What factors contribute to academic stress among grade 11 STEM students, and what coping strategies are effective for them?

Answer from top 10 papers

The factors contributing to students' stress, particularly among grade 11 STEM students, can be multifaceted. Academic stressors include high workload and challenging assignments (Hukom & Madrigal, 2020), pressure from examinations (Shdaifat et al., 2018), and expectations from parents and teachers (Masilamani et al., 2019). Additionally, sociodemographic factors such as gender, with female students often experiencing higher levels of stress (Graves et al., 2021), and the educational level of parents (Graves et al., 2021) can influence the degree of stress experienced by students.
Interestingly, coping strategies employed by students vary. Some students utilize active coping mechanisms such as problem-solving (Hukom & Madrigal, 2020) and planning (Madhyastha et al., 2014), while others may turn to emotional support seeking (Kucharzyk & Bednarek, 2022). Religious coping strategies, including worship in various forms, have been found effective (Pillai et al., 2023). Moreover, gender differences in coping strategies are evident, with females more likely to use emotion-focused coping such as seeking emotional support, whereas males may use humor or self-blame (Kucharzyk & Bednarek, 2022).
In summary, academic stress among grade 11 STEM students arises from a combination of academic demands, sociodemographic factors, and external expectations. Coping strategies are diverse, ranging from active problem-solving to seeking emotional support, with variations observed between genders. It is crucial for educational institutions to recognize these stressors and provide appropriate support and interventions to foster effective coping mechanisms among students (Kaushal et al., 2018; Madhyastha et al., 2014).

Source Papers

Academic stress and coping in high school adolescents

Background: Education stress is widely recognized as one of the most important precursors leading to depression in adolescent life. This study explores the prevalence of academic stress among high school going adolescents, contributing factors and the coping strategies used by students. The finding of this study aids the teaching institutes to better the understanding of the stress due to present teaching methods. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020 at both private and government schools of Kozhikode, Kerala. 371 students were selected randomly. A questionnaire was developed incorporating educational stress scale for adolescent (ESSA), academic stress scale (ASC) and simplified coping styles questionnaire (SCSQ). Results: 70.8% students have minimal stress, 25.8% moderate stress, 0.002% high stress, 0.02 did not have stress. Female participants experienced more stress compared to male participants (p value=0.04). Participants with less educated father (p value <0.001) and with less educated mother (p value <0.001) experienced more stress. Last year final exam grade (p value=0.005) and parental pressure (p value=0.008) were important factors contributing to stress. With regard to deployment of coping strategies 0.5% never used any coping strategies, 53.6% students used coping occasionally, 45% often used coping, 0.8% used coping frequently. Conclusions: Most of the children studying in high school have minimal to moderate stress. The main factors that contribute to stress more are female gender, low parental education level, and poor final exam grade. Positive association for factors like parental pressure with increasing age was present. Most of the students used different coping strategies to cope with the education stress. Students often use active coping strategies compared to passive coping strategies.

Open Access
Coping Mechanism Towards Academic Stress Among Students: An Analysis from Islamic Perspective

Academic stress can have a negative effect on a student's cognitive, emotional and behavioural well-being. Furthermore, academic stress could also cause a decline in student’s academic performance. Therefore, it is necessary for the student to be able to cope and relieve stress. Religious coping strategies are one of the effective ways in overcoming academic stress. This study was aimed to explore and understand students' experiences of religious coping methods when facing academic stress. A qualitative method by using interview was used. A total of five respondents from the public universities were involved. The data from interviews were analysed by using thematic analysis from five respondents. This study discovered three specific religious coping behaviour that was employed to cope with academic stress; 1) worship in the heart, 2) worship verbally and, 3) worship by action. It has also identified three themes on the impact of religious coping on 1) cognitive, 2) emotional and 3) behaviour. From this study, it can be concluded that specific religious coping behavior which had been used by the students is helpful for them in coping with academic stress. The knowledge and awareness of the internal and external stressors also can help the students to identify the best solution and coping mechanism to manage the stress. These coping behaviours also help the students to have a better understanding of how religious coping can affect students in terms of cognitive, emotion and behavior.

Open Access
Assessment of school stress levels and strategies of coping with stress in high school students

Abstract Aim. To assess the level of school stress, factors influencing it and coping strategies among high school students. Material and methods. The research was conducted online in 2021. The method used was a diagnostic survey at work. Research tool was the original questionnaire and the Mini-COPE scale. The group of respondents was 200 high school students – 130 boys, 70 girls. Results. Less than half (46.8%) of secondary school students indicated their level of perceived stress as “6” on a 10-point scale, where “0” meant no stress, “10” – the maximum stress. Data analysis showed the most common relaxation methods turned out to be listening to music (92 people) and outdoor walks (65 people). As many as 89 respondents did not use any relaxation methods. The most common stress coping strategies are acceptance, self-focus, and active coping. The least frequently selected option was the use of psychoactive substances.. Conclusions. 1. School stress experienced by secondary school students is moderate. 2. Age and gender do not affect the level of stress experienced by high school students. 3. The most common relaxation method among adolescents is listening to music. 4. Acceptance, preoccupation with something else and active coping are the most commonly used strategies for coping with school stress.

