Examining perceptions of academic stress and its sources among university students: The Perception of Academic Stress Scale

doi:10.1177/2055102915596714

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Examining perceptions of academic stress and its sources among university students: The Perception of Academic Stress Scale

Journal Article•DOI•

Examining perceptions of academic stress and its sources among university students: The Perception of Academic Stress Scale

Dalia Bedewy¹, Adel Gabriel²•Institutions (2)

Tanta University¹, University of Calgary²

30 Jul 2015-Health psychology open (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 2, Iss: 2, pp 2055102915596714-2055102915596714

TL;DR: An 18-item scale to measure perceptions of academic stress and its sources and has internal consistency reliability of 0.7 (Cronbach's alpha), there was evidence for content validity, and factor analysis resulted in four correlated and theoretically meaningful factors.

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Abstract: The development of a scale to measure perceived sources of academic stress among university students. Based on empirical evidence and recent literature review, we developed an 18-item scale to measure perceptions of academic stress and its sources. Experts (n = 12) participated in the content validation process of the instrument before it was administered to (n = 100) students. The developed instrument has internal consistency reliability of 0.7 (Cronbach’s alpha), there was evidence for content validity, and factor analysis resulted in four correlated and theoretically meaningful factors. We developed and tested a scale to measure academic stress and its sources. This scale takes 5 minutes to complete.

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Journal Article•

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research

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Alptürk Akçöltekin, Ali Osman Engin, Hikmet Sevgin

01 Jan 2017-Eurasian Journal of Educational Research

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the level of teachers' organizational citizenship behaviors and counter-productive work behaviors based on public primary school administrators' and teachers' perceptions and the relationship between these two variables.

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Abstract: Article History: Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the level of teachers' organizational citizenship behaviors and counter-productive work behaviors (CWBs) based on public primary school administrators’ and teachers' perceptions and the relationship between these two variables. Research Methods: This study was conducted in a correlational survey model. The sample of this study was formed in the 2018-2019 academic year, consisted of public primary school administrators and teachers who worked in nine different districts Received: 18 Jun., 2019 Received in revised form: 22 Sept. 2019 Accepted: 14 Oct. 2019 DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2019.84.1

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187 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Online education during COVID-19: perception of academic stress and emotional intelligence coping strategies among college students

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Yamini Chandra

06 Oct 2020-Asian Education and Development Studies

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the perception of academic stress experienced by students during current online education and coping strategies using emotional intelligence adopted by them using a purposive sampling method, data were collected on a sample of 94 students pursuing undergraduation and postgraduation from two Indian cities, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

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Abstract: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the government around the world has closed all the educational institutions to control the spread of disease, which is creating a direct impact on students, educators and institutions. The sudden shift from the physical classroom to virtual space is creating a disruption among students. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perception of academic stress experienced by students during current online education and coping strategies using emotional intelligence adopted by them.,Using a purposive sampling method, data were collected on a sample of 94 students pursuing undergraduation and postgraduation from two Indian cities, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. The survey was conducted using two online questionnaires, Perceptions of Academic Stress Scale and Emotional Intelligence Scale and analyzed using descriptive statistics with chi-square analysis. A telephonic discussion was also conducted with some respondents to understand different coping strategies used by them to handle the stress.,The findings indicated significant differences were observed between the fear of academic failure and online and home environment among male and female students. Many of them have started diverting themselves to various creative activities and taking up courses that are helping them to learn new technical skills. By using emotional intelligence and distancing from boredom and depressive thoughts, students were trying to cope with negative effects arising from the current pandemic situation.,This research study will be beneficial to educators, scholars, students, parents and will add a contribution to its field. However, the key factors studied were limited to a small sample from selected institutions and cities, which cannot be used to generalize to a large population.,The findings of this paper will be useful to assess the key challenges of online education especially at the time when it is the only option.,The findings of this paper will be beneficial to understand the academic stress experienced by students and how a cultural and educational modification will be implemented.,This research study was conducted during the lockdown in India (April–May 2020), and the results derived through it are original in nature.

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128 citations

Cites background or methods from "Examining perceptions of academic s..."

