Academic Stress and Its Impact on Students’ Emotional Well-being and Performance at Universities

Author(s) : Tauqeer Abdullah 1 , Johar Ali 2, Anwar Alam 3

Abstract:

Academic stress is a common issue among students that strongly affects students’ mental health and academic outcomes. In order to determine the impact of academic stress on students’ emotional wellbeing and academic performance, this study, being quantitative in nature, was carried out in two public-sector universities, namely; University of Sargodha and University of Peshawar and a total sample of 800 students (i.e., 400 students from each university) were taken from both. All the students at the graduate and postgraduate levels made up the total population of the study. The study found that academic stress carried a significant impact on students’ emotional wellbeing and their academic performance. The study also found that students from both universities experienced an equal level of academic stress, which carried a significant impact on their emotional well-being and academic performance. The female students were more likely to face academic stress than the male students. Students of BS programs were much more prone to academic stress than M.Phil. and PhD students who studied physics experienced more academic stress than the students of chemistry, sociology and management sciences. Furthermore, students who were in their fourth year of studies were more likely to experience academic stress, emotional distress, and academic destruction as compared to the students in their 3rd, 2nd, and 1st years. In conclusion, the study revealed a substantial impact of academic stress on students’ emotional wellbeing and academic performance, with significant variations based on gender, academic program, subject, and year of study.

Keywords: Academic stress, Emotional well-being, Academic performance, University of Peshawar, University of Sargodha.