Open Access
Gender differences in perceived stress and coping among college students

BackgroundMany college students register each semester for courses, leading to productive careers and fulfilled lives. During this time, the students have to manage many stressors stemming from academic, personal, and, sometimes, work lives. Students, who lack appropriate stress management skills, may find it difficult to balance these responsibilities.ObjectivesThis study examined stress, coping mechanisms, and gender differences in undergraduate students towards the end of the semester.Design and methodUniversity students (n = 448) enrolled in three different undergraduate exercise science courses were assessed. Two instruments, the Perceived Stress Scale and Brief Cope, were administered during the twelfth week of the semester, four weeks prior to final exams. T-tests were used to detect gender differences for the stress levels and coping strategies.ResultsOverall, females indicated higher levels of stress than their male counterparts. Gender differences were evident in both coping dimensions and individual coping strategies used. Females were found to utilize the emotion-focused coping dimension and endorsed the use of four coping strategies more often than males. These included self-distraction, emotional support, instrumental support, and venting.ConclusionsThis research adds to the existing literature by illuminating the level of perceived stress and different coping strategies used by undergraduate female and male students. In turn, students may need educational interventions to develop effective and healthy coping strategies to last a lifetime. Faculty and other university officials may want to highlight and understand these various factors to protect the students’ wellbeing in their classes.

Open Access
Stress and Coping Strategies Among Nursing Students

INTRODUCTION: Nursing students suffer from high levels of stress related to academic assignments in addition to clinical skills training. As a psychosocial phenomenon, stress affects students’ academic achievement and wellbeing. Coping mechanisms help students deal with the challenges arising from stress.AIMS: To illustrate the level of stress and common stressors among nursing students; to describe the difference in stress level related to demographic data; and to identify coping mechanisms used by nursing students.METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the type of stress and coping strategies among nursing students. The level of stress was evaluated through Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and type of coping strategies were assessed by use of Coping Behaviours Inventory (CBI).RESULTS: Students perceived moderate level of stress, most commonly attributed to assignments and workload, teachers and nursing staff, peers and daily life, and taking care of patients. The most frequently used coping mechanism was problem solving. The study found that age, GPA, education level and residence are good predictors of the use of transference as a coping behaviour.CONCLUSION: A moderate level of stress among students illustrates the need for stress management programs and the provision of suitable support.

Open Access
STRESS, STRESSORS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG UNIVERSITY NURSING STUDENTS

Literature has documented that student nurses undergo stress in their academic and clinical setting. This raises concerns because stress during undergraduate training may result in psychological or emotional impairment during the nurses’ professional life and ultimately affect the quality of patient care. The Objective of the study was to study the prevalence of stress, and the association between sociodemographic factors, stressors and coping strategies with stress. This was a cross-sectional study on 96-year 1-3 nursing students from a government university done between 2015-2018. Bahasa Malaysia translated The General Health Questionnaire, Stressors in Nursing Student Scale Questionnaire and Brief COPE Questionnaire was used in this study. This study had Malay (95.9%) and female (91.7%) dominated population. The prevalence of stress in student nurses was 25%. No association was reported between sociodemographic factors and stress. Among the 4 stressors educational, clinical, confidence and financial, clinical stressor scored the highest mean 6.40 (SD±3.66). Confidence stressor (AOR=1.26 95% CI 1.04-1.53) was the only stressor associated with stress. The top 3 coping strategies practiced by the student nurses were religion (praying), acceptance and planning. Self-blame (AOR 8.18 95% CI 1.86-35.91) was the only coping strategy associated with stress. Stress management programmes, and workshops on stress and coping strategies should be conducted yearly to ensure a well-balanced environment for good learning experiences and prevent stress related health problems and improved academic performance.

Open Access
Educational stress and coping strategies in school going adolescents

Background: Academic pressure are one of the main causes of stress for young people and this stress is a significant catalyst and precursor to depression. This research uses to assist the teaching units in understanding the related problems of stress of students of modern teaching technology, thereby proceeding to provide assistance and preventive measures. Current study was aimed to find out prevalence of educational stress among school going adolescents and associated factors. In addition to study the use of stress coping strategies.Methods: It was Cross-sectional study carried out during 2016-2017 at Government and Private Schools of Gwalior. 1400 students were selected randomly. Prepared questionnaire in Hindi and English language adapted from. Educational Stress Scale for Adolescent (ESSA) and Academic Stress Scale (ASC). Scales are modified according to our settings.Results: We found that 43% children have minimal stress, 56.6% moderate stress, 0.4% have highly stress. Female adolescents have more stress than male. 63% adolescents of government school have moderate stress as compared to private school which has 50.9% moderate stress. 11th and 12th standard students have more stress than 9th and 10th standard which is highly significant (p value <0.01). 20.4% adolescents use occasionally coping and 55.3% adolescents used sometimes coping and 23.5% used frequently coping strategies.Conclusions: The present study reveals that the school going adolescents are having educational stress and which is affected by age, gender, socioeconomic status, examinations, parents expectation and peer and also found that adolescents uses different coping strategies to cope up with educational stress.

Open Access