. (2009). Mental health and academic success in college. B.E. J Econ Anal Policy 9, 1–35. doi: 10.2202/1935-1682.2191

Eisenberg, D., Gollust, S. E., Golberstein, E., and Hefner, J. L. (2007). Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among university students. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 77, 534–542. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.77.4.534

Ekpenyong, C. E., Daniel, N. E., and 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.

Elias, H., Ping, W. S., and Abdullah, M. C. (2011). Stress and academic achievement among undergraduate students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. 29, 646–655. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.288

Evans, T. M., Bira, L., Gastelum, J. B., Weiss, L. T., and Vanderford, N. L. (2018). Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education. Nat. Biotechnol . 36, 282–284. doi: 10.1038/nbt.4089

Freire, C., Ferradás, M., Regueiro, B., Rodríguez, S., Valle, A., and Núñez, J. C. (2020). Coping strategies and self-efficacy in university students: a person-centered approach. Front. Psychol. 11, 841. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00841

Freire, C., Ferradás, M. D., Valle, A., Núñez, J. C., and Vallejo, G. (2016). Profiles of psychological well-being and coping strategies among university students. Front. Psychol. 7, 1554. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01554

Fung, S.. (2019). Psychometric evaluation of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) with Chinese University Students. Health Qual. Life Outcomes 17, 46. doi: 10.1186/s12955-019-1113-1

Galderisi, S., Heinz, A., Kastrup, M., Beezhold, J., and Sartorius, N. (2015). Toward a new definition of mental health. World Psychiatry 14, 231–233. doi: 10.1002/wps.20231

Gao, W., Ping, S., and Liu, X. (2020). Gender differences in depression, anxiety, and stress among college students: a longitudinal study from China. J. Affect. Disord. 263, 292–300. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.121

Graves, B. S., Hall, M. E., Dias-Karch, C., Haischer, M. H., and Apter, C. (2021). Gender differences in perceived stress and coping among college students. PLoS ONE 16, e0255634. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255634

Green, Z. A., Faizi, F., Jalal, R., and 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. doi: 10.1177/00207640211057729. [Epub ahead of print].

Hadler, N. L., Bu, P., Winkler, A., and Alexander, A. W. (2021). College student perspectives of telemental health: a review of the recent literature. Curr. Psychiatry Rep. 23, 6. doi: 10.1007/s11920-020-01215-7

Hj Ramli, N. H., Alavi, M., Mehrinezhad, S. A., and Ahmadi, A. (2018). Academic stress and self-regulation among university students in Malaysia: mediator role of mindfulness. Behav. Sci. 8, 12. doi: 10.3390/bs8010012

Hobfoll, S. E., and 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. doi: 10.1007/BF00896930

Hogan, D. P., and Astone, N. M. (1986). The transition to adulthood. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 12, 109–130. doi: 10.1146/annurev.so.12.080186.000545

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. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2016.1227826

Huang, C. Y., and Zane, N. (2016). Cultural influences in mental health treatment. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 8, 131–136. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.10.009

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. doi: 10.1037/sgd0000461

Husky, M. M., Kovess-Masfety, V., and Swendsen, J. D. (2020). Stress and anxiety among university students in France during Covid-19 mandatory confinement. Compr. Psychiatry 102:152191. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152191

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. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254215

Joinson, A.. (1999). Social desirability, anonymity, and Internet-based questionnaires. Behav. Res. Methods Instrum. Comput. 31, 433–438. doi: 10.3758/BF03200723

Jones, B. A., Pierre Bouman, W., Haycraft, E., and Arcelus, J. (2019). Mental health and quality of life in non-binary transgender adults: a case control study. Int. J. Transgender. 20, 251–262. doi: 10.1080/15532739.2019.1630346

Kajantie, E., and Phillips, D. I. (2006). The effects of sex and hormonal status on the physiological response to acute psychosocial stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology 31, 151–178. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.07.002

Kang, Y. S., Choi, S. Y., and 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. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2008.12.003

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. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01759

Kecojevic, A., Basch, C. H., Sullivan, M., and 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. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239696

Ketchen Lipson, S., Gaddis, S. M., Heinze, J., Beck, K., and Eisenberg, D. (2015). Variations in student mental health and treatment utilization across US Colleges and Universities. J Am. Coll. Health 63, 388–396. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2015.1040411

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. doi: 10.1007/s10488-021-01163-1

Kost, R. G., and 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. doi: 10.1017/cts.2018.18

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. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.12.003

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. doi: 10.1086/341394

Lakens, D.. (2013). Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: a practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Front. Psychol. 4, 863. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863

Lally, M., and 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., and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping . New York, NY: Springer.

Lee, J., Jeong, H. J., and 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. doi: 10.1007/s10755-021-09552-y

Lesure-Lester, G. E., and King, N. (2004). Racial-ethnic differences in social anxiety among college students. J. Coll. Stud. Retent. Res. Theory Pract. 6, 359–367. doi: 10.2190/P5FR-CGAH-YHA4-1DYC

Li, H., and Lin, C. (2003). College stress and psychological well-being of Chinese college students. Acta Psychol. Sinca 25, 222–230.

Lipson, S. K., Kern, A., Eisenberg, D., and Breland-Noble, A. M. (2018). Mental health disparities among college students of color. J. Adolesc. Health 63, 348–356. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.04.014

Lipson, S. K., Raifman, J., Abelson, S., and 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. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.025

Liu, C. H., Stevens, C., Wong, S., Yasui, M., and 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. doi: 10.1002/da.22830

Liu, X., Ping, S., and Gao, W. (2019). Changes in undergraduate students' psychological well-being as they experience University Life. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16, 2864. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16162864

Lopes, A. R., and 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. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258493

Margraf, J., Zhang, X. C., Lavallee, K. L., and Schneider, S. (2020). Longitudinal prediction of positive and negative mental health in Germany, Russia, and China. PLoS ONE 15, e0234997. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234997

Matud, M. P., Díaz, A., Bethencourt, J. M., and Ibáñez, I. (2020). Stress and psychological distress in emerging adulthood: a gender analysis. J. Clin. Med. 9, 2859. doi: 10.3390/jcm9092859

McQuaid, R. J., Cox, S., Ogunlana, A., and Jaworska, N. (2021). The burden of loneliness: implications of the social determinants of health during COVID-19. Psychiatry Res. 296, 113648. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113648

Miller, S. M.. (1981). Predictability and human stress: toward a clarification of evidence and theory. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 14, 203–256. doi: 10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60373-1

Misra, R., and Castillo, L. G. (2004). Academic stress among college students: comparison of American and International Students. Int. J. Stress Manag. 11, 132–148. doi: 10.1037/1072-5245.11.2.132

Misra, R., and 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.

Misra, R., McKean, M., West, S., and Russo, T. (2000). Academic stress of college students: Comparison of student and faculty perceptions. Coll. Stud. J. 34, 236–245.

Molla Jafar, H., Salabifard, S., Mousavi, S. M., and 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. doi: 10.5539/gjhs.v8n6p47

Negga, F., Applewhite, S., and Livingston, I. (2007). African American college students and stress: school racial composition, self-esteem and social support. Coll. Stud. J. 41 , 823.

Pascoe, M. C., Hetrick, S. E., and Parker, A. G. (2020). The impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education. Int. J. Adolesc. Youth 25, 104–112. doi: 10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823

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. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113298

Pedrelli, P., Nyer, M., Yeung, A., Zulauf, C., and Wilens, T. (2015). College students: mental health problems and treatment considerations. Acad. Psychiatry 39, 503–511. doi: 10.1007/s40596-014-0205-9

Perrewé, P. L., and 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. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199909)20:5<739::AID-JOB1949>3.0.CO;2-C

Phang, C. K., Mukhtar, F., Ibrahim, N., Keng, S. L., and 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. doi: 10.1007/s10459-015-9591-3

Posselt, J. R., and 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. doi: 10.1353/csd.2016.0094

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. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.650759

Reddy, K. J., Menon, K. R., and Thattil, A. (2018). Academic stress and its sources among university students. Biomed Pharmacol J 11, 1. doi: 10.13005/bpj/1404

Regehr, C., Glancy, D., and Pitts, A. (2013). Interventions to reduce stress in university students: a review and meta-analysis. J. Affect. Disord. 148, 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.11.026

Ringdal, R., Bradley Eilertsen, M. E., Bjørnsen, H. N., Espnes, G. A., and 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. doi: 10.1177/1403494817735391

Roberts, C., Gilbert, E., Allum, N., and Eisner, L. (2019). Research synthesis: Satisficing in surveys: a systematic review of the literature. Public Opin. Q. 83, 598–626. doi: 10.1093/poq/nfz035

Romeo, R. D., Patel, R., Pham, L., and 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. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.020

Ruthig, J. C., Haynes, T. L., Stupnisky, R. H., and 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. doi: 10.1007/s11218-008-9079-6

Ryan, R. M., and 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. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141

Saleh, D., Camart, N., and Romo, L. (2017). Predictors of stress in college students. Front. Psychol. 8, 19. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00019

Salerno, J. P., Williams, N. D., and Gattamorta, K. A. (2020). LGBTQ populations: psychologically vulnerable communities in the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychol. Trauma 12, S239–S242. doi: 10.1037/tra0000837

Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Oesterle, S., Hill, K. G., Hawkins, J. D., and Pashak, T. J. (2015). The dimensions of successful young adult development: a conceptual and measurement framework. Appl. Dev. Sci. 20, 150–174. doi: 10.1080/10888691.2015.1082429

Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G., and Siegel, S. D. (2005). Stress and health: psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants. Annu. Rev. Clin. Psychol. 1, 607–628. doi: 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144141

Schönfeld, P., Brailovskaia, J., Bieda, A., Zhang, X. C., and 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. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2015.08.005

Shah, N., Cader, M., Andrews, B., McCabe, R., and 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. doi: 10.1186/s12955-021-01882-x

Shanahan, M. J.. (2000). Pathways to adulthood in changing societies: variability and mechanisms in life course perspective. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 26, 667–692. doi: 10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.667

Skalski, S. B., Konaszewski, K., Büssing, A., and 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. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.810274

Smith, K. M., Chesin, M. S., and 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. doi: 10.1002/j.2161-1912.2014.00046.x

Son, C., Hegde, S., Smith, A., Wang, X., and 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. doi: 10.2196/21279

Spear, L. P.. (2000). The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 24, 417–463. doi: 10.1016/S0149-7634(00)00014-2

Stewart-Brown, S., and Janmohamed, K. (2008). Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale. User guide. Version, 1. doi: 10.1037/t80221-000

Suresh, R., Karkossa, Z., Richard, J., and Karia, M. (2021). Program evaluation of a student-led peer support service at a Canadian university. Int. J. Ment. Health Syst. 15, 54. doi: 10.1186/s13033-021-00479-7

Surzykiewicz, J., Konaszewski, K., Skalski, S., Dobrakowski, P. P., and Muszyńska, J. (2021). Resilience and mental health in the polish population during the COVID-19 lockdown: a mediation analysis. J. Clin. Med. 10, 4974. doi: 10.3390/jcm10214974

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. doi: 10.30564/jpr.v3i2.3032

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. doi: 10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2

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. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-5-63

Thorne, N., Witcomb, G. L., Nieder, T., Nixon, E., Yip, A., and 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. doi: 10.1080/15532739.2018.1452660

Toscos, T., Carpenter, M., Drouin, M., Roebuck, A., Kerrigan, C., and 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. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2017.0243

Trout, I. Y., and 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 doi: 10.32674/jimphe.v5i1.2576

Verma, R., Balhara, Y. P., and Gupta, C. S. (2011). Gender differences in stress response: role of developmental and biological determinants. Ind. Psychiatry J. 20, 4–10. doi: 10.4103/0972-6748.98407

Wheaton, B.. (1985). Models for the stress-buffering functions of coping resources. J. Health Soc. Behav. 26, 352–364. doi: 10.2307/2136658

Wyatt, T. J., Oswalt, S. B., and Ochoa, Y. (2017). Mental health and academic performance of first-year college students. Int. J. High. Educ. 6,178–187. doi: 10.5430/ijhe.v6n3p178

Yang, C., Chen, A., and 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. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246676

Yusufov, M., Nicoloro-SantaBarbara, J., Grey, N. E., Moyer, A., and Lobel, M. (2019). Meta-analytic evaluation of stress reduction interventions for undergraduate and graduate students. Int. J. Stress Mang . 26, 132–145. doi: 10.1037/str0000099

Keywords: academic stress, well-being, college students, Perception of Academic Stress, Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, COVID-19

Citation: Barbayannis G, Bandari M, Zheng X, Baquerizo H, Pecor KW and Ming X (2022) Academic Stress and Mental Well-Being in College Students: Correlations, Affected Groups, and COVID-19. Front. Psychol. 13:886344. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886344

Received: 28 February 2022; Accepted: 20 April 2022; Published: 23 May 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Barbayannis, Bandari, Zheng, Baquerizo, Pecor and Ming. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Keith W. Pecor, pecor@tcnj.edu

† These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

Disclaimer: 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.

Popular Searches

• Back to school
• Why do I feel weird
• School programs
• Managing stress
• When you’re worried about a friend who doesn’t want help

Understanding Academic Stress in College

How can you tell if your college stress is unhealthy, signs you may need professional support, get more academic stress tips.

Share this resource

If you’re like most college students, you experience school-related stress. Stress isn’t always a bad thing. At manageable levels, it’s necessary and healthy because it keeps you motivated and pushes you to stay on track with studying and classwork. 

But when stress, worry, and anxiety start to overwhelm you, it makes it harder to focus and get things done. National studies of college students have repeatedly found that the biggest stumbling blocks to academic success are emotional health challenges including:

• Not getting enough sleep
• Depression 

Many things can create stress in college. Maybe you’re on a scholarship and you need to maintain certain grades to stay eligible. Maybe you’re worried about the financial burden of college on your family. You may even be the first person in your family to attend college, and it can be a lot of pressure to carry the weight of those expectations.

Stress seems like it should be typical, so it’s easy to dismiss it. You may even get down on yourself because you feel like you should handle it better. But research shows that feeling overwhelming school-related stress actually reduces your motivation to do the work, impacts your overall academic achievement, and increases your odds of dropping out.

Stress can also cause health problems such as depression, poor sleep, substance abuse, and anxiety.

For all those reasons—and just because you deserve as much balance in your life as possible—it’s important to figure out if your stress is making things harder than they need to be, affecting your health, or getting in the way of your life.

Then you can get help and learn ways to reduce the impact of stress on your life. 

First identify what’s causing your stress.

• Is it a particular class or type of work?
• Is it an issue of time management and prioritization?
• Do you have too much on your plate?
• Is it due to family expectations or financial obligations?

