Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 1

Literature Review:

Academic Stress of College Students and Their Academic Achievement

Ryan Day

San Juan College

LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 2

Academic Stress of College Students and Their Academic Achievement

Introduction

Research on the stress of college students has been going on for decades. A specific study

for this is the academic stress of college students. There have been multiple studies that have

been done to measure the levels of academic stress of college students. Academic stress is

different than regular stress, academic stress is the pressure of a student trying to do great in their

schooling and in their education without failing (Bernstein & Chemaly, 2017). There are many

researchers that found that academic stress has a significant impact on students’ academic

achievement (Kar, 2017; Hall, Chipperfield, Perry, Ruthig, & Goetz, 2006; Banu, Deb, Vardhan,

& Rao, 2015; Misra & McKean, 2000; Robotham, 2008; Bernstein & Chemaly, 2017). Most

researchers used long questionnaires to measure the stress levels of students (Kar, 2017; Hall et

al., 2006; Banu et al., 2015; Misra & McKean, 2000). There are also many stressors that cause

students to become stressed and there are ways for students to relieve some of that stress that

stressors cause.

Stressors

There are a lot of stressors that cause college students to become stressed. Stressors are

conditions which cause students to develop stress. There are many stressors for different events

too. For example, there are stressors for studying, exams, beginning college, and being in a

different place (Robotham, 2008; Misra & McKean, 2000). Some major stressors that relate to

studying at college universities are, students trying to meet deadlines for assignments, the

amount of work they have, ect. (Robotham, 2008). With these all these stressors students are at

fear that they are going to fail their classes. The greatest stressor in universities are exams
LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 3

(Robotham, 2008; Misra & McKean, 2000). Exams cause changes in students eating and

sleeping patterns, it can also cause students to over think and make themselves sick (Robotham,

2008). Another stressor is transitioning to a university in a different place (Robotham, 2008;

Misra & McKean, 2000). It is a stressor because the students are in a different place they aren’t

used to and don’t know. This cause students to have more stress than normal (Robotham, 2008).

Those are some of the stressors that researchers have found that cause students to become

stressed.

Negative and Positive Effects

There are many negative and positive effects towards student’s health and academic

achievement due to the student’s academic stress. Researcher Banu et al. (2015), found that

academic stress doesn’t just effect students mentally, but it also effects student’s physical health

as well. According to Banu et al. (2015) academic stress of college students can affect their oral

health. They also found out that college students had symptoms of sleep deprivation, headaches,

lack of concentration, and more (Banu et al.). Some other negative effects are, students with a lot

of academic stress can fall behind in their schooling and start failing, making them drop out of

school (Pozos-Radilloa et al., 2014). Researcher Hall et al. (2006) found that females have a

greater chance of failing due to academic stress than males due to them being more stressed and

overwhelmed. There are a lot of negatives that go with academic stress, but there are some

positives. One positive is, just a little academic stress can help students stay in school and not

drop out. Some positives researchers have found is that a little bit of academic stress can actually

help students in their academic achievement and education, by motivating them to do their work

and do better (Hall et al., 2006; Robotham, 2008). Robotham (2008) also found that the
LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 4

academic stress can help students respond efficiently in emergencies because they are used to

making decisions in stressful situations.

Treatments

There are many ways for college students that are academically stressed to be treated and

get rid of some of that stress. Students have to be able to cope with the academic stress that they

are going through in school and their education, which coping is being able to relieve stress

(Robotham, 2008). One treatment that most researchers have found is that counselling helps

relieve stress (Banu et al., 2015; Bernstein & Chemaly, 2017). It helps students relieve stress

because a professional teaches students how to cope with academic stress (Banu et al., 2015). It

doesn’t just have to be a professional to help you with academic stress students’ families, friends,

and communities can also help students relive academic stress (Robotham, 2008; Bernstein &

Chemaly, 2017). According to Robotham (2008) students relive more stress when the program

relates to the individuals stress level and specific problem, not just a general program.

Questionnaires

There are many different questionnaires that researchers use in order to measure the stress

levels of college students. For example, there are questionnaires that go deeper into a student’s

background, then there are some that just talk about their schooling, and many more (Kar, 2017;

Hall et al., 2006; Banu et al., 2015; Misra & McKean, 2000). Using these different types of

questionnaires they can get different information that helps measure the student’s stress levels.

The questionnaires that researchers, Kar (2017), Misra, and McKean (2000) created a

questionnaire that consisted of questions relating to student’s frustrations, conflicts, pressure,

changes, and anxiety to find the stress levels of college students. While researchers Hall et al.
LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 5

(2006) and Banu et al. (2015) used a multi-stage questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire

asked about the student’s background information and information about their university

experience of their first year. The second part of the questionnaire asked students about their

behavior towards the academic part of the universities and information about their last year at the

university (Hall et al., 2006; Banu et al., 2015).

Students Studied

There were many studies done by researchers about college students and

academic stress, but the students they tested are very similar. For example, researchers, Hall et

al., (2006), Misra and McKean (2000) used students form a mid-western university. The only

difference is Hall et al., (2006) used 888 students with 575 being female and 278 being males.

While Misra and McKean (2000) used 249 students. Researchers, Kar (2017) and Banu et al.

