Academic stress in youth

Stressed youths relaxing

Academic stress is a significant aspect of youth. Youth is the developmental phase between puberty and working adulthood. It is a period of continuing student-hood. This is a distinctive feature of youth - it exists only for those who undergo post-secondary education. This is for the privileged few who do not join the workforce full-time after schooling.

Youth is a valuable time for serious experimentation. The young person is not fettered by long-term commitments. In contrast to adolescence, youth is a period of independence - the peer group is no longer a dominant influence. There is greater freedom to develop as an individual. The young person evolves a personal perspective on life and develops a sense of direction before tackling the duties of adulthood.

However this stage of life is by no means stress-free. By definition youth is associated with academics. Academic demands are perceived as significant stressors by youths (Rao 2000, Goff 2011). These demands include workload and time constraints (Jungbluth and colleagues 2011). On entering college the youth is suddenly exposed to an unsupervised life of parties, college events, projects, and an intense curriculum, all of which make demands on time.

Why do academic stressors acquire such significance in youth? Why do students who have done well in their 12th and got into good courses find it difficult to cope with the academics? Well, until high school the student has a limited syllabus. Students in good schools rely almost entirely on the notes dictated by their teachers. Also the exam system is designed so that most students can achieve high scores with minimal time spent on study. All this changes in college. When the youth enters college, he or she is confronted with the entire gamut of knowledge in a particular field. Without the skills to filter, assimilate and reproduce information in context the youth experiences stress.

There is also the problem of youths whose career path was chosen by their parents despite their protests or otherwise. These youth may find themselves completely out of their depth in a course for which they have little interest or aptitude.

Students cope with academic stressors using a combination of emotion-focused strategies like self-blame, or bunking, and problem-focused strategies like reading guide books, and cheating. Study skills training and the acquisition of good learning habits are essential life-skills for students. We have already shown that study skills are effective and can be successfully acquired.

Study skills training should be a part of every freshers curriculum.

References

1. Jungbluth C, Macfarlane IM, Veach PM, Leroy BS.Why is Everyone So Anxious?: An Exploration of Stress and Anxiety in Genetic Counseling Graduate Students. J Genet Couns. 2011 Jan 25. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
2. Goff AM. Stressors, academic performance, and learned resourcefulness in baccalaureate nursing students. Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh. 2011;8(1):Article1. Epub 2011 Jan 24.
3. Rao K; Moudud S; Subbakrishna DK. Appraisal of stress and coping behaviour in college students . Journal of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology. 2000 Jan- Jul; 26(1-2):5-13