Next think about how college stress affects you overall.

• Does it prevent you from sleeping?
• Does it make it take longer to do your work or paralyze you from even starting?
• Does it cause you to feel anxious, unwell, or depressed?

If any of that feels familiar, it’s time to find support to ease your stress and help you feel better. Check out these tips to figure out the best support and approach for you. 

It’s important to be able to recognize when stress starts to become all-encompassing, affecting your overall mental health and well-being. Here are some signs you might need to get help:

• Insomnia or chronic trouble sleeping
• Inability to motivate
• Anxiety that results in physical symptoms such as hair loss, nail biting, or losing weight
• Depression, which may manifest as not wanting to spend time with friends, making excuses, or sleeping excessively
• Mood swings, such as bursting into tears or bouts of anger

Learn how to find professional mental health support at your school or elsewhere. 

If you need help right now, text HOME to 741-741 for a free, confidential conversation with a trained counselor any time of day, or text or call 988 or use the chat function at 988lifeline.org .

If this is a medical emergency or there is immediate danger of harm, call 911 and explain that you need support for a mental health crisis.

Tips for Managing Academic Stress in College

How to Reduce Stress by Prioritizing and Getting Organized

5 Ways to Stay Calm When You’re Stressed About School

6 Ways to Take Care of Yourself During Exam Time

Related resources

3 steps to make it easier to ask for mental health support, how to identify and talk about your feelings, election stress: tips to manage anxious feelings about politics, search resource center.

If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone right now, text, call, or chat  988 for a free confidential conversation with a trained counselor 24/7. 

You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.

If this is a medical emergency or if there is immediate danger of harm, call 911 and explain that you need support for a mental health crisis.

Stress in College Students: What to Know

Strong social connections and positive habits can help ease high levels of stress among college-age adults.

Getty Images

From socializing to working out, here's how college students can better manage stress.

From paying for school and taking exams to filling out internship applications, college students can face overwhelming pressure and demands. Some stress can be healthy and even motivating under the proper circumstances, but often stress is overwhelming and can lead to other issues.

"Stress is there for a reason. It's there to help mobilize you to meet the demands of your day, but you're also supposed to have times where you do shut down and relax and repair and restore," says Emma K. Adam, professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University in Illinois.

Chronic and unhealthy levels of stress is at its worst among college-age students and young adults, some research shows. According to the American Psychological Association's 2022 "Stress in America" report , 46% of adults ages 18 to 35 reported that "most days they are so stressed they can't function."

In a Gallup poll that surveyed more than 2,400 college students in March 2023, 66% of reported experiencing stress and 51% reported feelings of worry "during a lot of the day." And emotional stress was among the top reasons students considered dropping out of college in the fall 2022 semester, according to findings in the State of Higher Education 2023 report, based on a study conducted in 2022 by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation.

As students are navigating a new environment and often living independently for the first time, they encounter numerous opportunities, responsibilities and life changes on top of academic responsibilities. It can be sensory overload for some, experts say.

“Going to college has always been a significant time of transition developmentally with adulthood, but you add to it everything that comes along with that transition and then you put onto it a youth mental health crisis, it’s just compounded in a very different way," says Jessica Gomez, a clinical psychologist and executive director of Momentous Institute, a researched-based organization that provides mental health services and educational programming to children and families.

Experts say college students have experienced heightened stress since the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

“What some of our research at Gallup has shown is that we had a rising tide of negative emotions, not just in the U.S. but globally, in the eight to 10 years leading up to the pandemic, and of course it got worse during the pandemic," says Stephanie Marken, senior partner of the education research division at Gallup who conducted the 2023 study. “For currently enrolled college students, there’s so many contributing factors.”

Adam notes that multiple factors combine to contribute to heightened stress among younger adults, including the nation’s racial and political controversies, as well as anxiety regarding their futures fueled by climate change, global unrest and economic uncertainty. Female students reported higher levels of stress than males in the Gallup poll, which Marken says could be attributed to several factors like increased internal academic pressure, caregiving responsibilities and the recent uncertainty regarding abortion rights following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

All of this, plus the residual effects of pandemic learning, has contributed to rising stress for college students, Marken says.

"We need to give them a lot of credit," she says. "They had the most challenge in remote learning of all the learners that have come before them. Many of them had to graduate high school and study remotely, or were a first-year college student during the pandemic, and that was incredibly difficult."

The challenges that came with that learning environment will likely affect students throughout college, she says, as well as typical stressors like discrimination, harassment and academic challenges.

"Those will always be present on college campuses," she says. "The question is, how do we create a student who overcomes those challenges effectively?"

Experts suggest a range of specific actions and positive shifts that can help ease stress in college students:

• Notice the symptoms of heightened stress.
• Build and maintain social connections.
• Sleep, eat well and exercise.

Notice the Symptoms of Heightened Stress

College students can start by learning to identify when normal stress increases to become unhealthy. Stress will appear differently in each student, says Lindsey Giller, a clinical psychologist with the Child Mind Institute, a nonprofit focused on helping children and young adults with mental health and learning disorders.

"Students prone to anxiety may avoid assignments as well as skip classes due to experiencing shame for being behind or missing things," she says. "For some, they may also start sleeping in more, eating at more random times, foregoing self-care, or look to distraction or escape mechanisms, like substances, to fill time and further avoid the reality of workload assignments."

Changes in diet and sleeping are also telling, as well as increased social isolation and pulling away from activities that once brought you pleasure is also a red flag, Gomez says.

She warns students to watch for signs of irritability, a classic indicator of increased stress that can often compound issues, especially within interpersonal relationships.

"Your body speaks to you, so be in tune with your body," she says.

Build and Maintain Social Connections

Socializing can help humans release stress. Experts say having fun and finding joy in life keep stress levels manageable, and socializing is particularly important developmentally for young adults. In the 2023 Gallup poll, 76% of students reported feeling enjoyment the previous day, which Marken says was an encouraging sign.

But 39% reported experiencing feelings of loneliness and 36% reported feeling sad. “We are in the midst of an epidemic of loneliness in our country, where we are noticing people don’t have the skills to build friendships,” Gomez says.

Discover six

Talking about feelings of stress can help college students cope, which is why the amount of students feeling lonely is concerning, Marken says. If students don't feel like they belong or have a social network to call on when feeling stressed, negative emotions are compounded.

“I think we’re more connected, and yet we’re more isolated than ever," she says. "It feels counterintuitive. How can you be more connected to your network and campus than ever, yet feel this lonely? Just because they have a device to connect with each other in a transactional way doesn’t mean it’s a meaningful relationship. I think that’s what we’re missing on a lot of college campuses is students creating meaningful connections about a shared experience."

Setting boundaries on social media use is crucial, Gomez says, as is getting plugged in with people and organizations that will be enriching. For example, Gomez says she joined a Latina sorority to be in community with others who shared some of her life experiences and interests.

Sleep, Eat Well and Exercise

Maintaining healthy habits can help college students better manage stressors that arise.

"Prioritizing sleep, moving your body, getting organized, and leaning on your support network all help college students prevent or manage stress," John MacPhee, CEO of The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to protect emotional health and prevent suicide among teens and young adults, wrote in an email. "In the inevitable moments of high stress, mindful breathing, short brain breaks, and relaxation techniques can really help."

Experts suggest creating a routine and sticking to it. That includes getting between eight and 10 hours of sleep each night and avoiding staying up late, Gomez says. A nutrient-rich diet can also go a long way in maintaining good physical and mental health, she says.

Getting outdoors and being active can also help students limit their screen time and use of social media.

“Walking to campus, maybe taking that longer walk, because your body needs that to heal," Gomez says. "It’s going to help buffer you. So if that’s the only thing you do, try to do that."

Colleges typically offer mental health resources such as counseling and support groups for struggling students.

Students dealing with chronic and unhealthy stress should contact their college and reach out to friends and family for support. Reaching out to parents, friends or mentors can be beneficial for students when feelings of stress come up, especially in heightened states around midterm and final exams .

Accessing student supports and counseling early can prevent a cascading effect that results in serious mental health challenges or unhealthy coping mechanisms like problem drinking and drug abuse , experts say.

"Know there are lots of resources on campus from academic services to counseling centers to get structured, professional support to lower your workload, improve coping skills, and have a safe space to process anxiety, worry, and stress," MacPhee says.

Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.

10 Unexpected College Costs

Tags: mental health , colleges , stress , education , students , Coronavirus

2024 Best Colleges

Search for your perfect fit with the U.S. News rankings of colleges and universities.

College Admissions: Get a Step Ahead!

Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S. News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy .

Ask an Alum: Making the Most Out of College

You May Also Like

Scholarships for lesser-known sports.

Sarah Wood May 15, 2024

Should Students Submit Test Scores?

Sarah Wood May 13, 2024

Poll: Antisemitism a Problem on Campus

Lauren Camera May 13, 2024

Federal vs. Private Parent Student Loans

Erika Giovanetti May 9, 2024

14 Colleges With Great Food Options

Sarah Wood May 8, 2024

Colleges With Religious Affiliations

Anayat Durrani May 8, 2024

Protests Threaten Campus Graduations

Aneeta Mathur-Ashton May 6, 2024

Protesting on Campus: What to Know

Sarah Wood May 6, 2024

Lawmakers Ramp Up Response to Unrest

Aneeta Mathur-Ashton May 3, 2024

University Commencements Must Go On

Eric J. Gertler May 3, 2024

Celebrating 150 years of Harvard Summer School. Learn about our history.

Managing Stress in High School

Our reasons may vary, but everyone experiences stress. Here are some of the common reasons high school students feel stressed, and what they can do about it.

Pamela Reynolds

Exams. Choosing a college. Figuring out what to do with your life.

No doubt, high school can be a high-pressure time in life. And high school students, as a result, get stressed out.  

In fact, according to the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America 2020 survey, teens who are already under stress due to the normal pressures of high school have felt even more stress in recent years, thanks to the pandemic. About 43 percent of teens surveyed in 2020 said their stress levels had gone up, and 45 percent said they had a hard time concentrating on schoolwork. Many reported feeling less motivated.

Although life has mostly returned back to normal, that doesn’t mean the stress that high school students feel has disappeared. 

The typical challenges that anyone faces in high school continue as they always have, and, in some cases, have grown more complicated. Consequently, surveys suggest, many teens continue to experience a decline in mental and physical health. 

If you’re in high school and stressed, we get it. In this blog, we’ll talk about what stress is, what triggers it, and how you can manage it. 

What is Stress?

“Stress” is a term we use constantly in conversation, but what does it really mean? 

Stress can be defined as our physical and mental responses to some external event. The event might be considered “good” like preparing to go to the prom, or bad, like feeling tense after an illness, an argument with a friend, or while preparing for an upcoming test. 

The good thing about most stress is that it usually goes away once the external event causing the stress is over. 

Alternatively, there is a type of stress that results more from an internal dialogue than an external event. We call this “anxiety.” It involves persistent feelings of dread or apprehension that interfere with your daily life, even after the test, the argument, or prom, are just a distant memory. 

Why Are Teens So Stressed? 

Simply being a teenager can be hard. Your body is changing. You may be grappling with your sexuality or gender identity. Add to that the academic demands of high school and throw in the pressures of social media, and the tension mounts. 

“Some of the common triggers of stress in teens might be anxiety to perform well in academics such as getting into a good college, peer pressure, interpersonal relationships, or body image issues,” says Sakshi Khurana, Research Fellow at Harvard’s Weisz Lab for Youth Mental Health. “Other larger issues that the world is going through — for example, climate change or war— might also act as stressors for teens as they are learning about the world.”

The most common source of stress for high school students, according to the 2017 APA Stress survey , is school itself, with about 83 percent of teens identifying school as a major stressor. The second biggest source of student stress, (according to 69 percent of students), was getting into a good college or deciding what to do after high school. The third biggest teen stress was financial concerns for the family (65 percent of students). 

Here’s a quick breakdown of broad categories of factors that may stress you out:

• Academics. In high school, not only are you worried about next week’s English, History or Calculus exam, but you’re also worried about applying to college and taking the SAT tests, too. It can all feel overwhelming, and you may feel pressure to please your parents and teachers.
• Social Stress. Even without the pressures of academics, life in high school can be demanding. Dealing with friends and classmates, starting new romantic relationships, handling bullies and peer pressure both online and off, can be a lot to handle.
• Family Issues. If your parents are divorcing, if your family is experiencing financial problems, or even if you just have trouble getting along with siblings, your stress levels can go up.
• Trauma . Dramatic life events ranging from a death in the family, to an accident, to emotional and physical abuse, can cause stress. Also in this category, you can include the collective trauma of such global events such as school shootings, terrorism, and natural disasters. 
• Big Life Changes . Changes like moving and starting a new school can be a major stress for teens. 

Explore College Programs for High School Students at Harvard Summer School

What are Signs of Stress in High School Students?

If you’re a high school student feeling stressed, you may not even recognize the symptoms. 

In fact, many symptoms of stress might be considered normal for teens who are also dealing with natural hormonal and physical changes. For that reason, it’s important to consider whether behavioral changes can be linked in time to an external event. 

Signs of stress include:

• Feeling more agitated, anxious, short-tempered, or depressed  
• Getting sick more often
• Having more headaches, stomachaches, or other aches and pains
• Feeling more tired than usual
• Not being able to sleep, or sleeping too much
• Skipping meals or overeating 
• Neglecting chores or hobbies 
• Trouble concentrating and forgetfulness
• High blood pressure

According to the APA 2017 survey, the most common symptoms of stress among teens were insomnia, overeating or eating unhealthy foods, skipping meals, feeling angry, nervous, or anxious, feeling fatigued, and snapping at friends and classmates.

Why is Stress so Problematic for Teens?

Let’s be clear, a little bit of stress is a normal part of life, and sometimes even desirable. 

Stress can act as a motivator, getting us to do things we might not otherwise. Good stress is called “eustress” and can help get you excited and energized about that first date or taking the stage in your first musical.

But too much unrelieved stress can lead to mental and physical health issues.  

Your body reacts to stress by releasing a hormone called cortisol which regulates blood pressure and immune function. If you’re stressed all the time and your body produces too much cortisol, it can lower your immunity, raise your blood pressure, and impair your cognitive performance.

In teens, the part of the brain regulating the stress response is less developed than in adults, meaning that if you’re a stressed-out teen, you may experience stress longer than an adult. 

“In the teen years, due to hormonal changes, stress tends to influence the emotional functioning of the brain, which in turn impacts the cognitive and executive functioning,” says Khurana.

You might not be able to sleep, you may overeat, or develop digestive, cardiovascular, or immune problems. Stress can even put you at a higher risk for developing mental illnesses like anxiety or depression . 