...…impact on their well-being, their decision to choose career options, sleeping difficulties, psychosomatic complaints, worrying about future, comorbid conditions like anxiety and depression, inability to manage course workload, etc. (Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015; Acharya, 2003; Iqbal et al., 2015)....
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...The overall internal consistency reliability was 0.7, with high scores indicating higher stress experienced by students (Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015, p. 5)....
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...Tools used for data collection: Perceptions of Academic Stress Scale (PAS) (Bedewy and Gabriel, 2015, p. 4) is an 18-item, five-point Likert-type scale to measure perceptions, academic stress and its sources in students....
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...It was observed that overall male Criterion groups Levels Data in numbers Frequency Gender Female 41 43.6 Male 53 56.4 Education (currently pursuing) Undergraduate 79 84.0 Post-Graduate 15 16.0 Geographical representation of Indian regions Eastern 04 4.3 Western 71 75.5 Northern 18 19.1 Southern 01 01.1 History of academic failure Never 80 85.1 More than once 14 14.9 Satisfaction with the current online learning environment No 55 58.5 Yes 39 41.5 Satisfaction with the current home environment No 14 14.9 Yes 85 85.1 Calculated values PAS EIS Frequency count 94 94 Mean 3.276 3.904 Standard deviation (SD) 1.120 0.855 Standard error 0.061 0.232 Skewness 0.71 0.582 Kurtosis 2.960 3.153 Criterion groups Category 1 male Category 2 female Marginal row totals Group 1 (never failed) 7252 (7633.1) [19.0] 6437 (6055.9) [23.1] 13689 Group 2 (failed more than once) 1735 (1353.9) [107.3] 693 (1074.1) [135.2] 2428 Marginal column totals 8987 7130 16117 (grand total) Table 2....
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...Table 2 represents the descriptive analysis on both the scales, for the analysis of PAS itwas observed that the values for mean5 58.2, median5 57.0, SD5 6.88, skewness5 0.036112 and kurtosis value was observed to be 0.111184....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Academic Stress and Self-Regulation among University Students in Malaysia: Mediator Role of Mindfulness.

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Nur Hamizah Hj Ramli¹, Masoumeh Alavi², Seyed Abolghasem Mehrinezhad², Atefeh Ahmadi³•Institutions (3)

University of Kuala Lumpur¹, Alzahra University², Kerman Medical University³

15 Jan 2018-Systems Research and Behavioral Science

TL;DR: Correlational analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness, however, using SPSS mediational analysis, mindfulness did not prove the mediator role in the study.

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Abstract: Academic stress is the most common emotional or mental state that students experience during their studies. Stress is a result of a wide range of issues, including test and exam burden, a demanding course, a different educational system, and thinking about future plans upon graduation. A sizeable body of literature in stress management research has found that self-regulation and being mindful will help students to cope up with the stress and dodge long-term negative consequences, such as substance abuse. The present study aims to investigate the influence of academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness among undergraduate students in Klang Valley, Malaysia, and to identify mindfulness as the mediator between academic stress and self-regulation. For this study, a total of 384 undergraduate students in Klang Valley, Malaysia were recruited. Using Correlational analysis, results revealed that there was a significant relationship between academic stress, self-regulation, and mindfulness. However, using SPSS mediational analysis, mindfulness did not prove the mediator role in the study.

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82 citations

Cites methods from "Examining perceptions of academic s..."

...PAS contains the academic expectations, faculty work, and examinations and students’ academic self-perceptions as its subscale....
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...The first was The Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS) [36], which was used to measure the perception of academic stress among the undergraduate students....
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Journal Article•DOI•

University student mentalwell-being during COVID-19 outbreak: What are the relationships between information seeking, perceived risk and personal resources related to the academic context?

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Vincenza Capone¹, Daniela Caso¹, Anna Rosa Donizzetti¹, Fortuna Procentese¹•Institutions (1)

University of Naples Federico II¹

01 Sep 2020-Sustainability

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the associations between mental health and academic stress, self-efficacy, satisfaction for degree course, locus of control, COVID-19 risk perception, taking into account the level of information seeking about pandemic.

