DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND ACADEMIC ANXIETY AMONG FILIPINO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Academic anxiety has been considered one of the leading causes of disease and disability among senior high school students (Zhang et al., 2020). It refers to the feelings of worry, tension, and dread related to academic settings or tasks. This includes exams, assignments, the subject itself, and even the social pressures they experience in completing schoolwork, or uneasiness with the idea of studying or working in a group in a classroom setting. This study determined the significant difference between demographic factors and academic anxiety among Filipino senior high school students; these demographic factors include age, gender, and grade level. The demographic factors were determined through a survey while the levels of academic anxiety were measured through the Academic Anxiety Scale (AAS) to 270 respondents. Using mean and standard deviation for demographic factors, results showed that 15- 17 years old and 18- 20 years old reported moderate levels of academic anxiety while 21- 22 years old experienced low levels of academic anxiety. Moreover, in terms of the respondent’s gender and grade level, results showed moderate levels of academic anxiety. The level of academic anxiety of the respondents measured by AAS revealed that the majority of them, which consist of 89 (32.96%) reported moderate levels of academic anxiety followed by 83 (30.74%) reported high levels of academic anxiety. Statistical analysis using F-test and t-test revealed that there are significant differences in the demographic factors and academic anxiety among Filipino senior high school students garnering computed p-values of the following: age- 0.003, gender- 0.001, and grade level- 0.016. This means that there are significant differences among the demographic factors of the respondents and the level of their academic anxiety. The results called for senior high school students, parents, teachers, school personnel, and mental health practitioners in providing a community of psychologically healthy environment in school and other areas of life.