What are the Best Techniques to Help Students Manage Stress?

Since too much stress is not a good thing for your mind or body, you should think about incorporating a few stress management techniques into your daily life. 

“A few techniques that might help teens manage stress are relaxation through deep breathing, meditation, or mindfulness, channeling energy into sports or creative pursuits such as music, art, theater, and forming meaningful relationships or friendships,” says Khurana. “Additionally, every culture has its own way of enabling young people to manage stress, so drawing from those traditions might be helpful as well.”

Here are few ideas of how high school students can learn how to deal with stress at school: 

• Keeping a journal
• Getting plenty of exercise
• Eating healthy, regular meals
• Making sure you get enough sleep  
• Downloading an app that provides relaxation exercises (such as deep breathing or visualization) or tips for practicing mindfulness
• Limiting excess caffeine in soft drinks or coffee
• Reaching out to friends or family members who help you cope in a positive way
• Making time to do fun things
• Learning to recognize and prepare for stressful periods by doing all of the above

With so many big life decisions ahead, getting through high school happy and whole can definitely feel challenging at times. It’s easy to see why so many high school students feel stressed. The good news is that there are solutions. Adopt the strategies above, take a deep breath, and remember, it’s not forever! 

Join our mailing list for important updates about college programs for high school students at Harvard.

About the Author

Pamela Reynolds is a Boston-area feature writer and editor whose work appears in numerous publications. She is the author of “Revamp: A Memoir of Travel and Obsessive Renovation.”

Prepare for College

How to Build Your Personal Brand in High School

Building your personal brand is all about telling the world who you are.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

To write a stress essay, you’ll need a good idea to start your research and writing process. We have some for you to check.

📑 Aspects to Cover in a Stress Essay

🏆 best stress topic ideas & essay examples, 🥇 most interesting stress topics to write about, 🎓 simple & easy stress essay topics, 📌 research titles about stress, 👍 good stress essay topics, 💡 interesting topics to write about stress, ❓ stress research questions.

As a student, you’re likely familiar with the subject already. Yet, you may struggle to choose between composing about stress management or mental health issues. That’s why our team has prepared this list of stress essay topics. Look through them to consider every possible title and pick the most suitable one.

Stress has become one of the most common problem individuals experience today. It is possible to say that everyone has felt stressed out at least once in their life.

Stress essays are challenging and engaging assignments that can help students to learn more about the issue. We are here to help you write an outstanding essay on stress.

Let us start by choosing the subject for your paper. We would suggest choosing one of the following stress essay topics and titles:

• Stress management techniques and their significance

The effects of stress on the body

• How bullying increases stress among students
• Causes and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (you can choose another mental health disorder, too)
• Benefits of leisure activities to reduce the level of stress
• The link between nutrition and stress
• Consequences of workplace stress
• Common causes of stress among students

Note that you can select one of the other stress essay titles, too. You can search for them online. Remember to only use online examples as an inspiration for your paper and avoid copying the information you will find.

Once you have chosen one of the topics, you are ready to work on your outstanding essay. Here are the aspects you should cover in your paper on stress:

• Think about what you already know about the subject you had selected. Check out stress essay examples online if you are not sure that your topic is relevant. Research the information about the issue, using credible sources (Wikipedia is not one of them!).
• Select the sources that you cite in your paper. The general rule is that you should use peer-reviewed articles and scholarly books. Ask your professor about the sources in advance.
• A well-developed stress essay outline is important. Include an introductory paragraph, several body paragraphs (we would recommend writing at least three), and a conclusion.
• Think about the purpose of your paper. Do you want to help the reader to minimize stress? Should your essay provide statistical data? Do you want to address workplace stress or school-related stress? Consider these questions while working on the essay.

A thesis statement is a must. Generally, it should be present in the last sentence of your introduction. Here is how a thesis can look like:

Nutrition is directly linked to the level of stress in an individual. / Workplace stress can lead to depression among employees.

• Define stress. Provide a dictionary definition of stress or select one from the articles you have studied. Your reader should understand the concept of stress clearly. Remember that there are different types of stress based on its causes.
• Discuss the consequences of stress, referring to the sources you have selected. Address the physical and emotional outcomes of stress.
• Discuss the potential ways of dealing with stress. According to the purpose of your paper, address one or several methods in detail. What are the positive changes an individual can feel after these interventions? Reflect on this question, too.
• Remember to support your claims with evidence from the sources you have studied. Cite the literature properly using the citation style guide.
• Your concluding paragraph should restate the main arguments of the paper. Avoid adding new information or in-text citations in this section.

Please feel free to analyze our free samples and get the best ideas for your essay!