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Abstract: In light of rising concern about the coronavirus pandemic crisis, a growing number of universities across the world have either postponed or canceled all campus and other activities. This posed new challenges for university students. Based on the classification proposed in the Mental Health Continuum model by Keyes, the aims were to estimate university students' prevalence of mental health during lookdown outbreak, and to examine the associations between mental health and, respectively, academic stress, self-efficacy, satisfaction for degree course, locus of control, COVID-19 risk perception, taking into account the level of information seeking about pandemic. Overall, 1124 Italian university students completed a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational analyses. Results showed that 22.3% of participants were flourishing, and levels of mental well-being appeared in line with normative values in young Italian adults; levels of academic stress were not significantly higher than those found in other student samples before the COVID-19 outbreak. Students with high levels of information seeking presented higher levels of well-being and risk perception. Results could be considered useful to realize training pathways, to help the university students to improve their well-being, post-pandemic.

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75 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Perceived sources of stress amongst dental students: A multicountry study

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Mohammed Nasser Alhajj¹, Yousef Khader², Ali H. Murad, Asja Čelebić³, Esam Halboub⁴, Juan Ramos Marquez, C. C. Macizo, SH Khan⁵, Bishal Babu Basnet, Joseph E. Makzoumé⁶, M. D. de Sousa-Neto⁷, Rafael Verardino de Camargo⁷, D. A. Prasad⁸, M. Faheemuddin⁹, Shafat A. Mir, Sahar Elkholy¹⁰, Abbas G. Abdullah¹¹, Amna Adam Ibrahim, Mokhtar Saleh Al-anesi¹, Abdulghani Ali Al-Basmi - Show less +16 more•Institutions (11)

Thamar University¹, Jordan University of Science and Technology², University of Zagreb³, Jazan University⁴, University of the Western Cape⁵, Saint Joseph's University⁶, University of São Paulo⁷, Nitte University⁸, University of Lahore⁹, Pharos University in Alexandria¹⁰, University of Khartoum¹¹

01 Nov 2018-European Journal of Endocrinology

TL;DR: The self-reported stress in the dental environment is still high and the stressors seem to be comparable amongst the participating countries, suggesting effective management programmes are needed to minimise dental environment stress.

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Abstract: Aims The aim of this study was to explore the perceived sources of stress reported by dental students from fourteen different countries. Methods A total of 3568 dental students were recruited from 14 different dental schools. The dental environmental stress (DES) questionnaire was used including 7 domains. Responses to the DES were scored in 4-point Likert scale. Comparison between students was performed according to the study variables. The top 5 stress-provoking questions were identified amongst dental schools. Data were analysed using SPSS software program. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used as appropriate. Logistic regression analysis was also conducted to determine the effect of the studied variables on the stress domains. The level of statistical significance was set at Results Internal consistency of the scale was excellent (0.927). Female students formed the majority of the total student population. The percentage of married students was 4.8%. Numbers of students in pre-clinical and clinical stages were close together. The most stress-provoking domain was "workload" with a score of 2.05 ± 0.56. Female students scored higher stress than male students did in most of the domains. Significant differences were found between participating countries in all stress-provoking domains. Dental students from Egypt scored the highest level of stress whilst dental students from Jordan scored the lowest level of stress. Conclusion The self-reported stress in the dental environment is still high and the stressors seem to be comparable amongst the participating countries. Effective management programmes are needed to minimise dental environment stress.

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54 citations

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Journal Article•DOI•

Correlates, Causes, Effects, and Treatment of Test Anxiety:

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Ray Hembree¹•Institutions (1)

Adrian College¹

01 Mar 1988-Review of Educational Research

TL;DR: In this article, results of 562 studies were integrated by meta-analysis to show the nature, effects, and treatment of academic test anxiety, and effect sizes were computed through the method invented by Glass (Glass, McGaw, & Smith, 1981).

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Abstract: Results of 562 studies were integrated by meta-analysis to show the nature, effects, and treatment of academic test anxiety. Effect sizes were computed through the method invented by Glass (Glass, McGaw, & Smith, 1981). Correlations and effect-size groups were tested for consistency and significance with inferential statistics by Hedges and Olkin (1985). Test anxiety (TA) causes poor performance. It relates inversely to students’ self-esteem and directly to their fears of negative evaluation, defensiveness, and other forms of anxiety. Conditions (causes) giving rise to differential TA levels include ability, gender, and school grade level. A variety of treatments are effective in reducing test anxiety. Contrary to prior perceptions, improved test performance and grade point average (GPA) consistently accompany TA reduction.

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1,546 citations

"Examining perceptions of academic s..." refers background in this paper

...Hancock (2001) and Hembree (1988) reported that negative cognitions related to examinations, when such students underestimate their own abilities, or overestimation of the consequences related to their failure, are often accompanied by higher anxiety levels and poor performance....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Test Anxiety and Academic Performance in Undergraduate and Graduate Students.

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Mark S. Chapell¹, Z. Benjamin Blanding¹, Michael E. Silverstein², Masami Takahashi³, Brian Newman¹, Aaron A. Gubi¹, Nicole McCann¹ - Show less +3 more•Institutions (3)

Rowan University¹, Temple University², Northeastern Illinois University³

01 May 2005-Journal of Educational Psychology

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance in 4,000 undergraduate and 1,414 graduate students and found that there was a significant but small inverse relationship between stress and grade point average (GPA).

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Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance in 4,000 undergraduate and 1,414 graduate students and found a significant but small inverse relationship between test anxiety and grade point average (GPA) in both groups. Low-test-anxious undergraduates averaged a B+, whereas high-test-anxious students averaged a B. Low-test-anxious female graduate students had significantly higher GPAs than high-test-anxious female graduate students, but there were no significant GPA differences between low- and high-test-anxious male graduate students. Female undergraduates had significantly higher test anxiety and higher GPAs than male undergraduates, and female graduate students had significantly higher test anxiety and higher GPAs than male graduate students.

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685 citations

"Examining perceptions of academic s..." refers background in this paper

...In fact, previous research suggested a modest prevalence rate of 10 to 35 percent of college students experience functionally impairing levels of test anxiety (Chapell et al., 2005; Naveh-Benjamin et al., 1997)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Perceived Stress, Sources and Severity of Stress among medical undergraduates in a Pakistani Medical School

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Mohsin Shah¹, Shahid Hasan¹, Samina Malik¹, Chandrashekhar T Sreeramareddy•Institutions (1)

University of Health Sciences Lahore¹

15 Jan 2010-BMC Medical Education

TL;DR: A higher level of perceived stress was reported by the students and the main stressors were related to academic and psychosocial domains.

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Abstract: Recently there is a growing concern about stress during undergraduate medical training. However, studies about the same are lacking from Pakistani medical schools. The objectives of our study were to assess perceived stress, sources of stress and their severity and to assess the determinants of stressed cases. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was carried out among undergraduate medical students of CMH Lahore Medical College, Pakistan during January to March 2009. Perceived stress was assessed using the perceived stress scale. A 33-item questionnaire was used to assess sources of stress and their severity. The overall response rate was 80.5% (161 out of 200 students). The overall mean perceived stress was 30.84 (SD = 7.01) and was significantly higher among female students. By logistic regression analysis, stressed cases were associated with occurrence of psychosocial (OR 5.01, 95% CI 2.44-10.29) and academic related stressors (OR 3.17 95% CI 1.52-6.68). The most common sources of stress were related to academic and psychosocial concerns. 'High parental expectations', 'frequency of examinations', 'vastness of academic curriculum', 'sleeping difficulties', 'worrying about the future', 'loneliness', 'becoming a doctor', 'performance in periodic examinations' were the most frequently and severely occurring sources of stress. There was a negative but insignificant correlation between perceived stress and academic performance (r = -0.099, p > 0.05). A higher level of perceived stress was reported by the students. The main stressors were related to academic and psychosocial domains. Further studies are required to test the association between stressed cases and gender, academic stressors and psychosocial stressors.

