Applied Research method

Relationship between Stress and Academic Performance

Stefanie Davis, Josely Pena, Jared Pathiakis, Jordan Katinas Comment by Trachtenberg: Note: Jordan submitted Assignment #4 separately and is not graded on the group’s Assignment #4

Department of Psychology, Worcester State University

Psychology: 307

Prof. Jennifer Trachtenberg

December 8, 2021

Be sure to very clearly focus on your topic: stress and academic performance. Don’t stray to other variables

Need more detail from your articles to make a convincing case that the variables are related. Explain the articles in more detail – how did they collect data? What were the specific findings? This might require finding additional, new articles to support your topic. Without more detail, I am unsure if some of the articles below are strongly related to your topic.

Relationship between Stress and Academic Performance

This research will assess the relationship between stress and academic performance. This is an important topic because a student's ability to focus during lectures or studying is harmed when they are anxious or concerned, due to stressors (Arsenio et al. 2014). Excessive academic stress can lead to a rise in the prevalence of psychological and physical issues such as depression, anxiety, nervousness, and stress-related illnesses (Arsenio et al. 2014). These issues can all have an effect on academic performance (Travis et al. 2020). Comment by Trachtenberg: Defined below. Not here. Comment by Trachtenberg: Just introduce your topic. Do not define variables here.

Stress

Stress can be defined as the mental or emotional strain that causes distress in certain circumstances with environmental or emotional factors (Traviset al., 2020). Individuals can experience healthy or unhealthy stress. When stress begins to cause any form of tension or strain on an individual for a prolonged period of time, then it is considered unhealthy stress (Travis et al., 2020). According to Cohen et al. (1983), stress included: Unemployment or life altering event that may cause increase in aniety or psychological distress. Exposure to stressful life events may have a significant impact on students' academic performance (Mothes et. al., 2017).

Academic Performance

Let’s look at your measure (survey) to determine the best way to define academic performance for your study. If you are using the Academic Self Concept measure, then academic self-concept will be explained here.

Academic performance reflects grades according to one’s performance across different subjects (Mothes et al., 2017). Academic self-efficacy (ASE), grade point average (GPA), hours withdrawn, and transfer intentions are all academic performance indicators. (Travis et al., 2020). Comment by Trachtenberg: This isn’t your topic. Comment by Trachtenberg: Not your topic.

The Relationship between Stress and Academic Performance

It’s widely known that stress can have a very negative impact on mood and academics Arsenio and Loria (2014). Arsenio and Loria (2014) examined the impact of negative emotions and academic performance . The results of the article showed that students with low starting academic performance (lower GPA) had more overall negative mood and negative effects on academic performance. Students who suffered from negative moods or stress and had poor coping skills also suffered the most academically and in overall mood (Arsenio, & Loria, (2014). The study also showed that younger students seemed to be more impacted by negative moods and stress than older adolescents. Therefore, it's reasonable to conclude that students who suffered from more stress had lower overall moods and a higher impact on their academic performance. Comment by Trachtenberg: The source of stress isn’t your topic. Don’t stray too far from the topic.

It has been shown that stress is much more common in the younger generation, especially in people pursuing academic achievements. Academic stressors, such as the demand for timely submission of assignments and passing various tests, increased stress (Arsenio and Loria (2014)) . A study conducted seeking to identify the relationship between adolescent stressors and academic performance found that adolescents who have repeated classes continued to have poor performance as they faced stress from their peers and the general outlook from society (Meyer & Larson, 2018). Stressful feelings weighed down upon them and they continued to perform poorly in school. The review by Lene et al. (2021) sought to analyze the impact of stress on academic performance. The evidence showed that academic performance was negatively related to stress and students faced different stimuli to stress that need to understand to increase their performance. Comment by Trachtenberg: Not your topic.

Travis et al. (2020) suggested that some stress is good stress. They divided stress into two separate categories: hindering stress and challenging stress. Challenging stress pushed people to accomplish a goal by applying a certain amount of emotional and mental pressure to do something or overcome something. Hindering stress was more detrimental to a person and doesn't help them accomplish goals or motivate them. Hindering stress puts more pressure on a person and oftentimes produced negative results in terms of academic achievement. Different levels of stress impacted academic performance differently (Michaela, 2020). Low levels of stress with the right mindset toward studies yields increased performance in school. Research has found that the transition from middle to high school involves many challenges, including school-related stress (Fraser et al., 2021). “… student stress about school performance primarily influenced 8th graders who had relatively low hope” (Fraser et al., 2021, p.1). School performance stress may contribute to the decrease in hope, but findings have supported that strategies that target student hope had the potential to buffer student stress and promote school achievement (Fraser et al., 2021). Research has found that school-related stress does have an impact on academic performance, but there are ways to combat stress. “Mistry and Elenbaas (2021) found that stress (was associated with lower academic achievement, motivation, and expectations.

As shown by the research, stress was related to students’ academic performance (Fraser et al., 2021). The cause of the stress can range from a variety of factors, but research has shown that different levels of stress had an impact on students’ overall academics (Mistry & Elenbaas, 2021). This study will aim to research the impacts of stress, no matter the cause on the academic performance of college students. The results of this study might be helpful in reducing certain stressors that impact students’ academic performance .

References

Arsenio, W. F., & Loria, S. (2014). Coping with negative emotions: Connections with adolescents’

academic performance and stress. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Research and Theory on

Human Development, 1 75(1), 76–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2013.806293

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404

Emond, M., Ten Eycke, K., Kosmerly, S., Robinson, A. L., Stillar, A., & Van Blyderveen, S. (2016). The effect of academic stress and attachment stress on stress-eaters and stress-undereaters.

Appetite , 100 , 210–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.035

Fraser, A. M., Bryce, C. I., Alexander, B. L., & Fabes, R. A. (2021). Hope levels across adolescence and

the transition to high school: Associations with school stress and achievement. Journal of

Adolescence, 91, 48–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.07.004

Mistry, R. S., & Elenbaas, L. (2021). It’s all in the family: Parents’ economic worries and youth’s

perceptions of financial stress and educational outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence,

50(4) , 724–738. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01393-4

Mothes, L., Haag Kristensen, C., Oliveira, R. G., de Lima Argimon, I. I., Paz Fonseca, R., & Quarti Irigaray, T. (2017). Stressful events and executive functioning in adolescents with and without history of grade repetition. Universitas Psychologica, 16 (4) , 1–12.

https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.upsy16-4.seef

Travis, J., Kaszycki, A., Geden, M., & Bunde, J. (2020). Some stress is good stress: The

challenge-hindrance framework, academic self-efficacy, and academic outcomes. Journal of

Educational Psychology, 112 (8) , 1632–1643. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000478