• Time Management and Its Effect in Reducing Stress among Students One of the causes of stress among high school students and college students is the difficulty in interacting with a completely new set of students and an even larger social group within the body of […]
• Effects of Stress on Human Health There are numerous theories and researches on stress and health, they all agree that stress has an adverse effect on human health; the statement goes “a stressed man is an unhealthy man”.
• How to Manage Stress at Work Essay Work stress is one of the ailments that are acknowledged worldwide to be affecting the healthiness of the organization and the health or workers.
• Stress Among College Students: Causes, Effects and Overcomes Due to stress, college students may experience such adverse outcomes as the decreased levels of cognitive functioning, the impaired ability to study, and, consequently, lower academic performance.
• Stress Management While undertaking the survey on management of stress in organizations, I came to realize that the sources of stress to employees are many and vary from one employee to another.
• Yoga for Stress Management For instance, Karma yoga, which is one of Yoga types, aids in controlling stress through the development of appropriate attitudes in relation to work environment coupled with enhancing the ability to respond positively to professional […]
• Work Stress and Its Effects on Individuals Managers of leading companies have long realized that this phenomenon is dangerous to both employees and companies, and one of their priorities is to remove the causes of work stress and or at least minimize […]
• Stress: Definition and Different Types of Stress Many believe that individual or team performance is susceptible to the effects of stress as there is a requirement for teams to maintain acceptable performance.
• Frustration and Stress Managing The stress that is a result of waiting and anticipation is a kind of stress that can be controlled. Humor is one of the many forms that can be used to blow up stress.
• How to Beat Stress? Stress seems to follow us everywhere and every minute, so that it is not always possible for people to find the time and think of the ways to beat stress and live quietly with no […]
• How to Cope with Stress Essay The identification of the stressor also opens a window for an individual to explore other adaptation methods, which can be of help in the future such as avoidance.
• Factors and Consequences of a Plane Crash: Traumatic Stress The effects from air crash are determined by among other things, the cause of the crash, the altitude and its speed at the time of crash.
• Teen Stress: How to Help Them Manage It? The physiologic changes of the body, the first steps are taken in search of the individuality, examinations, and tests in school or college, the pressure from the parent’s side, the issues in the relationships, diffidence, […]
• Working Conditions That Lead to Stress at Amazon For example, among the methods for evaluating the efficiency of warehouse employees is the indicator of the number of processed packages per hour.
• How Does Stress Affect the Body? Especially after the pandemic of COVID-19 has made the levels of stress in people worldwide skyrocket, the significance of studying the levels of stress on the human body has grown tremendously.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Case Conceptualization Samuel, an 8-year-old black male, lives in an adopted white family consisting of the father, incarcerated for domestic violence charges, the mother, the primary caretaker and the only home provider, and the older sibling.
• Comparison of Stress Level Among Traditional Learning and Online Learning College Students The distance learners have been perceived to be enjoying a suitable environment of learning as opposed to the traditional classroom learners who experience high levels of stress.
• Improving Stress Resistance in Agricultural Crops The biotechnology involved in producing such crops faces many difficulties and there are a lot of considerations of the methods used to improve the crop’s resistance that need to be assessed.
• People Should Consider Owning a Pet Because Doing So Can Relieve Stress These are great techniques, but the issue of having a pet as a best friend is unique and one of the recently discovered best practices of relieving work-related strains or stress.
• Emotions, Stress and Ways to Cope with Them This means that strong emotions will trigger complex brain patterns and physiological responses due to the nature of hormones the body releases.
• Pre-Stressed Concrete The aim of this paper is to discuss the historical developments of pre-stressed concrete, the basic concepts of pre-stressed concrete, and the manufacturing of the pre-stressed concrete.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorders: Psychological Assessment PTSD was adopted by experts in the third revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders to replace terms like “shell shock, nervous shock, and combat fatigue” that described the response to traumatic […]
• Academic Stress and Its Impact on Teenagers Another possible solution is raising awareness about the harms of stress to human health to educate students and their parents on the risks associated with stress.
• Stress and Its Effects on Health The effects of stress on the cardiovascular system are explained in a review by Kivimaki & Steptoe to determine the impact of stress on the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases.
• Burnout Stress in Nursing Related With Lazarus and Folkman’s Theory According to Lazarus and Folkman, stress is the relationship existing between a person and the environment that compels the individual beyond resources and consequently endangering life. The theory of stress and coping helps individuals to […]
• Transactional Model of Stress and Coping in Intravenous Drug Users The purpose of this paper is to explain how the transactional model of stress and coping can be used to explain and assess the process of coping in a group of intravenous users at risk […]
• The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Perceived Stress The last hypothesis is that there is a significant gender difference in the measures of self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and perceived stress.
• Stress and Burnout in the Workplace This paper investigates the causes of stress and burnout in the workplace and suggests ways of minimizing stress and burnout. This will also result in stress and burnout, ultimately affecting the performance of the workers.
• Time and Stress Management for Better Productivity Procrastination is the forwarding of events that have to be done at a specific time to another time in the future.
• Stress Management in Work Environment Leka, Griffiths and Cox are of the opinion that work related stress arises from the disparity between the demands of the job and the pressure on the employee on one hand and the mismatch between […]
• Stress and Burnout in Organizations Stress may refer to a state of psychological and physical discomfort of an individual, which is derivative of the interaction of external and biological factors. This paper discusses the organizations’ and workers’ challenges related to […]
• The Relationship between Stress Management and Criminal Recidivism Employment tends to increase the social capital of individuals, what is usually referred to as the networks of shared norms and values, which augments the access to the much-needed necessities.
• Understanding and Addressing Family Stress: Parental Responses and Impact on Children The spousal relationship, employment, a lack of structure in the household, and psychological suffering all contribute to stress. They are regarded as potent mediators, and therefore, offending elders indicates disrespecting the father and may lead […]
• Stress Reduction Among College Students In conclusion, “Calm” is useful in mindfulness meditation to decrease stress and enhance self-compassion and mindfulness among students. However, there is constrained information regarding the palatability and effectiveness of delivering mindfulness meditation interventions through mobile […]
• ANOVA Analysis: The Influence of Physical Activity on Stress Levels The independent variable of this research is the degree of physical activity, while the independent variable is the level of stress.
• Stress Management in the Adulthood To effectively handle stress, an individual must be able to recognize the symptoms of stress and understand the possible cause which is easy as stress changes an individual’s happiness level, health, and behavior.
• Defining The Stress Response Across Scientific Disciplines To capture the varying levels of stress among different patients, Holmes and Rahe use percentages to explain the different degrees of a person’s stress level.
• Stress Management in the Hospitality Industry In the event of such aspects the body tries to bring its system to a balance by building adequate energy as well as staying alert to face any possibility of the threat happening.
• Stresses of Being a Student Eustress is a form of stress which is normally thrilling and fun and a good example of this is when one is rushing to meet a deadline for an assignment submission.
• Social Impact of Stress in Childhood Stress in childhood can profoundly affect the cognitive and social development of a person. They can have a life-long impact on the behavior and identify of a person.
• The Problem of Workplace Stress Stress at work can be defined as “the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of a job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker”. A variety of […]
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a Health Issue in the Society The treatment is aimed at relieving the symptoms that the patient seems to be experiencing so that the individual can be able to deal with the traumatic experience.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorder The hypothesis of self-medication is one of the mechanisms that can expound the comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety illness.
• A Healthy Way To Cope With Stress According to Seaward, stress is “the experience of a perceived threat to one’s mental, physical or spiritual well-being, resulting from a series of physiological responses and adaptations”.
• Organisational Stress and Its Possible Transformations The main problem is the inability to understand how organisational stress could influence the work of teachers and if it is necessary to cope with it or neglect its possibility.
• Exam Stress: Effective Management It is important for a child to get enough rest for the relaxation of the mind and body. In line with Hemmings, it is important for parents to analyze the mood of a child who […]
• Positive Psychology and Academic Stress With the rising cases of academic stress among students in the United States, the federal government has introduced positive psychology programs in schools across the country.
• Stress, Its Causes and Effects Relationship Understanding the diverse nature of the causes of the stress is crucial to the effective elimination of its effects, as these two factors heavily depend on each other.
• Definition of Fiscal Stress The state government and local authorities may use different services they provide to the public to measure the level of fiscal stress.
• Problem Solving: What Can We Do About Our Stress? Since we can decide on what to believe or think, we posses the aptitude on how we can respond to the exigent events and circumstances in our daily lives.
• Stress in College Students, Its Causes and Effects Recognizing the cause and effect of stress in college students is an important aspect in college management and leadership as it will lead to a better understanding and development of the appropriate methods for intervention.
• Acute Stress and Attachment Theory At the point of stress, the person will feel vulnerable or in danger and will need something to offer them security.
• Stress Among Criminal Justice Workers The criminal justice system is aware of the seriousness of the current problem and is trying to adapt to the emerging trend.
• Stress Management Skills of Student-Athletes Their responses will then be categorized as “low perceived stress,” “moderate perceived stress,” and “high perceived stress”. The students will then be qualified as possessing superior, above-average, average, or below-average stress management skills.
• Stress Management for Patients With Arthritis The study’s primary objectives were to substantiate the hypothesis of the relation between RA activity and stress and find the evidence for the basis of further decisions.
• “Stress: How It Affects Us”: Critical Analysis As the name suggests, the article is related to stress and how it affects our day-to-day workings as well as our health in general.
• Anger, Stress and Aggression in Violent Offenders The intentions of the aggressor and the nature of the aggression offer the description of that form of aggression. Thus, understanding the relationship between anger, stress and aggression is important to the practitioners involved in […]
• Stress: causes and effects This is due to the research methods used in the process of analyzing and finding solutions to the global psychological challenges and problems.
• Effect of Stress on Relations and Marriage Therefore, this paper had the aim of discussing the effects of stress on a marriage and relationships and how the stress can be reduced and controlled.
• Stress related to workplace conditions Physical factors are those related to the ability of the body to function correctly in the work environment. Unpredictability and uncertainty of work situations are recognized as the main causes of stress in the workplace.
• Early-Life Stress and Adult Inflammation: Fagundes & Way’s Study In the article, “Early-Life Stress and Adult Inflammation,” the authors provide a literature synopsis of the relationship between early-life stress and inflammation in adulthood.
• Stress Management and Work Performance in the United Kingdom In this society, it is very important for the management of various firms and governmental organizations to take care of the interests of the employees.
• Stress Reduction Programs in an Organization There are different approaches to reducing stress levels in an organization. To choose the appropriate program, it is necessary to assess the available options based on a range of criteria.
• The Effect of Stress on the Immunity With an increase in the concentration of glucocorticoids, the thymus decreases in size and the formation of immune cells is disrupted.
• Mindfulness Meditation to Reduce Nursing Stress Levels This project will discuss nurse stress and the implementation of mindfulness meditation sessions as a main intervention for its reduction. Nurse stress should no longer be ignored, and the effect of mindfulness meditation may be […]
• Relationship Between Stress and Greying of the Hair The main topic of this study was the study of the influence of a negative psychological state of a person on the increase in the number of gray hairs.
• Stress and Its Influence on Human Body Prolonged exposure to stress worsens the body’s resistance and the immune and vegetative systems of a person and disrupts the functioning of hormonal glands and metabolism.
• Aspects of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder They include direct or indirect exposure to stressors, intrusion symptoms, the persistent avoidance of trauma-related stressors, negative alterations in mood and the development of mental health comorbidities, aggression, and self-destructive behavior, the duration for not […]
• Family Health Assessment: Child Poverty, Toxic Stress Because of the nature of their work, and the fact that the two were working even during the pandemic, the father was at one point exposed to Covid-19. The model that will help the family […]
• Dogs: The Stress Coping Mechanisms When the arousal level increases, it helps the body prepare for action and deal with the cause of the stress. The hormone helps them to cope with the stress and to recover from it more […]
• Self-Reported PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress) Symptoms and Social Support At the same time, multiple authors prove that social support and connectedness with family members, relatives, friends, and other members of the community contribute to PTG and the minimization of the signs of PTSD in […]
• Coronary Heart Disease Caused by Stress It is essential to study the degree of influence of stress on the development of coronary heart disease since, in this way, it will be possible to prevent it more successfully.
• Self SWOT: Stress Resistance as the Main Strength However, the irrationality of my organization of time and schedule is a big threat that I will begin to lose control over my studies, which may affect my future career and its trajectory.
• Stress and Its Adverse Health Effects The article’s topic is Stress and Health: A Review of Psychobiological Processes. For instance, when stress increases or is prolonged, the dangers of mental health challenges and medical complications arise.
• Stress Management in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients The study also covered the epidemiological and pathophysiology of RA and looked at data linking psychological trauma to the emergence and aggravation of the clinical disease.
• The Effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on Nurses’ Stress The objectives for each of the three criteria are clearly stated, with the author explaining the aims to the reader well throughout the content in the article’s title, abstract, and introduction.
• Pathophysiology of Stress, Processed Foods, and Risky Alcohol Consumption The body starts to see the fats, sugars, and salt in ultra-processed foods as rewards, which leads to increased cravings and overeating.
• Teachers Wellbeing: Becoming Aware of Work-Relate Stress Teachers who are aware of these stressors early in their careers may be able to minimize their risk of burnout and experience a sense of well-being.
• The Traumas from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Measuring the prevalence and incidence of PTSD requires excellent knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics. The prevalence and incidence of PTSD have increased since 2000.
• Stress and Related Risks in Vulnerable Communities The case study family is between the ages of five and thirty-five years and consists of a father, a mother, and two male children. My rationale behind the ranking is the impact of the risks […]
• COVID-19, Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout The second part of the hypothesis states that the levels of STS and BO among caretakers during the pandemic will be higher than before it.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Preliminary Care Coordination The personal character of trauma and how the patient reacts to it justifies the need to design patient-centered interventions to address this healthcare problem.
• Circumstances Causing Stress in Adolescence Hold one’s breath for many seconds and gently exhale via the mouth to evacuate the lungs, hence easing the body of stress. The more one is stressed, the more difficult and nervous it is to […]
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes and Symptoms The article by Smith entitled Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is valuable because it offers important information on the causes and symptoms of PTSD and ways of recognizing and treating the condition.
• Mishele’s Theory Applied to Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress In other words, the theory addresses the problem of the subjective perception of the treatment outcomes and diseases under the prism of uncertainty.
• Major Depressive Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Her sleep is turbulent, she has rape nightmares, her mood is depressed, and her affect is congruent and constrained. Her mental process is rational and linear, and her mental faculties are largely intact.
• Meditation Effects on Anxiety and Stress My goal in this exercise was to use meditation to manage anxiety and stress and improve my general mental well-being. I am not accustomed to meditation and had to turn to YouTube for guidance.
• Stress and Deviance in College Education The other concept of the connection between deviance and stress is the stress factors. Management of stressors and the consequent effects on deviance among college students is yet to be investigated.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Case Presentation Report Date of initial assessment: N/A PSEUDO Name: Ana Ana is a self-referred and re-occurring client who entered counseling after the case of domestic violence. As a result, Ana expressed feelings of anxiety and fear […]
• Panel: Women’s Stress and COVID-19 It is vital to examine what is known about the connection of women’s stress to COVID-19. Overall, the link between COVID-19 and women’s stress is apparent.
• Effects of Support on Stress in School Principals Threats to living standards and wellbeing, the strain on families and the escalation of injustices, changes in teaching techniques and the role of technology, and the disruption of higher learning and scholarship are among the […]
• The DSM-5 Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder The inference is backed by the fact that Victor’s traumatic situation is persistently manifesting intrusion symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, unwanted upsetting memories, and a lack of willingness to share previous hurtful events. Victor displays […]
• Early Life Stress: Resilience Development in Children For their own and the children’s sake, school counselors may be assigned to a particular institution in primary schools. An attempt to harness the unique qualities and capabilities that evolve in a high-stress setting is […]
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Research Therefore, the advantage of qualitative research, in this case, relates to the ability to investigate patients’ PTSD treatment experiences and uncover their meanings.
• Coping with Stress in Clinical Neuropsychiatry Joseph should be able to identify what is stressing him most, which in this case it is financial issues and the fact that his wife is always annoyed with him because he is always around, […]
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Misapprehension A significant proportion of civilians are affected by post-traumatic stress but ignore the symptoms and fail to seek early interventions influenced by misconceptions about how PTSD develops and its symptoms.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Opioid Use in Veterans This study examined the proportion of United States veterans who had PTSD and engaged in the use of illegal opioids to cope with it or had done so in the past.
• The Impact of Chronic Stress on Pathological Conditions Long-term stress is hazardous, as it damages the mechanisms of self-regulation of the body, leading to constant fluctuations in the level of hormones and unhealthy rhythms of breathing and heartbeat.
• Toxic Stress and Its Negative Effects The experience of toxic stress in the early years of life also negatively affects school performance and the physical development of children.
• Sex-Specific Effects of Music Listening on Couples’ Stress in Everyday Life Wuttke-Linnemann et al.also highlight the presence of gender-specific differences as to how specifically music listening can impact stress among men and women.
• Stress as an Important Psychological Issue The ability to complete work on time, learn new skills at the first request of the bosses, and the need to work overtime – all this is among the constant needs of a modern working […]
• Traumatic Stress Disorders & Treatment It will be based on the hypothesis that trauma has a detrimental impact on a person’s identity and is likely to result in adverse consequences in the future.
• Smoking and Stress Among Veterans The topic is significant to explore because of the misconception that smoking can alleviate the emotional burden of stress and anxiety when in reality, it has an exacerbating effect on emotional stress.
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in A Journal for Jordan Considering the loss of her husband in the war, Dana had not recovered, and the expression of irate reaction is a symptom of PTSD.
• Stress Management Benefits for Health Therefore, stress management strategies are crucial to eliminating the adverse impact of tension and anxiety. Physical activity and socializing are the techniques I have successfully applied to manage stress.
• Nurses’ Mental Health and Stress at Workplace This is the first research to present the viewpoints of mental health nurses on a resilience program. Theoretical ideas of resilience and understanding of mental health nurses’ resilience emerged through constant comparative study and integration […]
• The Relationship Between Stress and Health: Article Summary The implications of the study allow for stating that the increased exposure to stress at work leads to worsened health of the stressed individuals.
• Improving Nurses’ Stress Response During the COVID-19 The article is dedicated to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall health of nurses. It is necessary to study the mental health of nurses further and develop ways to level the negative […]
• Coping with Stress and Physical Health Problems In this regard, Julie, first of all, needs to accept the situation as it is, to appreciate the things and the context that she is no longer able to change.
• A Theorist View of Stress, Human Body and Mind As one can see, both K bler-Ross and Frankl focus on human stress as a form of suffering in the face of insurmountable life troubles, such as death or suffering.
• Employee Stress and Burnout at the Workplace This is done by giving outbreaks to those actively involved in the manufacture of the products and giving leaves for some time; the company has also created shift sessions that allow specified workers to take […]
