Abstract

Stress is one of the widely discussed topics not only inside universities or in the human resource

department of an organization but also in general. Various research studies have shown that no matter

what is the actual cause of stress, it has significant impact on human behavior, work life and social life

and academic life.

This research will be conducted to know the causes of stress on students, in order to achieve this

objective six variables are presented, like, large amount of content to master in a small amount

of time or work load, Family or parental problems, Fear of exams, lower grades competition,

teaching methodology.

The research design for this research would be descriptive and causal. Further data collection

method would be use of survey questionnaires in order to get responses from the students.

The sample is designed to be 30 students, and there will be random sampling technique applied

for this research.

Data analysis would be done through SPSS in order to know the correlation among independent

variables and dependent variable. This analysis would help us to make decision and will help us

to know most important causes of stress among students.

Introduction

These days education plays a vital role in the growth and development of an individual and

society. Since the day humans have realized the importance of education, they started developing

formal educational institutions where students learn and acquire new skills or specific skills that

could be utilized in different professions. An uninvited enemy called stress came along the

formalization of education system.

According to the (ACHA-NCHA) stress has been the number one ‘impediment' to academic

performance in college students. There have been many cases all over the world where students

get sick, disturbed, considering themselves broke and attempted suicides etc. It has been

observed by many studies that such students that are facing stress demonstrate specific

behavioral characteristics. Certain factors contribute to stress among students. A study of such

factors would be helpful in solving student problems and will help students to better direct their

energies towards their career objectives.

Stress can affect anyone, who feels overwhelmed. Stress is a function of the demands placed on

us and our ability to meet them. Pressures often come from outside sources (such as family,

friends, or school), but they can also come from within. (Gayle Armstrong Blizzard)
Background to the research problem

Stress is a phenomenon caused by variety of factors including personal, social, and

environmental. Personal and social factors vary from person to person as each individual has a

unique personality, and family background and social circles. However, it is very interesting to

find out the academic specific environmental factors causing stress among different people that

work and live in similar environments and to answer the question whether these factors have

interrelationship.

In case of students that study in different educational institutions, the environmental factors that

have a tendency to be possible factors of stress are workload, teaching methodology, fear of

exam, lower grades, competition, and parental pressure. These six factors are generated by the

environment and could be studied in isolation. Besides, these factors are those with whom

students interact almost on daily basis.

College students, especially freshmen, are a group particularly prone to stress sooner or later in

their academics phase (D'Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991) due to the transitional nature of college life

(Towbes & Cohen, 1996).

Students often confront stress while they move of home for higher studies, when they feel like

they are alone, and while they try to find a job to complete their financial needs (Romano, 1992).

When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive, students experience physical and

psychological impairment (Murphy & Archer, 1996).

As for as stress is concerned, to practically know about it the Student Stress Survey (SSS) was

used for a research purpose to determine the major sources of stress among college students. The

number of participants were 100, and they resulted the responses for stress like, change in

sleeping habits (89%), vacations/breaks (82%), change in eating habits (74%), new

responsibilities (73%), and increased class workload (73%). Financial difficulties (71%) and

change in social activities (71%) were also frequently reported stressors. The five least

frequently reported stressors were; death of a friend (6%), severe injury (5%), transferred schools

(3%), engagement/marriage (2%), and divorce between parents (1%). Quitting one's job (8%)

was also a infrequently reported stressor. Another interesting result was that, in a college setting,

events such as missing too many classes (21%) and arguing with an instructor (11%)(Shanon E.

rose). These are percentages representing stress among students.

Problem Definition:

The problem must be defined to the point and in understandable form, in order to make proper

decisions to solve the problems by setting specific objectives. (Zikmund)

Problem

To know the causes of stress among students

Research Question

What are the factors that cause stress among students?

Research objectives

 To know the causes of stress among students

 And to suggest them possible solutions to cope with it.

Overview of Literature

As for as stress is concerned it is discussed in a wide range of topics in relation with students,

and various researches have been taken to understand it.

Stress affected students can be categorized as academic, financial, time or health related,and self-

imposed (Goodman, 1993; LeRoy,1988). Academic stressors include the student’s perception of

the extensive knowledge base required and the perception of an inadequate time to develop it

(Carveth, Gesse, & Moss, 1996). Students report experiencing academic stress at predictable

times each semester with the greatest sources of academic stress resulting from taking and

studying for fear of exams, lower grades, competition, and the large amount of content to

master in a small amount of time (Abouserie, 1994; Archer & Lamnin, 1985; Britton & Tesser,

1991; Kohn & Frazer, 1986).

Academic Stress Predictors

In 2005, Dusselier et al, reported that college women experienced greater stress than male

student counterparts (Dusselier, Dunn, Wang, Shelley, & Whalen, 2005) who were living in a

college residential setting. Significant predictors of stress included: frequency of experiencing

chronic illness, depression, anxiety disorder, seasonal affective disorder, mononucleosis, and

sleep difficulties.
Perception of Academic Stress

Academic stress was considered a possible predictor of educational self-efficacy among female

undergraduates. Perceived academic stress was measured via the College Stress Scale (CSS).

The more these women and their families valued education, the higher their overall levels of self

esteem, the greater their levels of selfefficacy and the lower their levels of academic stress. A

sample limitation within the study is it consisted of only first semester female undergraduate

students. However this research added to the understanding of female undergraduate self efficacy

in which academic stress is a factor (Rayle, Arredondo, & Kurpius, 2005).

