Effects of Stress in School
Introduction of Issue
Today, a significant nu8mber of university and college students experience a lot of stress while undertaking their studies. This form of stress is attributed to the numerous activities involved in a school setting including conducting extracurricular activities, tests, projects, assignments, and attending class lessons. For many students, the change to new environments compels them to handle the growing demands of classwork. For new students, doing school work and dealing with the stress of being away from home presents a major challenge.
Notably, stress triggers various problems including anxiety, depression, and potentially life-threatening tho8ghts in the mind of a student. Often, a school setting is characterized by students rushing from one end to another to attend classes and perform other activities. In some cases, the scheduled activities may take much of the student’s time, thus leaving very little time for them to have their meals. On one day, a student may have to prepare for a small group presentation and also complete a 300-page reading.
“Stress affects physical health, the psychological effects of stress on mental health, and the cognitive effects of stress “ (Shankar and Crystal, page 16). Coupled with assignments for the next day, school activities tend to exert a lot of pressure on students especially new students in college. Thus, the hectic routines experienced by students these days leaves them overwhelmed and unable to cope with the numerous tasks involved in the learning process. Therefore, school activities can negatively impact both a student’s physical and mental health especially in situations where it results in inadequate sleep and diet. According to a publication by the University of New York, extreme stress levels can impact a student’s effectiveness and result in poor performance. The publication also added that students who experience a stressful life have recorded worse health outcomes and low quality of life. Without proper management, the stress in school can negatively impact the performance of a student in studies.
Case Presentation
According to Fur et al (2001), “students are often stressed over their grades, their peers, family and also self-imposed stress.” (page 6). Worrying is a common human attribute that entails the experience of uncontrollable thoughts regarding the possibility of negative future events in one’s life. In this case, students in school settings are faced with worries regarding their life in their new environments. Self-triggered stress tends to have negative psychological impacts that may result in thoughts of suicide or even dropping from school. In most cases, students do not report self-caused stress for fear of judgment from their teachers or parents. For a student, these thoughts tend to be difficult to eliminate since they cognitively rehearse the potential danger in their future. The worrying phenomenon is characterized by negative outcomes including depression, exaggeration, and anxiety. However, worrying can be beneficial in one’s life since it compels individuals to respond positively in the face of danger. Also, the fear of getting bad grades can compel a student to work hard while preparing for the exams. Despite the potential benefits of worrying in a student’s life, it can have negative effects on their overall performance.
Chronic and uncontrollable worry can be perceived as one of the characteristics of a person suffering from anxiety. “Because college is invested with so much meaning in the larger
society, to feel worthy of attending college is itself significant for how individuals
identify themselves by these characteristics” (Kaufman and Feldman page 470).
Anxiety and depression are some of the leading causes of poor performance in students. Notably, school tasks that are characterized by a longer active memory tend to be highly affected by anxiety and depression. For instance, certain important events like exams can exert a lot of pressure on students during the last periods of preparation. In this case, students who have not adequately prepared for the exams may experience worries over their grades and the effects of the results to the relationship with their parents. The fear of being confronted by the parents over bad grades can cause panic for students while preparing to undertake their exams. Put simply, students with a god working memory tend to perform well in their exams and studies in general.
Further, self-esteem can increase the levels of anxiety on a student and therefore deter them from optimizing their performance in specific tasks. In this case, a lower self-concept can trigger psychological effects due to personal perception. In this case, students suffering from various ailments like diabetes can find it difficult to fit in various social settings within their schools. For instance, it can be difficult for such students to join a sport or participate in physical activity for the fear of being judged by their peers. In this scenario, self-concept can trigger anxiety, and thus negatively impact the way a student approaches various tasks involved in their learning process. “Indeed, exposure to stress by youth has been linked to severe emotional and psychological problems “(Wilburn and Delores, page 19).
Consequently, students with learning disabilities tend to have difficulties focusing on their studies. In this case, such students develop anxiety due to the expectations placed on them by themselves and others. On the other hand, students with certain talents or gifts tend to develop anxiety over their abilities. As such, gifted students create perceptions regarding their performance and the limits placed on them by others. In this case, such students tend to worry about their results and the impacts on how people perceive them For instance, a student who performs well in studies may become worried about getting a lower grade than expected.
Notably, every student has a life outside the academic cope. In this case, the students are expected to balance between school life and life outside the school environment. Therefore, in a situation where a student is forced to choose between personal time and time for school activities, they tend to lose interest in their learning. The long term effects of studying for many hours can be characterized by a lack of focus in academic studies. The loss of focus can be observed in students with language difficulties. Language proficiency tends to have an impact on a student’s ability to learn due to its key role in the passage of information. In this case, students use language to communicate about the challenges they face as well as the assistance they require to excel in their academics.