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375 citations

"Examining perceptions of academic s..." refers background in this paper

...…the literature, stress among dental and medical students in different cultures is well documented and was associated with significant psychiatric morbidity in the literature (Al-Omari, 2005; Naidu et al., 2002; Pohlmann et al., 2005; Rajab, 2001; Shah et al., 2010; Tuisuva and Morse, 2003)....
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...In a number of studies, authors found that the most frequently reported factors contributing to stress and anxiety around the examination periods were extensive course loads, lack of physical exercise, and long duration of exams, reported by the students (Harikiran et al., 2012; Hashmat et al., 2008; Sansgiry and Sail, 2006; Shah et al., 2010)....
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...Medical students’ performance in periodic examinations was the most frequently and severely occurring sources of stress (Shah et al., 2010)....
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...From reviewing the literature, stress among dental and medical students in different cultures is well documented and was associated with significant psychiatric morbidity in the literature (Al-Omari, 2005; Naidu et al., 2002; Pohlmann et al., 2005; Rajab, 2001; Shah et al., 2010; Tuisuva and Morse, 2003)....
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...…most frequently reported factors contributing to stress and anxiety around the examination periods were extensive course loads, lack of physical exercise, and long duration of exams, reported by the students (Harikiran et al., 2012; Hashmat et al., 2008; Sansgiry and Sail, 2006; Shah et al., 2010)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Effects of Test Anxiety and Evaluative Threat on Students' Achievement and Motivation

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Dawson R. Hancock¹•Institutions (1)

University of North Carolina at Charlotte¹

01 May 2001-Journal of Educational Research

TL;DR: This article investigated the interactive effects of learner characteristic, test anxiety, and the classroom variable, threat of evaluation, on the achievement and motivation of 61 post-secondary students assigned randomly to high or low-evaluative threat conditions.

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Abstract: Identification of factors that influence post-secondary student achievement and motivation in the classroom continues to be an important educational objective. The author investigated the interactive effects of learner characteristic, test anxiety, and the classroom variable, threat of evaluation, on the achievement and motivation of 61 postsecondary students assigned randomly to high- or low-evaluative threat conditions. Statistically significant interactions revealed that all the students, particularly the test-anxious students, performed poorly and were less motivated when exposed to highly evaluative classrooms. The findings expand previous research and should be considered by professors when they design and implement higher education courses.

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289 citations

"Examining perceptions of academic s..." refers background in this paper

...Hancock (2001) and Hembree (1988) reported that negative cognitions related to examinations, when such students underestimate their own abilities, or overestimation of the consequences related to their failure, are often accompanied by higher anxiety levels and poor performance....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Stress, anxiety & depression among medical undergraduate students & their socio-demographic correlates

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Shawaz Iqbal, Sandhya Gupta, Epari Venkatarao

01 Mar 2015-Indian Journal of Medical Research

TL;DR: A substantial proportion of medical undergraduate students was found to be depressed, anxious and stressed revealing a neglected area of the students’ psychology requiring urgent attention.

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Abstract: Background & objectives: Presence of psychological morbidity in medical undergraduate students has been reported from various countries across the world. Indian studies to document this burden are very few. Therefore, the presence of depression, anxiety and stress among medical undergraduate students was assessed using a previously validated and standardized instrument, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 42) and the associations with their socio-demographic and personal characteristics were identified. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, a self-administered, pre-designed, pre-tested anonymous questionnaire including DASS 42 was used to collect information on basic socio-demographic (age, gender, semester) and personal characteristics (alcohol and tobacco use, academic performance). All students present on the day of survey were contacted for participation after obtaining informed written consent. Scores for each of the respondents over each of the sub-scales (Depression, Anxiety and Stress) were calculated as per the severity-rating index. Results: More than half of the respondents were affected by depression (51.3%), anxiety (66.9%) and stress (53%). Morbidity was found to be more in 5 th semester students rather than students of 2 nd semester. Females reported higher score as compared to their male counterparts. Perception of self assessment in academics was strongly associated with the higher score. Conclusions: A substantial proportion of medical undergraduate students was found to be depressed, anxious and stressed revealing a neglected area of the students' psychology requiring urgent attention. Student counselling services need to be made available and accessible to curb this morbidity.

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270 citations

"Examining perceptions of academic s..." refers background in this paper

...…et al., 2012), problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies are the preferred choice to alleviate stress, the use of the student counseling services (Iqbal et al., 2015), and curricular and policy changes aiming at assisting students in coping with identified stressors (Harikiran et al., 2012)....
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...For example, it was demonstrated recently that more than half of the respondents were affected by depression, and over two-thirds by anxiety and stress, and females consistently reported higher score of stress as compared to their male counterparts (Iqbal et al., 2015; Kumar et al., 2014)....
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..., 2012), problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies are the preferred choice to alleviate stress, the use of the student counseling services (Iqbal et al., 2015), and curricular and policy changes aiming at assisting students in coping with identified stressors (Harikiran et al....
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