In another form, Academic stress among students have long been researched on, and researchers

have identified stressors as too many assignments, competition with other students, failures, lack

of pocket money (Fairbrother and Warn, 2003), poor relationships with other students or

lecturers, family or problems at home.

The pressure to perform well in the examination or test and time allocated makes academic

environment very stressful (Erkutlu and Chafra, 2006; Polychronopoulou and Divaris, 2005;

Misra and McKean, 2000). This is likely to affect the social relations both within the University

and outside (Fairbrother and Warn, 2004) since there is conflict with the social aspect of one life.

This not the only affect the social relations within or outside the University, but this goes to

affect the individual person’s life in terms of commitment to achieving the goals. Knowing the
causes of students stress will make the University administrator know how to monitor and

control the stress factors that are responsible for the students stress.

scholars (Ornelas and Kleiner, 2003; Jaramillo et al., 2004; Vermunt and Steesma, 2005; Ongori,

2007; Topper, 2007; Ongori and Agolla, 2008; Agolla, 2009) for instance identified the

symptoms and the causes of stress in work environments as sitting for a long period of time, poor

work performance, poor interpersonal relationship, inadequate or lack of resources, inadequate

time to perform particular assignments, poor working conditions, overcrowded work stations,

excessive paperwork, and many others. Whereas these factors have been found to be responsible

for stress, it is worth noting that in order to minimise the stress among students, the University

administrators must develop appropriate strategies that will enable them to detect in advance the

symptoms and causes of the stress.

Researchers (Malach-Pines and Keinan, 2007; Ongori, 2007; Ongori and Agolla, 2008; Agolla,

2009) have long identified stress symptoms as lack of energy, taking over the counter

medication, high blood pressure, feeling depresssed, increase in appetite, trouble concentrating,

restlessness, tensions and anxiety among others. An individual experiencing one of these factors

is likely to be a victim of stress.

Besides this students can also manage their stress level by programs emphasize starting large

tasks well before due dates, breaking down large tasks into small ones, and doing small tasks on

a regular schedule, students regularly ignore these techniques and find themselves in great
distress before exams (Brown, 1991, this can resultboth positive and negative consequences if

not well managed (Smith, 2002; Tweed et al., 2004; Stevenson and Harper, 2006).

Research Methodology

In this section I will be defining of what research design technique will be used, how data will be
gathered, population, and tools of collecting data.

Research Design

In this step I would be using descriptive and correlationals research. As you know the purpose of
this study is to know the causes of stress.

Data Collection Method and questionare development

Data collection method would be primary, questionnaire would be used and closed ended questions will
be asked which will help in data analysis part. The questionnaire helps to get required data from
respondents in predetermined way (De vaus, 1991). The questionare will be developed based on variables
present in this research, for each variable I will design atleat 2 questions. The maximum number of
questions depends on how much variables I take. The most important thing I would use likert scale in
questionnaire.

Pre-testing of Questionnaire

A pre-testing will be done whereby 30 questionnaires will be distributed to the student to have
reliability it questionnaire. This will help us to amend our questionnaire in most possible way.

Target Population and sampling.

The target population for this research would be students doing bachelors and masters and random
sampling technique would be applied. The reason behind choosing the bachelors and masters level
students is, it would be easy for me to reach them and they are the one who will understand the purpose of
research and respond accordingly. For research purpose I will chose 120 students randomly.
Data Analysis

The data analysis would be done through SPSS, and excel if needed to. This will help us to know the
relationship between variables and the most important causes of stress.

Limitations

The limitations for my research could be,

 Lack of time,

 No much exoertise in reaserch,

 The sample chosen may not represent all the students,

 Analysis can have some errors,

 Etc
References
1. Gayle Armstrong Blizzard Sales and Marketing for Educate & Celebrate, Inc.

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and Social Psychology.

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Scale development and prospective prediction of distress. Journal of Youth and
Adolescence.

4. Romano, J. L. (1992). Psychoeducational interventions for stress management and well-

being. Journal of Counseling and Development.

5. Shannon E. Ross "Sources Of Stress Among College Students". College Student Journal.
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Website

1. http://www.acha-ncha.org/pubs_rpts.html accessed on 1 jan 2011

Appendices
Appendix 1

Conceptual Framework & Shematic Diagram

 large amount of content to

master in a small amount of
time or work load
 Family or parental
STRESS
problems
 Fear of exams,
 lower grades
 competition
 Teaching methodology
Appendix 2

Hypothesis

1. Workload is positively correlated with stress.

2. Stress is positively associated with parents pressure
3. Fear of exams is the most important cause of stress
4. Low grades are negatively correlated with stress.
5. Competition creates stress among students
6. Teaching methodology is the cause of stress and is positively correlated with stress.
7.

Sample questionnaire for research proposal

1. I don’t have much time but a large amount of work to do.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

2. The work is so complex that I can’t understand it in a little time.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

3. My parents pressurize me to study.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

4. I am afraid that if I did not study my parents will be strict.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

5. I feel uncomfortable while listening of exams.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

6. Exams make me exhausted.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

7. I feel discouraged whenever I see my low grades.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

8. I always afraid of getting low grades because they will affecr my GPA.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

9. Competition provokes me and makes me to work hard badly.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

10. I always get worried about how to compete in my studies.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

11. Teaching methodology of some teachers make me tensed, and I cannot understand them

at sometimes.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree