Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine how academic stress and perceived social support influence the psychological wellbeing of Senior High School students in Ghana. Two hundred and twenty six male and female students participated. The general health questionnaire, student life-stress inventory and perceived social support from family and friends scales were used to assess psychological wellbeing, academic stress and perceived social support respectively. The results indicated that perceived social support buffered the effects of academic stress on psychological wellbeing. Girls reported higher scores on perceived social support but reported more depression. Boys reported higher academic stress and better psychological wellbeing, and these have been attributed partly to the socialisation role of gender. These results have policy implications in respect of the creation of a cordial school environment as well as encouraging a healthy interpersonal relationship between adolescents and their family and friends with the aim of reducing academic stress appraisal which is inimical to the psychological wellbeing of adolescents.
Highlights
Academic related stress coupled with poor interpersonal relationships with friends and family is a crucial factor in relation to the psychological wellbeing of adolescents
It was found that the main effect of perceived social support was significant, indicating that psychological wellbeing is significantly higher for students who reported high perceived social support than those who reported moderate and low perceived support, with a small effect size
The first objective was to examine the significance of the interaction effect between perceived social support and academic stress on psychological wellbeing
Summary
Academic related stress coupled with poor interpersonal relationships with friends and family is a crucial factor in relation to the psychological wellbeing of adolescents. Long-term interpersonal difficulties such as simple misunderstandings may affect an individual’s health and wellbeing by promoting a sense of hopelessness [4]. This phenomenon is prevalent during adolescence when adolescents attain physical, sexual and social maturity and are influenced by little pressures and conditions such as academic stressors [5,6]. Academic stress coupled with low social support from family, friends, and others could have a negative impact on the health of students which will inevitably results in poor academic performance [9]. Several studies have asserted that the mere fact of being in a supportive social network of family and friends could directly improve general health and wellbeing [10,11,12]
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