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Development Avoidance of objects that remind you of the traumatic incident is another symptom of PTSD. Identifying erroneous and unreasonable beliefs about the incident and replacing them with a more balanced image is also part of […]
• Stress Management Techniques for Students: Yoga Yoga’s most major benefits are its capacity to relieve stress and exhaustion, to stimulate and revive, and to be used for anti-aging and calming treatment.
• Sexual Aversion and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder This aspect causes difficulties in prescribing therapy, since the latter requires a thorough study of the psychological nature of the problems. In the treatment of sexual aversion disorder, a doctor needs to investigate a complex […]
• Thoughts on Stress Management and Happiness Although she has all her financial needs met overwhelmingly, her failure to proceed with her studies and get employment makes her feel unsatisfied.
• Workplace Stress Among American Nurses During the Coronavirus Pandemic In this systematic review paper, the researcher seeks to discuss workplace stress among American nurses during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
• Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children The relationship between parents’ experiences and interactions with the onset of PTSD in children will be explored. There is vast information on the management of treatment and prevention of PTSD in children.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Parenting Style On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest, how much do you believe that kids need to learn early who the boss is in the family?
• Heat Stress at Provincial, Federal, and International Levels It formulates the purpose of the report, namely the comparison of norms and regulations for safe work at the provincial, federal and international levels.
• Durations of Vowels: Effect of Stress, Lexical Focus, and Segmental Focus The article in question addresses the correlation between the duration of a vowel and the type of focus or stress. De Jong and Zawaydeh address this phonetic issue on the basis of the Arabic language, […]
• Healthcare Workers’ Stress Coping Strategies This is especially relevant for the mental health domain, as the major flows of resources in the healthcare sectors all over the globe are directed towards combating the main adverse physical consequences of the infection.
• Stress and Depression Among Nursing Students The study aims to determine how different the manifestations of stress and depression are among American nursing students compared to students of other disciplines and what supports nursing students in continuing their education.
• The Stress of Working with Families There is an intricate shared history that is interpreted in different ways by different members, and the boundaries, psychological distances, and roles within and between family subsystems are constantly shifting.
• Coping with Stress: Stress and Health In terms of physical, emotional, and behavioral signs, Julia is experiencing severe stress, which requires the help of specialists and the introduction of various techniques that contribute to the normalization of all aspects of life.
• “Poverty, Toxic Stress, and Education…” Study by Kelly & Li Kelly and Li are concerned with the lack of research about poverty and toxic stress affecting the neurodevelopment of preterm children.
• Prefrontal Cortex and Effects of Stress Exposure However, the inability to control the stressor can reduce the prefrontal cortex’s capacity to regulate stress responses. Exposure to stress noticeably weakens the effectiveness of the prefrontal cortex while stimulating more primitive responses of the […]
• Stress as a Result of Combining Work and Family At the same time, it is difficult to say that such a life on a constant clear schedule contributes to the psychological health of a person.
• Analysis of Stress Management Aspects In the science of stress management, there are a number of practices aimed at strengthening the mental health of the student, thus improving their response to potentially stressful events.
• Phonetics and Phonology of English Word Stress People have trouble pronouncing some words in their L2 due to the influence of their L1 accent. Many students find it challenging to accurately pronounce words in their second language due to the influence of […]
• Adaptation to Stress of Endocrine and Sympathetic Nervous System Stress is a non-specific body reaction that occurs under the action of various extreme factors that threaten the violation of homeostasis and is characterized by stereotypical changes in the function of the nervous and endocrine […]
• The Resilience Handbook: Approaches to Stress and Trauma I was surprised to learn that music is not just the words but also the lyrics in the heart and mind.
• Assessing the Personal Stress Levels To ascertain the levels of stress in my everyday life, I have used several assessment tools. Implementing the “Symptoms of Stress” methodology, I have discovered that the occurrence of stress in my life is quite […]
• Stress Management Techniques The proposed strategies and examples should help students to understand different situations and overcome stress disregarding settings and external factors.
• Occupational Health: Workplace Stress To avoid noise-related stress, Ruth handles her job with a positive attitude and this makes it easy to enjoy work. In conclusion, work-related stress is a major cause of poor performance by employees due to […]
• Humor as the Leading Strategy of Stress Relief The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of humor as one of the leading stress management strategies. In other words, it does not suffice to know the sources of stress, as the […]
• Workplace Stress and Absenteeism in the Ship-Repair Industry: A Case Study This qualitative exploratory case study sought to discover techniques that production and project managers of a ship-repair company in the maritime industry use to minimize.
• Stress Patterns in Police Work: A Longitudinal Study The research problem identified by the investigator relates to the prevalence of distress in the police occupation. The primary variable of the study was the mean stress measure, which was derived from the Langner-22 list […]
• Occupational Stress: Patient Teaching Plan Physical exercise is helpful for the patients with work-related stress and anxiety. Physical exercise helps alleviate work and stress-related pains in different parts of the body.
• Stress Among Secondary and Tertiary Students The results of the study by Pascoe et al.demonstrate that the majority of students report high levels of stress and negative effects on their mental and physical health.
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Workplace What are the weakness of the study and how can it be improved. According to I/O psychologist work is done to obtain productivity and to improve the quality of life of the clients.
• Free Radicals, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants The presence of ROS in excess causes oxidative stress in the body, leading to the oxidation of proteins and lipids and the transformation of their structures and roles in the body.
• Stress From a Biblical Perspective The Bible, in that case, provides a sense of hope and relief which leads to relaxation. In 1 Samuel 30:1-31, Amalekites exploited the opportunity of David and his men’s absence in the south city of […]
• Dealing With Stress: What Makes One’s Life Complete Carrying the burden of stress, I became rather reserved and unwilling to socialize, which led to certain misconceptions among my friends and me.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Pathophysiology Sakellariou and Stefanatou, further link threat responsiveness and fear regulation with the signalling of 5-HT within the amygdala; this is an area within the brain deemed essential in comprehending the reaction to fear and aetiology […]
• Workplace Yoga Reducing Stress in Employees Since the key idea of a project is to sell the yoga and meditation practice program to the other departments of a firm, it is important to understand the expected benefits.
• Cross-National Job Stress: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study That is why, in order to fill the substantial research gap, the exploratory study of Liu et al.examines the perceptions of job stress in two culturally dissimilar countries the United States and China using both […]
• The Effectiveness of Occupational Stress Management However, as it relates to analyzing the shipbuilding and ship-repair industries, the level of occupational stress is higher in comparison to other sectors of the economy, and the effectiveness of managing the problem is lower.
• Coping With Stress in Breast Cancer Patients Therefore, it is important for research experts to ensure and guarantee adherence to methodologies and guidelines that define scientific inquiry. However, various discrepancies manifest with regard to the initiation and propagation of research studies.
• Changes in Life and Psychological Stress Assessment The vagueness of the evaluation system and the lack of precision in terms of results assessment, however, beg the question whether psychological assessments can be trusted.
• Nursing Work Stress Level During Pandemics In the case of this project, the DNP student was able to review at length the issue of occupational stress in nursing.
• Stress Management Through Transcendental Meditation Thus, to improve productivity and the general wellbeing of its employees, a company ought to offer stress management program. However, transcendental meditation seems to be the most beneficial as it enables people to deal with […]
• Stress Analysis of Thin Walled Structures and Results This consideration takes the priority of the passengers’ safety to ensure they do not experience the effects of either deformation or heat dissipated by the parts involved in the impact.”At the same time other structural […]
• Advanced Stress Analysis – Characteristic of Model The choice of approach is done in the preliminary stages of structural design of shapes. 893Kg/mm3 The density of the envelope is 1.
• The Unified Trauma Theory of High-Stress Level Fatigue a Case of Loyola University The steps of this process are outlined, concluding with definitions and a description of the middle range theory of unified trauma theory of high-stress fatigue, which was developed.
• Stress Sources in a Detective’s Life One of the morale issues that can result from the behavior of the detective is the segregation of the detective by his workmates and none of them might want to work with him.
• Effects of Obesity on Neuroendocrine, and Immune Cell Responses to Stress All the participants of the experiment including obese and non-obese women were scheduled to days one to ten by their menstrual cycle. Statistic and comparative analyses were performed to compare the results of obese and […]
• Health and Wellness: Stress, Diabetes and Tobacco Related Problems Emotional health and well being refers to our ability to deal with our emotions as well as the emotions of those around us.
• Effective Use of Prazosin for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder All the traditional agents have shown to have several side effects and cannot be fully relied on in treatment of PTSD.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Diagnostics and Screening Do you observe a headache from the early morning? Do you have a headache when you sleep well?
• Effect of Stress Hormones on Brain Cells Cortisol hormone is responsible for the shrinking of the hippocampal volume that controls the formation of new neurons in the brain cells, and it may lead to depression.
• BMI and Stress Levels Among Students in the US
• Conger’s Stress and Family With Children
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Dealing With Grief – Stress Factors
• Stress at Work: Creating Healthy Organisations
• Wholeness Meeting to Deal With Stress in School
• Family Nursing and Stress Theory
• Adult Life Stress: Assessment Tools Analysis
• Personal Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques
• Relation Work – Stress – Health
• Stress, Emotional Intelligence, and Job Performance Correlation in Nursing
• Managing Stress Through Communication Skills in Nursing
• The Effectiveness of ICU Nurses in Reducing Stress among Family Members
• Mindfulness-Based Stress and Burnout Reduction in Nurses
• Stress-Strain Relation of Stainless Steel After Exposure to Fire
• Identifying Causes of Stress among Nurses
• Definition and Concept of Stress in Nursing
• Nursing Burnout: Increased Stress Experienced by Nurses
• Emotions and Stress on the Job
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Among Vets
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Overview
• Nurses and Stress: Mindfulness Meditation Program
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment in Intellectually Disabled Patients: The Promise of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy
• Stress Management in University Students
• Women in the West Who Are Put Under Stress Due to Social Media
• Stress in the Teaching Fraternity
• Work Related Stress: Symptoms and Management
• Stress at Work: Main Aspects, Globalization Influence
• Client Diagnosis: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Stress Test Process to a Community Issue
• Employees’ Stress and Burnout
• Disaster Crisis: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
• Yoga and Stress Reduction
• Managing Stress: A Reflection of Personal Experience
• Personal & Professional Development: Managing Stress
• Stress Symptoms and Management
• Living With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• How Stress Affects Learning in Middle School
• Motivation, Emotion, Stress, Health and Work
• The Role of Stress in Our Everyday Life
• Employee Stress Causes in Different Countries
• Socio-Cultural and Stress Models in Diagnosis
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Rape Attempt
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes and Consequences
• Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Disease
• Stress, Depression and Psychoneuroimmunology
• How Can College Students Cope With Stress
• Stress, Its Effects on Health
• Causes and Effects of Marital Stress on the Health of Women
• Academic Related Sicknesses: Stress in Medical Students
• Stress Management and Wellness Programs by Corporate Sector
• Work Stress: Coping Through Work-Life Programs
• The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Suppression and the Academic and Life Stress Levels
• Health and Stress in College Students
• Stress: Causes, Sources and Symptoms
• Sources of Stress Among African American Students
• Stress and Medical Students’ Lifes
• Impact of Stress on Intimate Relationship
• Stress of Police Officers and How They Cope With It
• Educational Psychology: Student Learning and Stress
• Acute and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders
• Impacts of High Stress Levels on Teachers
• Stress Management Under Organizational Psychology
• Stress and Higher Education Student: A Critical Review
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: German Researches
• Preventing Burnout in Preschool Teachers
• Can Stress Be Fattening: Discussion
• Sports Demands and Stress Management in Athletics
• Holmes and Rahe Stress Test and Coping Strategies
• Reducing Nurses’ Stress: A Web-Based Management Program
• Depression and Anxiety Due to School and Work-Related Stress
• Mental Healthcare in Louisiana: Growth in Stress Rates
• Student Loans and Financial Stress
• How Nurses Cope with Job Stress
• Family Stress and Crisis: We Got Through It
• Stress Among African American College Students
• Stress Can Affect Future Generations’ Genes
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veteran Community
• Evidence-Based Procedures That Reduce Stress and Promote Health
• UAE: Stress Management and Organizational Performance
• Organizational Concern: Job Stress and Burnout
• “Emotional Freedom Technique and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” by Rebecca L. Fahey
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Treatment Effectiveness
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Missouri Veterans
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Management in Children
• College Student Work Habits, Interruptions, and Stress
• Stress Factors in the Queer Community
• Chronobiology and Stress in Horses
• Horse Transportation and Stress-Reducing Strategies
• Newly Graduated Nurses and Stress: Study Analysis
• Heat Stress in Flight Cockpits in the Desert Climate
• Employment and Stress Management
• Spiritual Life: Avoiding Stress Burnout
• Interviewing the Patient: Stress and Anxiety Reasons
• Productivity and Work-Related Stress in the UAE
• Workplace Stress and Labor Law in the United Kingdom
• Stress Management: Personal Success Plan
• Does Locus of Control and Motivation Predict Occupational Stress?
• Modern Workplace Issues: Stress, Conflict, Quality
• Occupational Stress in the Maritime Industry
• Racial Disparities in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Hispanic Teenager
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment in Soldier
• Stress Impact on Self-Esteam and Personal Growth
• Employee Motivation, Termination, and Work Stress
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Modality Treatment Plan
• Anxiety Disorder: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Crisis Intervention Model and Critical Stress Management
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Theories
• Emotion Regulation and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Workplace Stress and Mitigating Measures
• Stress Factors in the Fire Service
• Stress, Conflict and Misunderstandings in the Workplace
• Stress Increases the Desire to Eat Sweets
• How Coffee Affects Stress?
• Burnout, Compassion Fatigue and Stress at Workplace
• Stress Assessment Questionnaire Ethical Usage
• Stress in Policing: Reasons and Effects
• Meditation as a Way to Alleviate Stress
• Stress Management for Life
• Sexual Harassment and Psychological Stress
• Prenatal Maternal Stress Outcomes
• Discretion, Job Stress, and Other Policing Issues
• Workplace Stress Management Programs
• Kant’s and Mill’s Ideas for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Intimate Partner Violence and Maternal Stress
• Stress Statistics, Definition, and Perception
• Physiological Mechanism of Stress
• Post-Traumatic Stress and Evidence-Based Practice
• Stress as a Risk Factor for Inflammation
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assets and Facilities
• Minority Stress and Health: Societal Issues
• Housewives’ Compensation and Stress Factors
• Stress and Eating Behavior
• Ways to Manage Stress and Enhance Well-Being for Students
• Police Stress Within Law Enforcement
• To Better Cope With Stress, Listen to Your Body
• “Stress” Video and “A Natural Fix for ADHD” Article
• Organizational Stress and Job Satisfaction Relationships
• The Effect Job Stress on Satisfaction with Life
• Ethics Code for Human Participation in Stress Reduction
• Office 2010 Transformation: Stress Management Plan
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Combat Fatigue
• Genentech Inc.’s Workplace Stress Management
• Stress, Depression, and Responses to Them
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Caucasian Girl’ Case
• Students’ Stress Levels in Kean University
• Acute Stress Disorder: Cynthia’s Treatment Case
• Great Recession Impact on Workplace Stress
• Food and Stress Relationship: Psychological Factor
• Stress Management Strategies in Applied Psychology
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Soldiers
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Gender Variations
• Stress Impacts on the Human Development
• Stress Levels and Stress Management Methods
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Joseph Wolpe Treatment Theory
• Reducing Stress: Cognitive Patterns and Behaviors Changing
• Stress: Effects and Management Proposal
• Health Psychology: Eating and Stress’ Relations
• Stress and Recovery After Rape
• The Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory – Psychology
• Mood and Stress Psychology: Causes, Effects and Treatments
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Psychology
• Managing Stress and Depression at Work Places – Psychology
• Job’ Stress and Depression
• Stress and Burnout in Law Enforcement
• Police and Corrections Officers’ Stress – Psychology
• Stress and Strains in the Renaissance Society
• Infidelity as a Cause of Divorce and Stress Disorder
• Walmart Company: Reducing Employee Stress
• Stress Reduction at Work
• Stress’ Definition and Effects
• Suggestions on Stress Management
• Correlation Study of the Relationship Between Individual Resilience, Hope, Stress and Humour
• Stress & Its Effects on the Brain and Body
• Ability to Manage Stress as the Most Important Skill of Effective Communicators
• Stress Management and Work Performance in the UK
• The Relationship Between Employee Productivity and Work Related Stress
• The Caregiver Burnout and Long-Term Stress
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Principles and Types
• Solutions for Students to Reduce Stress in University Life
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans
• The Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Depression, Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress for Women After Spousal Emotional Abuse
• Critical Evaluation of Stress Management Approaches
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments
• Critical Review of a Mental Disorder: The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in DSM-IV-TR
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Treatment
• Underlying Issues Associated with Sleep Disorders and Stress
• How College Athletes Deal with Stress and Manage Time
• Impact and Strategies of Fiscal Stress on States and Municipalities
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Abused Women
• Acute Stress Reaction and Acute Stress Disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: History and Symptoms
• Biological Factors Involved in Stress
• Posttraumatic stress. The Case of Mary
• Stress Management among Customer Service Employees: Antecedents & Interventions
• Depression: Law Enforcement Officers and Stress
• The Impact of Stress & Unpleasant Feelings on People
• The Causes of Stress in the Contemporary Society
• Earthquakes as a Cause of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Workplace Stress Problem
• Reducing Stress in Al-Khobar
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Developed in Repeated War Zones Deployment
• Towards Understanding Stress-Related Issues Affecting First Year Students on Their Transition Into University Culture
• Stress and Injury in Sports
• Family, Stress and Delinquency among Adolescent
• Effects of stress on physical health
• Stress at the Workplace for Correctional Officers
• Human Stress and Dale Carnegie
• “Denial: A Memoir” a Book by Jessica Stern
• Adjustment in Psychology: Stress
• Reaction to Stress: Flight or Fight
• Conflict and Stress: Their Potential Impact on a Project
• How Stress Affects Different Personality Types
• Abnormal Psychology: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Diverse Effects of the Work Related Stress
• Problems of the Employee Stress in Organizations
• Managing Time and Stress
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Tim O’Brien’s “In the Lake of Woods”
• Randomized Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in Adult Female Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
• How Stress Affects Your Physical Health?
• The Experiment to Prove the Fact That Psychological Stress Causes Headache
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Assessment and Treatment Strategies
• Controlling Stress and Tension
• Research Application of How College Athletes Deal with Stress and Manage Time
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans and How Family Relationships Are Affected
• Self Efficacy, Stress & Coping, and Headspace Program
• Characteristics and Treatments of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Analysis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Personnel
• Work-Related Stress: Impeding Organization’s Success
• Does Cardiorespiratory Fitness Buffer Stress Reactivity and Stress Recovery in Police Officers?
• What Does Stress Really Stress?
• Where Does Stress Come From and How Does It Affect a Pregnant Mother and Her Unborn Child?
• Can Stress Cause Severe Headache?
• Does Compressing High School Duration Affect Students’ Stress and Mental Health?
• Does Regular Exercise Reduce Stress Levels?
• How Long Does Birth Trauma Last?
• Does Telework Stress Employees Out?
• Can Detox Tea Relieve Stress?
• Are Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Avoidant Coping Inhibitory Factors?
• What makes Stress and Burnout?
• Can Stress Cause Coronary Heart Disease?
• Can Local Stress Enhancement Induce Stability in Fracture Processes?
• What Cause Students Stress?
• Does Practical Parenting Stress You Out?
• What Does Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Truly Mean?
• Does Elevated Job Stress Affect Smoking Levels?
• What Causes Psychological Stress?
• Does Prolonged Stress Increase the Likelihood of a Stroke?
• Can Music Therapy Improve Stress Anxiety?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Buffer the Effects of Acute Stress?
• Whether Stress Have Any Effect on the Productivity of Employees in an Organization?
• Can Simulated Green Exercise Improve Recovery From Acute Mental Stress?
• Can Social Support Alleviate Stress While Shopping in Crowded Retail Environments?
• Can the Attention Training Technique Reduce Stress in Students?
• Are Certain Personalities More Prone to Stress?
• Can Stress Trigger Diseases?
• Does Acute Stress Impact Declarative and Procedural Learning?
• Does Prenatal Stress Shape Postnatal Resilience?
• Are Quebecers More Stressed Out at Work Than Others?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/stress-essay-examples/

