ACADEMIC PRESSURE AMONG SHS STUDENTS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY ON STUDENTS'

PERSPECTIVE

Abdurahman, A. N., Jagunos, I , Arumpac, A, A., Lamprea, C. P., Ramos, L.J.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of academic stress among senior high school
students as well as expressing the students’ perspective about their experience. Students in secondary
education settings face a wide range of ongoing stressors related to academic demands. Research
indicates that academic-related stress can reduce academic achievement, decrease motivation and
increase the risk of school dropout. Academic pressure is defined as a student’s psychological state
resulting from continuous social and self-imposed pressure is defined as a student’s psychological
reserves. This narrative review presents the most recent research concerning the impact of academic-
related stress. It includes discussion of the impact on students’ learning capacity and academic
performance, mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, sleep disturbances and
substance use.

In a global scale, According to Agolla (2009) Stress has become an important topic in academic
circles. Many scholars in the field of behavioral science have carried out extensive research on stress and
its outcomes and concluded that the topic needed more attention. Also, according to Krishnan Lal
(2013), the students today are facing with new challenges in education calling for greater effort from
students. In addition, there are heavy demands made by the society on students to perform various
roles, many of which are undefined, inconsistent and unachievable in the present socio-cultural,
economic and bureaucratic contexts of our society, causing heavy stress on students mainly high school
students. Students in their teens are the ones who are going through the transitional phase, which is an
intermediate of childhood and adulthood. Stress is believed to be caused by the various problems that
exist such as problems at school, colleges, financial problems, family problems and problems in their
surroundings.

In a national scale, Philippines has been one of the most researched topics among Filipino
researchers. Over 200 respondents, 23% said that their jobs and studies are the main reason of stress in
their lives (Ansis, 2017). Stress related to studies is caused by the lack of time management, tons of
academic works and the students’ ability to multitask. In addition to that, students are most likely to
experience personal problems like eating disorders and financial accounts. This kind of problem or
stressors that if it is not addressed properly or if the students lack coping skill, it might lead to worst case
scenarios like depression, suicide and death (Ansis, 2017). According to the study of Mazo (2015) that
the common effect of stress among 51 respondents of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
students in Leyte Normal University with 25 male and 26 female students are sleepless nights and
moody feelings. It implies that the respondents experience stress and that it affects their sleeping
pattern and behaviors which results in low performance in class.

In a local scale, as per Cuerpo J. (2017) stress is a main consideration on how a kid performs
scholastically. An examination done in 2000 on learning hypothesis expresses that pressure can upgrade
learning capacity, yet a lot of it could prompt physical and emotional well-being issues and the scholastic
accomplishment of a youngster is imperiled. An individual can without much of a stress adjust;
youngsters are known to adjust superior to grown-ups. In any case, the versatile capacities are
enormously influenced when the requests turn out to be excessively overpowering. This at that point
influences the understudies’ scholarly execution. Senior high understudies looked with a gigantic
measure of pressure that originates from an excessive amount of homework, long tests, and execution
errands. The outstanding task at hand is not really the issue; rather it is the constrained measure of time
for these necessities. Another examination was directed for the impacts of weight on well-being
propensities, well-being status, and confidence expresses that working hours and remaining burdens are
prevailing wellsprings of stress. The scholastic pressure that understudies are encountering is
presumably part of the birth agonies of the senior highs school program. It ought to be noted, in any
case, that on the off chance that an understudy is experiencing issues in adapting to scholastic worry,
there may be not kidding repercussions, for example, psycho-social and enthusiastic well-being results.

Academic stress has also been shown to negatively impact mental health in students (Li and
Lin,2003; Einsberg et al., 2009; Green et al., 2021). Mental or psychological, well-being is one of the
components of positive mental health and it includes happiness life-satisfaction, stress management and
psychological functioning (Ryan & Deci, 2001; Tennant et al., 2021). Positive mental health is an
understudied but important area that helps paint a more comprehensive picture of overall mental
health. (Tennant et al., 2007; Margraf, et al., 2020). Moreover, positive mental health has been shown
to be predictive of both negative and positive mental health indicators over time (Margraf, et al., 2020).
Therefore, more studies should be conducted to address the gap in research to help identify subgroups
that may be disproportionately impacted by academic stress and lower well-being.

Research Questions

1. What are the live experiences of SHS students in their academic pressure?

2. What is the effects among SHS students' on their social-emotional health and overall well-being?
3. What valuable suggestions would you like to impart to students who are under pressure to finish their
SHS studies?

Literature review

Data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics and Tables. The open ended question was
thematically analysed and the result presented in Table 5. It was found out that, academic workload,
inadequate resources, low motivation, poor performance in academic, continuous poor performance in
academic, overcrowded lecture halls, and uncertainty of getting job after graduating from the university
lead to stress among students. (Agolla & Ongori, 2009). This study tested whether parental involvement
influenced adolescent outcomes by increasing their academic engagement in school. A total of 1,056
adolescents participated in the study (51% males; 53% European American, 40% African American, and
7% other). ( Wang, Sheikh-Khalil, 2014). Academic stress is a public health concern [1]. While schooling
aims at preparing children to become physically, mentally, and professionally prepared for their adult
life, it can pose a burden on their mental health [2,3,4]. The high expectations of parents and teachers
[5] from ‘students’ school performance (examination grades), large amounts of homework, and
malfunctioned student-teacher and peer relations are some examples of potential stressors
(Hosseinkhani, et al., 2021).

The degree of parental pressure experienced differed significantly across the educational levels of
the parents, mother’s occupation, number of private tutors, and academic performance. In particular,
children of fathers possessing a lower education level (non-graduates) were found to be more likely to
perceive pressure for better academic performance. (Dev, et al., 2015) Academic stress is associated
with a variety of negative outcomes such as physical illness and deteriorating mental health. This paper
explores the capacity of personality hardiness to buffer the relationship between academic stress and
health. Results showed that hardiness was negatively associated with both academic stress and number
of health complaints, and showed that hardiness moderated the association between academic stress
and health. (Hystad, et al., 2009)