(2015) used students from universities in India. The difference was Kar (2017) used 100

students, fifty of them being females and the other fifty being males. While Banu et al. (2015)

used 669 students, 355 of them being males and 314 of them being females. The last researcher

Pozos-Radilloa et al. (2014) used 976 students from a Mexico university, 615 of them being

males and 361 of them being females.

Findings

There are many different findings from each researcher because of the things they tested,

but there are many finding that are the same. All of the researchers found that academic stress

plays a significant role in a student’s academic achievement in their education (Kar, 2017; Hall et

al. 2006; Banu et al. 2015; Misra & McKean, 2000; Robotham, 2008; Bernstein & Chemaly,

2017). For example, researchers Hall et al. (2006), Kar (2017), and Misra and McKean (2000)
LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 6

they tested against males and females. Researches Hall et al. (2006), Misra and McKean (2000)

all found that females have more academic stress than males because females choose harder

career paths. The researcher Kar (2017) is the only researcher that has findings of males having

more academic stress than females because males choose harder career paths. Researchers have

also found the between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two have higher academic stress than

any other age group because they are new to college (Bernstein & Chemaly, 2017; Banu et al.,

2015; Pozos-Radilloa, Preciado-Serranoa, Acosta-Fernándeza, Aguilera-Velascoa, & Delgado-

Garcíab, 2014). Researchers found that first year students have more stress than other students

because of all the changes they have to go through (Robotham, 2008; Misra & McKean, 2000;

Kar, 2017; Hall et al., 2006).

Conclusion

This is information that has been found from studies that researchers have done on

academic stress of college students. Most of the researchers used at least 300 students from

universities in Mexico, India, and in the mid-western in their questionnaires that they used. (Kar,

2017; Misra & McKean, 2000; Hall et al., 2006; Banu et al., 2015; Pozos-Radilloa et al., 2014).

Most of the questionnaires the researchers used related to the student’s frustrations, conflicts,

pressure, changes, and anxiety (Kar, 2017; Misra & McKean, 2000). Some questionnaires went

into the student’s background to understand the student better (Hall et al., 2006; Banu et al.,

2015). All of the researchers that studied academic stress found that it has a significate role in a

student’s academic achievement and health (Kar, 2017; Hall et al. 2006; Banu et al. 2015; Misra

& McKean, 2000; Robotham, 2008; Bernstein & Chemaly, 2017). There are many negative

effects like students that have so much academic stress start to fail classes and drop out, but there

are also positives (Pozos-Radilloa et al., 2014). One positive is just a little bit of stress can help
LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 7

students challenge themselves and stay in school (Robotham, 2008). There are many limitations

that come with these findings and methods. Some limitations are all of the researchers used

questionnaires this approach is increasingly unreliable because the students can lie about their

answers. In these studies, researcher have failed to recognize that they had a significantly higher

number of one gender that participated in the study than the other gender (Kar, 2017; Misra &

McKean, 2000; Hall et al., 2006; Banu et al., 2015; Pozos-Radilloa et al., 2014). Lastly Hall et

al. (2006) findings were less reliable because there were quite a few students that dropped out of

the study, most of them being males, causing the results to be less accurate. A considerable

amount of research has found that females have more academic stress than males due to the

picking harder career paths. There has been little research that has found out that males have

more academic stress than females because they chose harder career paths. Hence, additional

studies of academic stress are needed to see if males have more academic stress than females or

Kar (2017) findings are just off. Additional studies should use something other than self-

reporting techniques to find the stress levels of college students to make findings more accurate.
LITERATURE REVIEW: ACADEMIC STRESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 8

References

Banu, P., Deb, S., Vardhan, V., & Rao, T. (2015). Perceived academic stress of university

students across gender, academic streams, semesters, and academic performance. Indian

Journal of Health & Wellbeing, 6(3), 231–235. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=102322423&site=ehost-live

Bernstein, C., & Chemaly, C. (2016). Sex Role Identity and Academic Stress and Wellbeing of

First-Year University Students. Gender & Behaviour, 14(3), 7547–7573. Retrieved from

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Hall, N. C., Chipperfield, J. G., Perry, R. P., Ruthig, J. C., & Goetz, T. (2006). Primary and

secondary control in academic development: gender-specific implications for stress and

health in college students1. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 19(2), 189–210. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/10.1080/10615800600581168

Kar, S. (2017). ACADEMIC STRESS AS A DETERMINANT OF ACADEMIC

ACHIEVEMENT. Nurture, 11(1), 1-5. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/docview/2047349668?accountid=39502

Misra, R., & McKean, M. (2000). College Students’ Academic Stress and Its Relation to Their

Anxiety, Time Management, and Leisure Satisfaction. American Journal of Health

Studies, 16(1), 41. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/login?

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url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=3308416&site=ehost-live

Pozos-Radillo, B. E., de Lourdes Preciado-Serrano, M., Acosta-Fernández, M., de los Ángeles

Aguilera-Velasco, M., & Delgado-García, D. D. (2014). Academic stress as a predictor of

chronic stress in university students. Psicologia Educativa, 20(1), 47–52. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.sanjuancollege.edu/10.1016/j.pse.2014.05.006

Robotham, D. (2008). Stress among higher education students: towards a research agenda.

Higher Education (00181560), 56(6), 735–746. https://doi-

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