Often, language barriers many occur, thus causing misunderstanding among students and teachers. “social support and English proficiency uniquely contribute to the variance in students’ acculturative stress” (Mallinckrodt and Frederick, page 13). The frustrations caused by misunderstandings can, therefore, impact a student’s interest in studies. Stress negatively impacts a student’s academics tends to have a huge native impact on their schoolwork. The poor performance from stress is attributed to a lack of concentration where students lose focus in their studies. While the effects of stress can have short-term benefits, they tend to have negative impacts on the student’s life in the long-term. Furthermore, stressed students tend to have low productivity in their school work. This occurs when the student opts to reduce their input in their classwork, thus leading to lower concentration and focus. The image below represents the results of a study by William Farr Comprehensive school on how mental health affects student’s grades. “In a way I think it may prepare them for university and careers in the future, however, I think the amount of stress is still unnecessary. Young people should be allowed to be young people and have free time as well as working in the school.” (William Farr, paragraph 5). The study noted that lack of financial provision makes it difficult to offer support to students suffering from mental issues. As s result, such students end up getting lower grades than expected.
Figure 1(William Farr)
Figure 2 (Betancourt, 2017, pg 8)
The above image (figure 1) represents the stress response cure developed by Nixon P. in 1979. The curve suggests that the performance level decreases as the level of stress increases. As the stress begins to be perceived as excessive, the student reaches a point of fatigue where their performance tends to start declining. In this case, stress tends to have some form of benefit for the student in the short run. However,” the performance of the student declines as the stress levels exceed the normal levels” (pg 10). Therefore, the level of stress tends to determine the performance of the students in their studies.
Figure 3 (Leung, 2006, page 5)
The image above in figure 3 represents Yerke-Donson law that shows how levels of anxiety can affect a person’s performance. Thus, a low to medium anxiety level can potentially benefit a student in a school setting. However, as the levels of stress exceed the medium level, the student’s performance begins to decline until it reaches a minimum level. Thus, students suffering from high anxiety levels record lower grades in their studies. “There is a relationship between performance and arousal. Increased arousal can help improve performance” (Leung, page 3).
Opposition Point
Of course, everyone experiences stress at some point in life. Still, some argue that stress is a part of life and that students fail to perform well in school due to lack of hard work and giving attention to other activities unrelated to studies. However, studies show that students are faced with numerous challenges while trying to balance between school and life activities unlike individuals outside the school setting. In this case, students face a lot of pressure while in the academic scope, thus increasing the levels of stress that in turn impact their performance. Additionally, stress at school potentially causes other mental disorders including depression and anxiety that can have a negative effect on the social lives of the students. In this case, students with such mental disorders tend to lead to less satisfactory lives.
Conclusion
The above paper was designed to show that stress can impact a student’s performance in their studies. Students are expected to balance school work and social life outside the school setting. As a result, many students find this aspect overwhelming owing to the numerous tasks involved in their academic life. Thus, such activities may trigger stress and affect the way students undertake their studies. In most cases, the fear of failure and thoughts of negative outcomes in the future may cause anxiety among students, thus impact their self-concept. While anxiety causes short term benefits on performance, the long term effects of stress and anxiety tend to affect the overall performance of the students.
Work Cited
Feldman, K. A. (1972). Some theoretical approaches to the study of change and stability
Furr, S. R., Westefeld, J. S., McConnell, G. N., & Jenkins, J. M. (2001). Suicide and
depression among college students: A decade later. Professional Psychology:
Research and Practice, 32, 97-100.
William Farr. Inside the hellish workday of an Amazon warehouse employee. Retrieved 22 May 2020, from http://www.williamfarr.lincs.sch.uk/news/bbc-news-report-2018/is-mental-health-becoming-a-serious-issue-in-exam-students
Betancourt, Saracristina. “Academic Stress and Depressive Symptoms.” (2017).
Leung, Hing-Man. “Learning and Growth Divergence.” (2006).
Shankar, Nilani L., and Crystal L. Park. “Effects of stress on students’ physical and mental health and academic success.” International Journal of School & Educational Psychology 4.1 (2016): 5-9.
Wilburn, Victor R., and Delores E. Smith. “Stress, self-esteem, and suicidal ideation in late adolescents.” Adolescence 40.157 (2005).
Mallinckrodt, Brent, and Frederick TL Leong. “International graduate students, stress, and social support.” Journal of College Student Development 33.1 (1992): 71-78.
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