"420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/stress-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/stress-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/stress-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/stress-essay-examples/.

• Mental Illness Research Topics
• Human Development Research Ideas
• Abnormal Psychology Paper Topics
• Cognitive Development Essay Ideas
• Depression Essay Topics
• Health Promotion Research Topics
• Mindfulness Research Ideas
• Positive Psychology Titles

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Best Family Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources
• Personality Types
• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2024 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

Top 10 Stress Management Techniques for Students

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Akeem Marsh, MD, is a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist who has dedicated his career to working with medically underserved communities.

Most students experience significant amounts of stress. This can significantly affect their health, happiness, relationships, and grades. Learning stress management techniques can help these students avoid negative effects in these areas.

Why Stress Management Is Important for Students

A study by the American Psychological Association (APA) found that teens report stress levels similar to adults. This means teens are experiencing significant levels of chronic stress and feel their stress levels generally exceed their ability to cope effectively .

Roughly 30% of the teens reported feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or sad because of their stress.

Stress can also affect health-related behaviors. Stressed students are more likely to have problems with disrupted sleep, poor diet, and lack of exercise. This is understandable given that nearly half of APA survey respondents reported completing three hours of homework per night in addition to their full day of school work and extracurriculars.

Common Causes of Student Stress

Another study found that much of high school students' stress originates from school and activities, and that this chronic stress can persist into college years and lead to academic disengagement and mental health problems.

Top Student Stressors

Common sources of student stress include:

• Extracurricular activities
• Social challenges
• Transitions (e.g., graduating, moving out , living independently)
• Relationships
• Pressure to succeed

High school students face the intense competitiveness of taking challenging courses, amassing impressive extracurriculars, studying and acing college placement tests, and deciding on important and life-changing plans for their future. At the same time, they have to navigate the social challenges inherent to the high school experience.

This stress continues if students decide to attend college. Stress is an unavoidable part of life, but research has found that increased daily stressors put college-aged young adults at a higher risk for stress than other age groups.

Making new friends, handling a more challenging workload, feeling pressured to succeed, being without parental support, and navigating the stresses of more independent living are all added challenges that make this transition more difficult. Romantic relationships always add an extra layer of potential stress.

Students often recognize that they need to relieve stress . However, all the activities and responsibilities that fill a student’s schedule sometimes make it difficult to find the time to try new stress relievers to help dissipate that stress.

10 Stress Management Techniques for Students

Here you will learn 10 stress management techniques for students. These options are relatively easy, quick, and relevant to a student’s life and types of stress .

Get Enough Sleep

Blend Images - Hill Street Studios / Brand X Pictures / Getty Images

Students, with their packed schedules, are notorious for missing sleep. Unfortunately, operating in a sleep-deprived state puts you at a distinct disadvantage. You’re less productive, may find it more difficult to learn, and may even be a hazard behind the wheel.

Research suggests that sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness are also linked to impaired mood, higher risk for car accidents, lower grade point averages, worse learning, and a higher risk of academic failure.

Don't neglect your sleep schedule. Aim to get at least 8 hours a night and take power naps when needed.

Use Guided Imagery

David Malan / Getty Images

Guided imagery can also be a useful and effective tool to help stressed students cope with academic, social, and other stressors. Visualizations can help you calm down, detach from what’s stressing you, and reduce your body’s stress response.

You can use guided imagery to relax your body by sitting in a quiet, comfortable place, closing your eyes, and imagining a peaceful scene. Spend several minutes relaxing as you enjoy mentally basking in your restful image.

Consider trying a guided imagery app if you need extra help visualizing a scene and inducting a relaxation response. Research suggests that such tools might be an affordable and convenient way to reduce stress.

Exercise Regularly

One of the healthiest ways to blow off steam is to get regular exercise . Research has found that students who participate in regular physical activity report lower levels of perceived stress. While these students still grapple with the same social, academic, and life pressures as their less-active peers, these challenges feel less stressful and are easier to manage.

Finding time for exercise might be a challenge, but there are strategies that you can use to add more physical activity to your day. Some ideas that you might try include:

• Doing yoga in the morning
• Walking or biking to class
• Reviewing for tests with a friend while walking on a treadmill at the gym
• Taking an elective gym class focused on leisure sports or exercise
• Joining an intramural sport

Exercise can help buffer against the negative effects of student stress. Starting now and keeping a regular exercise practice throughout your lifetime can help you live longer and enjoy your life more.

Take Calming Breaths

When your body is experiencing a stress response, you’re often not thinking as clearly as you could be. You are also likely not breathing properly. You might be taking short, shallow breaths. When you breathe improperly, it upsets the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your body.

Studies suggest this imbalance can contribute to various physical symptoms, including increased anxiety, fatigue, stress, emotional problems, and panic attacks.

A quick way to calm down is to practice breathing exercises . These can be done virtually anywhere to relieve stress in minutes.

Because they are fast-acting, breathing exercises are a great way to cope with moments of acute stress , such as right before an exam or presentation. But they can also help manage longer-lasting stress such as dealing with relationships, work, or financial problems.

Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

Another great stress management technique for students that can be used during tests, before bed, or at other times when stress has you physically wound up is progressive muscle relaxation ( PMR ).

This technique involves tensing and relaxing all muscles until the body is completely relaxed. With practice, you can learn to release stress from your body in seconds. This can be particularly helpful for students because it can be adapted to help relaxation efforts before sleep for a deeper sleep.

Once a person learns how to use PMR effectively, it can be a quick and handy way to induce relaxation in any stressful situation, such as bouts of momentary panic before a speech or exam, dealing with a disagreement with your roommate, or preparing to discuss a problem with your academic advisor.

Listen to Music

A convenient stress reliever that has also shown many cognitive benefits, music can help relieve stress and calm yourself down or stimulate your mind depending on what you need in the moment.

Research has found that playing upbeat music can improve processing speed and memory. Stressed students may find that listening to relaxing music can help calm the body and mind. One study found that students who listened to the sounds of relaxing music were able to recover more quickly after a stressful situation.

Students can harness the benefits of music by playing classical music while studying, playing upbeat music to "wake up" mentally, or relaxing with the help of their favorite slow melodies.

Build Your Support Network

Halfpoint Images / Getty Images

Having emotional support can help create a protective buffer against stress. Unfortunately,  interpersonal relationships can also sometimes be a source of anxiety for students. Changes in friendships, romantic breakups, and life transitions such as moving away for college can create significant upheaval and stress for students.

One way to combat feelings of loneliness and make sure that you have people to lean on in times of need is to expand your support network and nurture your relationships.

Look for opportunities to meet new people, whether it involves joining study groups or participating in other academic, social, and leisure activities.

Remember that different types of relationships offer differing types of support . Your relationships with teachers, counselors, and mentors can be a great source of information and resources that may help you academically. Relationships with friends can provide emotional and practical support.

Widening your social circle can combat student stress on various fronts and ensure you have what you need to succeed.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Niedring/Drentwett / Getty Images

You may not realize it, but your diet can either boost your brainpower or sap you of mental energy. It can also make you more reactive to the stress in your life. As a result, you might find yourself turning to high-sugar, high-fat snacks to provide a temporary sense of relief.

A healthy diet can help combat stress in several ways. Improving your diet can keep you from experiencing diet-related mood swings, light-headedness, and more.

Unfortunately, students are often prone to poor dietary habits. Feelings of stress can make it harder to stick to a consistently healthy diet, but other concerns such as finances, access to cooking facilities, and time to prepare healthy meals can make it more challenging for students.

Some tactics that can help students make healthy choices include:

• Eating regularly
• Carrying a water bottle to class
• Keeping healthy snacks such as fruits and nuts handy
• Limiting caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol intake

Find Ways to Minimize Stress

One way to improve your ability to manage student stress is to look for ways you cut stress out of your life altogether. Evaluate the things that are bringing stress or anxiety into your life. Are they necessary? Are they providing more benefits than the toll they take on your mental health? If the answer is no, sometimes the best option is just to ditch them altogether.

This might mean cutting some extracurricular activities out of your schedule. It might mean limiting your use of social media. Or it might mean learning to say no to requests for your time, energy, and resources. 

While it might be challenging at first, learning how to prioritize yourself and your mental well-being is an important step toward reducing your stress.

Try Mindfulness

When you find yourself dealing with stress—whether it's due to academics, relationships, financial pressures, or social challenges—becoming more aware of how you feel in the moment may help you respond more effectively.

Mindfulness involves becoming more aware of the present moment. Rather than judging, reacting, or avoiding problems, the goal is to focus on the present, become more aware of how you are feeling, observe your reactions, and accept these feelings without passing judgment on them.

Research suggests that mindfulness-based stress management practices can be a useful tool for reducing student stress. Such strategies may also help reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.

A Word From Verywell

It is important to remember that stress isn't the same for everyone. Figuring out what works for you may take some trial and error. A good start is to ensure that you are taking care of yourself physically and emotionally and to experiment with different stress relief strategies to figure out what works best to help you feel less stressed.

If stress and anxiety are causing distress or making it difficult to function in your daily life, it is important to seek help. Many schools offer resources that can help, including face-to-face and online mental health services. You might start by talking to your school counselor or student advisor about the stress you are coping with. You can also talk to a parent, another trusted adult, or your doctor.

If you or a loved one are struggling with anxiety, contact the  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline  at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.

For more mental health resources, see our  National Helpline Database .

American Psychological Association. Stress in America: Are Teens Adopting Adults' Stress Habits?

Leonard NR, Gwadz MV, Ritchie A, et al. A multi-method exploratory study of stress, coping, and substance use among high school youth in private schools . Front Psychol. 2015;6:1028. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01028

Acharya L, Jin L, Collins W. College life is stressful today - Emerging stressors and depressive symptoms in college students . J Am Coll Health . 2018;66(7):655-664. doi:10.1080/07448481.2018.1451869

Beiter R, Nash R, McCrady M, Rhoades D, Linscomb M, Clarahan M, Sammut S. The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students . J Affect Disord . 2015;173:90-6. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054

Hershner SD, Chervin RD. Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students . Nat Sci Sleep . 2014;6:73-84. doi:10.2147/NSS.S62907

Gordon JS, Sbarra D, Armin J, Pace TWW, Gniady C, Barraza Y. Use of a guided imagery mobile app (See Me Serene) to reduce COVID-19-related stress: Pilot feasibility study . JMIR Form Res . 2021;5(10):e32353. doi:10.2196/32353

Cowley J, Kiely J, Collins D. Is there a link between self-perceived stress and physical activity levels in Scottish adolescents ? Int J Adolesc Med Health . 2017;31(1). doi:10.1515/ijamh-2016-0104

Paulus MP.  The breathing conundrum-interoceptive sensitivity and anxiety .  Depress Anxiety . 2013;30(4):315–320. doi:10.1002/da.22076

Toussaint L, Nguyen QA, Roettger C, Dixon K, Offenbächer M, Kohls N, Hirsch J, Sirois F. Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery in promoting psychological and physiological states of relaxation . Evid Based Complement Alternat Med . 2021;2021:5924040. doi:10.1155/2021/5924040.

Gold BP, Frank MJ, Bogert B, Brattico E.  Pleasurable music affects reinforcement learning according to the listener .  Front Psychol . 2013;4:541. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00541

Thoma MV, La Marca R, Brönnimann R, Finkel L, Ehlert U, Nater UM.  The effect of music on the human stress response .  PLoS ONE . 2013;8(8):e70156. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070156

American Psychological Association. Manage stress: Strengthen your support network .

Nguyen-rodriguez ST, Unger JB, Spruijt-metz D.  Psychological determinants of emotional eating in adolescence.   Eat Disord . 2009;17(3):211-24. doi:10.1080/10640260902848543

Parsons D, Gardner P, Parry S, Smart S. Mindfulness-based approaches for managing stress, anxiety and depression for health students in tertiary education: A scoping review . Mindfulness (N Y) . 2022;13(1):1-16. doi:10.1007/s12671-021-01740-3

By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Essay on Stress Management

500 words essay on stress management.

Stress is a very complex phenomenon that we can define in several ways. However, if you put them together, it is basically the wear and tear of daily life. Stress management refers to a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies for controlling a person’s stress level, especially chronic stress . If there is effective stress management, we can help one another break the hold of stress on our lives. The essay on stress management will throw light on the very same thing.

Identifying the Source of Stress

The first step of stress management is identifying the source of stress in your life. It is not as easy as that but it is essential. The true source of stress may not always be evident as we tend to overlook our own stress-inducing thoughts and feelings.

For instance, you might constantly worry about meeting your deadline. But, in reality, maybe your procrastination is what leads to this stress than the actual deadline. In order to identify the source of stress, we must look closely within ourselves.

If you explain away stress as temporary, then it may be a problem. Like if you yourself don’t take a breather from time to time, what is the point? On the other hand, is stress an integral part of your work and you acknowledging it like that?

If you make it a part of your personality, like you label things as crazy or nervous energy, you need to look further. Most importantly, do you blame the stress on people around you or the events surrounding you?

It is essential to take responsibility for the role one plays in creating or maintaining stress. Your stress will remain outside your control if you do not do it.

Strategies for Stress Management

It is obvious that we cannot avoid all kinds of stress but there are many stressors in your life which you can definitely eliminate. It is important to learn how to say no and stick to them.  Try to avoid people who stress you out.

Further, if you cannot avoid a stressful situation, try altering it. Express your feelings don’t bottle them up and manage your time better. Moreover, you can also adapt to the stressor if you can’t change it.

Reframe problems and look at the big picture. Similarly, adjust your standards and focus on the positive side. Never try to control the uncontrollable. Most importantly, make time for having fun and relaxing.

Spend some time with nature, go for a walk or call a friend, whatever pleases you.  You can also try working out, listening to music and more. As long as it makes you happy, never give up.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Stress Management

All in all, we can control our stress levels with relaxation techniques that evoke the relaxation response of our body. It is the state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response. Thus, when you practice these techniques regularly, you can build your resilience and heal yourself.

FAQ of Essay on Stress Management

Question 1: What is the importance of stress management?

Answer 1: Stress management is very efficient as it helps in breaking the hold which stress has on our lives. Moreover, you can also become happy, healthy and more productive because of it. The ultimate goal should be to live a balanced life and have the resilience to hold up under pressure.

Question 2: Give some stress management techniques.

Answer 2: There are many stress management techniques through which one can reduce stress in their lives. One can change their situation or their reaction to it. We can try by altering the situation. If not, we can change our attitudes towards it. Remember, accept things that you cannot change.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Download the App

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

The impact of stress on students’ academic performance

Eureka: Journal of Educational Research

This study assessed the impact of stress on the academic performance of students in the Bolgatanga Technical University. It investigated the causes of stress, the symptoms of stress, the effects of stress and how students can overcome stress. The quantitative research strategy was used for the study. The research data collection was preceded by a literature review to provide an in-depth understanding of the research topic. A structured questionnaire designed in the form of a Likert-Scale was administered to One Hundred and Forty (140) students who were the participants of the study. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the results were presented in the form of descriptive statistics using the Relative Importance Index (RII). The study revealed that several factors namely high cost of living, poor time management, limited facilities, difficult relations and the workload caused stress among students of the Bolgatanga Technical University. ...

Related Papers

Prof. Tom Nyamache

Journal of International Cooperation and Development

akinjare A omolade

The study was set out to assess the adequacy of supporting facilities provided in private Universities Ogun State from the users’ perspective. To achieve the aim, five objectives were set and resolved, These include ascertainment of the characteristics of students in the private Universities, identification of the basic supporting facilities available in the a private Universities, investigation of the students’ perception of the adequacy of supporting facilities, determination of the student’s level of satisfaction with the available supporting facilities and finally, examination of the relationship between the student’s characteristics and their satisfaction level with the adequacy of supporting facilities. The population for the study comprised of the students of private Universities (Covenant University, Ota, Bells University of Technology, Ota and Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo). Data for the study was collected with the aid of structured questionnaires which were distributed...

Generoso Mazo

The causes and levels of stress vary. The study of Political Science is basically a rigorous one as it is designed as a preparatory course for the study of law proper and can be a source of stress for students. This study sought to determine the causes of stress, the effects of stress, and the stress coping mechanisms of Political Science students in the Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City. It tested some assumptions using the descriptive survey method with 51 respondents. School requirements/projects was the most common cause of stress. Sleepless nights was the common effect of stress. It was observed that the causes and effects of stress between the male and female respondents were not different. Listening to music was the common stress coping mechanism. There was an observed difference between the male and female responses.

International Journal for Innovation Education and Research

The causes, levels of stress, and coping mechanisms vary. The study of Social Work course is basically a rigorous one as it is designed to prepare students for the actual demands in the world of work, specifically on social issues and problems and on community organizing. This study sought to determine the causes of stress, the effects of stress, and the stress coping mechanisms of Bachelor of Science in Social Work students in the Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City. It tested some assumptions using the descriptive survey method with 54 respondents. Quizzes/examinations, school requirements/projects and recitations were the most common stressors. Sleepless nights was the common effects of stress. There was disparity on the causes and effects of stress between the male and female respondents. Praying to God was the common stress coping mechanism. No disparity was observed between the male and female coping mechanisms.

The causes, levels of stress, and coping mechanisms vary. The study of Bachelor of Elementary Education course is basically a rigorous one as it is designed to prepare students for the actual demands in the world of work, specifically the elementary school classroom. This study sought to determine the causes of stress, the effects of stress, and the stress coping mechanisms of Bachelor of Elementary Education students in the Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City. This is a replication study. It tested some assumptions using the descriptive survey method with 316 respondents. Recitations and practicum/demonstration were the most common stressors. Disparity was observed in the causes of stress for the male and female students. Males became irritable/moody, had headache and felt sad/lonely while the females experienced sleepless nights and low performance in class as effects of stress. Disparity was observed in the effects of stress among the male and female respondents. Praying to Go...

molyn mpofu

Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn)

Hazreena Hussein

Publisher ijmra.us UGC Approved

This research investigated how much stress is induced by various study-related factors, in undergraduate students belonging to a renowned university in Karachi along with the unhealthy coping strategy the students use to manage the stress. The study related factors considered for the purpose of the study were curriculum and instruction based stress, teacher-student relationship, assessment system and different components related to academic work. A survey in which questionnaires were administered to hundred students was conducted. The data were analyzed quantitatively to determine the percentages of stress induced by the various factors. The study found that student-teacher relationship is the strongest factor that causes stress in the undergraduate students specifically when teachers do not deliver the lectures effectively and give assignments and presentations to students without clear guidelines and instructions. The second important factor that causes stress was the different components of academic life, such as, parental expectations and pressures to achieve one's goals. Assessment system was found to be the third key factor inducing stress and affecting students' cognitive and psychological functioning. The most commonly used unhealthy coping strategy for stress management was procrastination. In light of the findings, it is recommended that importance be given to teacher training to ensure that instruction is proper and healthy teacher student relationship exists. Effective support programs, workshops, seminars, and different awareness programs should be arranged for promoting awareness regarding mental health in educational institutions. Moreover, additional zero credit courses should be offered to teach students how to learn stress management and healthy coping skills. * Lectures(psychology)at FAST National University of computer and emerging scinces ** Head of department(scinces and humanities)at Hamdard University, Pakistan

RELATED PAPERS

Misael Vazquez

Marian Zaloaga

Arxiu d'Etnografia de Catalunya

Blanca Deusdad

Antonio Simao

Luis Arturo Alvarez

jose omar lopez montoya

Meldo andi jaya

Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

European Journal of Plastic Surgery

Abdi Ibrahim

Critical Care

Hamid bouguetof

International Orthopaedics

isam Sami moghamis

Journal of Cell Science

Howard Fearnhead

Nurhasmadiar Nandini

Nabila Messiliti

Rodrigo Henrique

Vst - Vie Sociale Et Traitements

Michelle Chanonat

Placemaking and Cultural Landscapes

Olimpia Niglio

Estudos de Biologia

Luiz Simone

Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia

Eddie Oosthuizen

JOSÉ OZILDO DOS SANTOS

Ramón García-sanz

International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)

Ismi Rajiani

Nazmul Ahsan

Social Science Research Network

yannick malevergne

Urdu Duniya

AASIM S O H A I L SYED

Journal : TRISANGAM INTERNATIONAL REFEREED JOURNAL

GANESH JODDAR

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

'Adjusting the sails' on student stress

Asu professor's study on coping with stress in college earns lasting impact award.

Photo courtesy iStock/Getty Images

The impact of stress on individuals in work and educational contexts poses a significant financial burden, particularly in the workplace, estimated at around $300 billion annually.

And while some stress is to be expected as part of the college experience, according to Christopher P. Neck , the pressure for college students to excel and find a good job is more complex and pervasive than ever before.

Neck, a professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, co-authored a paper titled “Effective Stress Management: A Model of Emotional Intelligence, Self-Leadership, and Student Stress Coping” with four other academics Neck’s co-authors include Jeffery D. Houghton, Jinpei Wu, Jeffrey L. Godwin and Charles C. Manz. to explain the complex interplay of emotional intelligence and self-leadership in enhancing students' ability to manage stress effectively.

5 tips for stress regulation

1. Cultivate emotional intelligence: Develop your emotional intelligence by enhancing your ability to perceive, understand and regulate your own emotions.

2. Practice self-leadership: Embrace self-leadership principles to take control of your thoughts, feelings and actions. 

3. Engage in positive self-talk: Foster a positive mindset by engaging in constructive self-talk. 

4. Utilize stress coping strategies: Equip yourself with effective stress coping strategies to manage academic pressures and life transitions.

5. Foster a growth mindset: Cultivate a growth mindset by embracing challenges as opportunities for learning and personal growth.

The Journal of Management Education published the paper in 2012, and a decade later, the research’s relevance has not only persisted but also gained recognition for its enduring impact on the field.

That’s why it was awarded the 2023 Lasting Impact Award by the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society and Sage Publications. This accolade is awarded to publications that have significantly influenced management education or educators, providing insights that remain relevant and vital over the years. The recognition underscores the article’s substantial influence and role in shaping educational approaches to stress management.

As we approach the presentation of this award at the 51st annual MOBTS Teaching Conference in June 2024 and in recognition of  Mental Health Awareness Month , it is poignant to reflect on the developments since the article’s publication and consider the future trajectory of this research area.

ASU News spoke to Neck about how the landscape of student stress has evolved over the years, and what new understandings we need to integrate into our educational systems.

Editor's note: Answers may have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Question: How has stress become more intense for college students over the years, and what don't people understand about what students are dealing with today?

Answer: The adage “You can’t control the wind but certainly can adjust the sails” rings true here. In short, there seems to be a lot more wind facing college students today. Stress among college students has evolved significantly over the years, becoming more intense due to various societal and cultural factors. One prominent contributor is the increasingly competitive nature of academia, with higher expectations for academic achievement and a greater emphasis on career prospects post-graduation. The pressure to excel academically while balancing extracurricular activities, internships and social obligations can be overwhelming.

Additionally, the rise of technology and social media has created a constant state of connectivity, making it challenging for students to disconnect and relax. The pervasive influence of social media also contributes to feelings of comparison and inadequacy, as students often compare themselves to their peers’ seemingly perfect lives portrayed online. Also, the proliferation of social media creates a situation where students are usually multitasking — a problem that increases anxiety and stress.

Furthermore, financial burdens play a significant role in exacerbating stress among college students today. The rising cost of tuition, coupled with concerns about student loan debt and job prospects after graduation, adds additional pressure. Many students also juggle part-time jobs or internships to support themselves financially, further adding to their stress levels. Moreover, issues such as mental health challenges, societal expectations and the uncertainty of the future contribute to the complexity of stress experienced by today's college students. Overall, the multifaceted nature of stressors facing students today highlights the need for comprehensive support systems and effective coping strategies within higher education institutions to help students “adjust the sails.”

Q: In your paper, you specifically name two types of stress students experience: distress and eustress. Can you summarize each type and how it uniquely applies to college students?

A: Distress and eustress are two distinct types of stress that college students commonly experience, each with unique characteristics and implications.

Distress is the negative type of stress, characterized by feelings of overwhelm, anxiety and pressure. In college, distress often arises from academic deadlines, performance expectations, interpersonal conflicts and personal struggles. ... Distress can harm students' mental and physical well-being if left unaddressed, impacting their academic performance and overall quality of life.

On the other hand, eustress is a positive form of stress that arises from challenging but manageable situations. Unlike distress, which is overwhelming and debilitating, eustress is energizing and motivating. In college, eustress can stem from experiences such as starting a new project, preparing for an exam or pursuing personal growth opportunities like joining clubs or participating in extracurricular activities. ... Eustress can enhance students' motivation, focus and performance, helping them thrive academically and personally.

Understanding the distinction between distress and eustress is crucial for college students as it allows them to effectively identify and manage their stressors. By recognizing the difference between overwhelming challenges that may require support and manageable stressors that can enhance performance, students can develop coping strategies tailored to their specific needs. Additionally, fostering a positive mindset and reframing stressors as opportunities for growth can help students harness the power of eustress to successfully navigate the demands of college life.

Q: Your paper also discusses emotional intelligence and emotion regulation. What are these concepts, and how do they apply to this situation?

A: Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, understand, manage and utilize emotions effectively in various situations. It encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy and social skills. Emotion regulation, on the other hand, refers to the process of managing and controlling one's emotional responses to different situations.

These concepts are highly relevant for college students and stress management for several reasons. Firstly, college life often presents numerous challenges and stressors, from academic pressures to personal relationships and career uncertainties. Developing emotional intelligence equips students with the skills to navigate these challenges effectively. For instance, self-awareness allows students to recognize their emotional triggers and responses, while self-regulation enables them to manage stress and maintain balance. Empathy and social skills help students build supportive relationships and seek help when needed, fostering resilience and coping mechanisms.

Moreover, emotion regulation strategies play a crucial role in mitigating the negative impact of stress on students' mental health and well-being. By learning to regulate their emotions, students can reduce feelings of anxiety, overwhelm and burnout commonly associated with college life. Effective emotion regulation also promotes adaptive coping strategies, such as seeking social support, engaging in problem-solving and practicing self-care — essential for managing stress effectively.

Q: You and your co-authors suggest that self-leadership is a primary way of dealing with stress. What is self-leadership, and how can students develop stress-regulating strategies?

A: Self-leadership is the process of influencing oneself to establish self-direction and self-motivation for effective performance. It involves adopting specific behavior-focused and cognitive-focused strategies to enhance individual effectiveness. In essence, self-leadership empowers individuals to take control of their thoughts, feelings and actions, facilitating goal achievement and personal growth.

For college students, developing self-leadership skills is paramount for effectively managing stress and navigating the demands of academic life. One way students can cultivate self-leadership is by practicing behavior-focused strategies such as self-observation, self-goal setting, self-reward and self-correcting feedback. Self-observation entails assessing one's behaviors to identify areas for improvement or change, while self-goal setting involves setting specific, challenging and realistic goals to focus one's efforts. Self-rewarding involves creating incentives linked to goal attainment to motivate and energize oneself, while self-correcting feedback entails evaluating failures constructively and redirecting efforts toward positive outcomes.

Additionally, students can develop cognitive-focused self-leadership strategies to reshape their thought processes and enhance their coping abilities. Cognitive strategies include positive self-talk, constructive mental imagery and challenging dysfunctional beliefs and assumptions. Positive self-talk involves fostering optimistic inner dialogues to combat negative self-talk and promote resilience. Constructive mental imagery visualizes success and positive outcomes to bolster confidence and motivation. Challenging dysfunctional beliefs involves identifying and reframing negative thought patterns contributing to stress and adopting more adaptive perspectives.

Q: What do you envision as the next steps in this field of research and practice?

A: Looking ahead, the next frontier in stress management research for college students lies in exploring the intersection of emotional intelligence, self-leadership and holistic well-being. While our model provides valuable insights into the mechanisms through which these factors influence stress coping, there is still much to uncover in terms of individual differences, contextual influences and long-term outcomes. Future research could delve deeper into the efficacy of specific intervention programs tailored to enhance college students' emotional intelligence and self-leadership skills, evaluating their impact on academic performance, mental health outcomes and overall resilience.

Moreover, as technology continues to reshape the landscape of higher education, there is a growing need to explore innovative approaches to stress management that harness digital platforms and virtual resources. From mobile apps and online support networks to virtual reality-based interventions, the possibilities for leveraging technology to promote student well-being are vast.  

For instance, I’m currently working on a study where students use a daily app on their smartphones to record their self-talk during a particular time each day. The hope is that by helping students become more aware of their mental processes, they can learn to realize when such self-dialogue is creating stress and how they can change this dysfunctional self-talk to less stress-provoking.

More Business and entrepreneurship

Ribbon cutting celebrates opening of Schwab Foundation Financial Access and Research Lab

“We used to have to do this in a closet,” quipped finance students as they demoed the new equipment in the Charles Schwab Foundation Financial Access and Research (FAR) Lab, housed in Arizona State…

Thunderbird at ASU alumnus Marshall Parke to deliver keynote at spring 2024 convocation

Marshall Parke, distinguished alumnus of the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University and global entrepreneur, will deliver the keynote address at Thunderbird’s convocation…

How sports analytics is changing the game

Have you ever wondered why your favorite basketball team loses season after season? Or why other teams perform well? Height plays a huge role in the NBA — the average NBA player is 6 feet 6 inches…

Essay Sample on Causes and Effects of Stress on Students, With Outline

Published by gudwriter on January 4, 2021 January 4, 2021

Cause and Effects Essay Outline About Stress Among Students

Introduction.

Stress in students may have serious harmful effects and thus needs to be addressed.

Elevate Your Writing with Our Free Writing Tools!

Did you know that we provide a free essay and speech generator, plagiarism checker, summarizer, paraphraser, and other writing tools for free?

Paragraph 1:

One of the causes of stress in students is poor sleeping habits.

• Students who do not get enough sleep at night or lack healthy sleeping habits are likely to develop stress.
• Enough sleep allows the brain and body of a student to relax and recharge.
• Lack of it can limit a student’s ability to learn, concentrate and solve problems.

Paragraph 2:

Student stress is caused by academic pressure.

• They are given homework assignments.
• They have classroom assignments and term papers that are supposed to be completed and submitted in strict deadlines.
• Pressure to do well from those close to them such as family, friends, and teachers.

Paragraph 3:

Student stress may result from poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits.

• Stress-inducing foods are those that have high refined carbohydrates, sugar, caffeine, and fat.
• A stress-reducing diet is made up of foods that are high in complex carbohydrates and fiber and low in fat content.

Paragraph 4: 

High stress levels could make students develop physical symptoms that could negatively affect their academic performance.

• When a student experiences these symptoms, they might not feel the motivation they once felt about doing their best on academic tasks.
• The symptoms are detrimental to the health of students.

Paragraph 5:

Stress makes students to have poor management skills.

• A student could become disorganized and uncertain about their priorities and goals.
• They become incapable of effectively budgeting and managing their time.
• They develop a tendency of procrastinating and neglecting responsibilities.

Paragraph 6:

Stress leads to self-defeating thoughts.

• A student under stress may consistently think about the adversity or negative situation in which they are.
• They could constantly focus on their weaknesses and failures.

Paragraph 7: 

There are various stress management strategies students may take to reduce stress.

• Get regular physical activity and practice.
• Spend quality time with friends and family, and keeping a sense of humor.
• Find time for such hobbies as listening to music, playing football, and reading a book.
• Get enough sleep and consume balanced diet.
• Stress in students cause serious negative effects, both physical and academic.
• It results from poor sleeping habits, academic pressure, and poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits.
• It results into physical symptoms, poor management skills, and self-defeating thoughts.
• Parents and teachers should work together to ensure that students do not experience much stress.

Looking for cheap speech writing services for phd? Hire a reliable essay writer who will create a 100% original paper and deliver it on time. Gudwriter has a pool of professionals who understand how to write quality cause and effect essays from suitable selected topics.

A Cause and Effect Essay on Stress in Students

Stress is the natural response the human body gives to challenges. Students are exposed to stress by various factors. When a student undergoes chronic stress or high stress levels, their ability to learn, memorize, and post good academic performances can be interfered with regardless of their age or grade. Stress can also make a student experience poor mental, emotional, and physical health. Teachers and parents may help students avoid chronic stress in their lives if they learn about and develop a good understanding of common stressors. Stress in students may have serious harmful effects and thus needs to be addressed.

One of the causes of stress in students is poor sleeping habits. Compared to students who get plenty of sleep, students who do not get enough sleep at night or lack healthy sleeping habits are likely to develop stress. Enough sleep allows the brain and body of a student to relax and recharge. It also helps in ensuring that the immune system remains strong. On the other hand, lack of enough sleep can limit a student’s ability to learn, concentrate, and solve problems and can also make them more aggressive. According to Hales and Hales (2016), it is recommended by the National Sleep Foundation that young people, especially students, should maintain a regular sleep schedule and that they should sleep for between 8.5 and 9.25 hours per night.

Another major cause of student stress is academic pressure. As teachers prepare students for standardized tests, they give them homework even if the students are as young as six only. In addition to these homework assignments, there are classroom assignments and term papers that are supposed to be completed and submitted in strict deadlines. The pressure that comes from these assignments coupled with the desire by students to succeed academically culminates into stress. Students also experience pressure to do well in their academic work from those close to them such as family, friends, and even teachers (Raju, 2009). They therefore feel so much pushed that they even resort to academic dishonesty such as cheating in exams so as to match these high expectations.

A student’s stress levels can also increase due to poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits. Foods that are associated with high stress levels in students include those that have high refined carbohydrates, sugar, caffeine, and fat. This is the case with many types of fast, processed, and convenience foods. Examples of foods that induce stress include French fries, white bread, processed snack foods, candy bars, donuts, energy drinks, and sodas (Kumar, 2015). A healthy stress-reducing diet is made up of foods that are high in complex carbohydrates and fiber and low in fat content. Examples of such foods include lean proteins, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.

It is noteworthy that high stress levels can make students develop physical symptoms that could negatively affect their academic performance. These signs and symptoms include chest pain, elevated blood pressure, stomach upset, mumbled or rapid speech, nervous habits such as fidgeting, back and neck pains, tremors and trembling of lips, and frequent headaches (Kumar, 2015). When a student experiences these symptoms, they might not feel the motivation they once felt about doing their best in such academic tasks as completing assignments or preparing for tests. Moreover, the symptoms are detrimental to the health of students, a factor which may father make their academic fortunes to dwindle.

Stress also makes students to have poor management skills. A student could become disorganized and uncertain about their priorities and goals as a result of suffering from high levels of stress. This could further make them incapable of effectively budgeting and managing their time. Moreover, highly stressed students have the tendency to procrastinate and neglect such important responsibilities as meeting deadlines and completing assignments (Hales & Hales, 2016). This, of course, negatively impacts the quality of their academic work and study skills.

High stress levels could further lead to self-defeating thoughts among students. While undergoing stress, it is likely that a student may consistently think about the adversity or negative situation in which they find themselves. In addition, they could constantly focus on their weaknesses and failures while ignoring their strengths and achievements. These are self-defeating thoughts that not only deal a blow to their self-esteem but also affect how they behave and how they feel both as humans and as students (Patel, 2016). They result into a student lacking confidence in their abilities and this negatively impacts their success in school since they cannot perform to their highest potential.

There are various stress management strategies students may take to reduce stress. One of these is to get regular physical activity and practice such relaxation techniques as massage, tai chi, yoga, meditation, and deep breathing. Students may also keep stress away by spending quality time with friends and family, and keeping a sense of humor. Another strategy may be to find time for such hobbies as listening to music, playing football, and reading a book. It is also important that one gets enough sleep and consumes balanced diet (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2019). These strategies may both alleviate and prevent stress among students.

Stress in students cause serious negative effects, both physical and academic. Students may experience stress due to poor sleeping habits, academic pressure, and poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits. Students need enough sleep and less pressure for their brain to relax and recharge for it to function well. They also need to avoid stress-inducing foods such as fries and sodas. As has been seen, high stress levels could lead to physical symptoms, poor management skills, and self-defeating thoughts among students. As such, parents and teachers should work together in ensuring that students do not experience much stress because it is not good for their health and academic ability.

Hales, D., & Hales, J. (2016). Personal stress management: surviving to thriving . Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Kumar, N. (2015). Psychological stress among science students . New York, NY: Springer.

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2019). “Stress symptoms: effects on your body and behavior”. Mayo Clinic . Retrieved March 27, 2020 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987

Patel, G. (2016). An achievement motivation and academic anxiety of school going students . Lunawada: Red’shine Publication. Inc.

Raju, M. V. (2009). Health psychology and counselling . Delhi, India: Discovery Publishing House.

Do you need help with homework and wondering where you can seek help? Request help me write my paper and get help from qualified tutors who will write your paper following all the guidelines provided. At Gudwriter, our papers are 100% original and only customized for you. Contact us today to save your time and grade.

Dive into the complex web of stressors and their consequences for students in our comprehensive essay. To amplify the impact of your talk, use our innovative speech generator to craft engaging speeches.

More essays and articles to explore;

• Free cause and effect essay on smoking
• Environmental sciences and causes of climate change
• Essay sample on importance of reading
• 85 cause and effect essay topics to investigate
• How to write a cause and effect essay
• Demonstration speech ideas and topics

Special offer! Get 20% discount on your first order. Promo code: SAVE20

Related Posts

Free essays and research papers, artificial intelligence argumentative essay – with outline.

Artificial Intelligence Argumentative Essay Outline In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the rapidly developing fields and as its capabilities continue to expand, its potential impact on society has become a topic Read more…

Synthesis Essay Example – With Outline

The goal of a synthesis paper is to show that you can handle in-depth research, dissect complex ideas, and present the arguments. Most college or university students have a hard time writing a synthesis essay, Read more…

Examples of Spatial Order – With Outline

A spatial order is an organizational style that helps in the presentation of ideas or things as is in their locations. Most students struggle to understand the meaning of spatial order in writing and have Read more…

How Daily Stress Affects your Heart Health

This essay about the impact of stress on heart health explores how chronic stress triggers hormonal changes that adversely affect cardiovascular function. It highlights the direct consequences of prolonged stress, such as increased blood pressure and atherosclerosis, which elevate the risk of heart disease. Additionally, the essay discusses how stress influences lifestyle choices that can further harm heart health, like poor diet, smoking, and lack of exercise. It also touches on the role of chronic inflammation under stress, which contributes to the deterioration of arterial health. Solutions for managing stress, such as regular exercise, mindfulness practices, and maintaining strong social connections, are outlined as effective strategies to mitigate these risks. Overall, the essay emphasizes the importance of managing stress to protect heart health, suggesting practical ways to alleviate stress and its harmful impacts on the cardiovascular system.

How it works

It’s no secret that the fast pace of modern life often brings a fair share of stress. Whether it’s the hustle of meeting tight deadlines, managing household responsibilities, or navigating complex social relationships, stress seems to shadow much of our daily routines. What might not be so apparent, however, is the profound impact this stress can have on our heart health.

When we’re stressed, our body reacts by releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones kick-start the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response, gearing us up for immediate action.

This natural survival mechanism can be lifesaving in acute situations, but when triggered too often—thanks to chronic stress—it can wear down our body, particularly our cardiovascular system.

Chronic stress leads to continuous high levels of cortisol and adrenaline, which are tough on the heart and arteries. Consistently high blood pressure from prolonged stress can damage the arterial walls, which may lead to heart disease. As these walls thicken and harden, conditions like atherosclerosis decrease arterial flexibility, dramatically increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Stress doesn’t just wreak havoc on our bodies directly. It also influences our lifestyle choices. For many, stress is a gateway to picking up or continuing unhealthy habits—smoking, reaching for a drink, or indulging in junk food. While these may offer temporary relief, they come with a host of health issues, including weight gain, higher cholesterol levels, and increased blood sugar levels, all of which stress the heart even more.

Furthermore, chronic stress affects the way our body handles inflammation, a leading player in heart disease. Under stress, inflammatory responses can go into overdrive, accelerating the buildup of plaque in our arteries. Moreover, the constant rush of stress hormones can make the heart pump faster and harder, which over time can change the heart muscle itself.

Thankfully, there are effective ways to mitigate the impact of stress on our heart. Exercise, for example, is a fantastic stress reliever. It not only helps control weight and reduce blood pressure but also triggers the release of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that act as mood lifters and painkillers.

Mindfulness practices like yoga, meditation, and deep-breathing exercises can also help calm the mind and reduce stress. These activities help shift the body from stress responses to relaxation responses, lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and promoting overall heart health.

Social connections also play a crucial role in stress management. A robust social network can offer emotional support, reduce loneliness, and help manage stress more effectively. Keeping in touch with friends and family, participating in community activities, or even getting professional counseling can provide the support needed to manage stress.

To wrap it up, while stress is a natural part of life, managing it effectively is key to maintaining a healthy heart. By understanding how stress affects heart health and adopting strategies to cope, we can protect ourselves from the serious risks associated with heart disease. Taking active steps to reduce stress is not merely about feeling better—it’s about fostering a healthier, stronger heart.

Cite this page

How Daily Stress Affects Your Heart Health. (2024, May 12). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/how-daily-stress-affects-your-heart-health/

"How Daily Stress Affects Your Heart Health." PapersOwl.com , 12 May 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/how-daily-stress-affects-your-heart-health/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). How Daily Stress Affects Your Heart Health . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/how-daily-stress-affects-your-heart-health/ [Accessed: 17 May. 2024]

"How Daily Stress Affects Your Heart Health." PapersOwl.com, May 12, 2024. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/how-daily-stress-affects-your-heart-health/

"How Daily Stress Affects Your Heart Health," PapersOwl.com , 12-May-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/how-daily-stress-affects-your-heart-health/. [Accessed: 17-May-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). How Daily Stress Affects Your Heart Health . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/how-daily-stress-affects-your-heart-health/ [Accessed: 17-May-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Letter of Recommendation

What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.

Hours before CUET Day 1, tests postponed in Delhi; students stressed, confused

N EW DELHI: Four papers - chemistry, biology, English and general test - of the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) scheduled for Wednesday (May 15) for all Delhi centres were postponed "due to unavoidable reasons" at the last minute and rescheduled for May 29. The message was put on the National Testing Agency website and several students complained that no communication was received by them.

Students were advised to download their admit cards once again after 7 pm on Wednesday. Exams in other parts of the country - including Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad - will continue as scheduled, while other tests for undergraduate admissions scheduled in Delhi from May 16 to 18 will also take place as per schedule, NTA's notice said.

CUET tests in Delhi to be held on May 29 now

The examination will now be held on May 29, 2024. The revised admit cards will be issued for candidates appearing in centres across Delhi,” NTA said.

The change in Delhi was necessitated by unavailability of adequate infrastructure to deal with a high number of applicants and the failure to requisition a sufficient number of invigilators, which NTA attributed to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The decision came as a surprise because elections were announced nearly two months ago.

“The number of candidates is high and to ensure they get their first-choice city, an adequate number of centres with good facilities could not be arranged. The SOPs are important so that students don’t face inconvenience during the exam. Another reason was many invigilators were involved in election duty and could not return from their May 13 polling duties. Therefore, the exams for May 15 had to be rescheduled in Delhi centres,” a source said.

CUET has been marred by glitches since it was launched in 2022, resulting in frequent date changes for candidates.

“Last-minute changes cause stress and confusion. How can they reschedule the night before the exam? Principals are notifying students in class groups to spread awareness, but most students are confused whether the exam has been postponed or if this news is fake. It’s an unnecessary disruption for students, especially those from economically weaker sections who may not be very aware. Students are also wondering why the Hindi date says 1946,” said Seema, a parent.

For more news like this visit TOI . Get all the Latest News , City News , India News , Business News , and Sports News . For Entertainment News , TV News , and Lifestyle Tips visit Etimes