According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, conducted in 2013, out of everyone that participated, 51% said they felt moderately stressed and 13% percent said they felt extremely stressed in the past month. And 55% said they felt moderately stressed and 27% said they felt extremely stressed within the past year. This just goes to show the absurd amounts of stress that people will experience. In the instance of students, many already have trouble keeping up with schoolwork. On top of that, some may experience stress from other sources, not only academics. But academics can be a primary stressor. Because of today's economy and the competition for jobs is much higher, there is plenty of stress that will come from academics alone.
LaRue and Herrman’s article “Adolescent Stress Through The Eyes of High-Risk Teens” highlights important factors to student stress and shows what academic stress is like from a student’s perspective. The article goes in depth about an average students’ life, and how stress affects their school, social, family lives. Many students at out University come in fresh out of high school, others transfers but are still young adults. Families can be major stressors, as parents may put unrealistic expectations on their children causing them to give up their childhood for a life where they are constantly keeping their noses in books.
Here at Cal State LA, a majority of students live at home with parents and commute to school. For those students, another stressing factor with families could include doing chores, taking care of siblings, arguments, possibly abuse by parents or dealing with parents who having split up, not getting along with family members and frequent changes in living arrangements. For those students who are older, they may already have families and/or live on their own and receive more stress due to the fact that they have to fend for themselves and possibly have others dependent on them. Also, there may be a social disadvantage, related to their ethnicity or race and the communities the students live in; some communities may be unsafe or unstable, where there is a lot of crime, drug dealing, and even gang violence. Other students have to juggle their social lives, having to manage a relationship with a partner and having to give up time with their friends in order to keep up with academic work which forces students to have less time for themselves.
Not only that, but stress is proven to cause health issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and insomnia. When students feel that they do not live up to the expectations of their parents, themselves, or their teachers, they may feel inadequate or 'not good enough,' which can have a toll on their self-worth. In Coping with School Stress: A Comparison of Adolescents With and Without Learning Disabilities, it explains that some students who might have learning disabilities have a more difficult time grasping concepts they learn in school. It can build on their frustration and lead to a higher amount of academic stress. Because of their learning disabilities, it can affect their self-confidence and make them feel slower or less smart than others around them because they have such difficulty keeping up with lessons or studying.
People at differing ages may handle stress in various types or ways, depending on their mindsets and influence on coping. Some will deal with situations in better ways than others, such that they will come up with possible solutions and deploy them, while some people will struggle and give up because there is too much of a strain on them to organize the situation. This only causes the situation to worsen because they do not have a practical way of de-stressing.
Because of our current society, college degrees are more preferable because they give people a higher chance to attain a well-paying job. In order to make a living in the future, students are overworking themselves to try to get ahead because they know that if they don't, they may not be able to support themselves later in life. The job market has become so much more competitive. In the last generation, well-paying jobs could still be attained even without a degree. These days, employers search for at least a bachelor's degree. And now, not even a degree will not guarantee a job anymore. Reasons such as these show why academic stress is so prevalent; academics determine our futures.
Sources:
Geisthardt, Cheryl, and Joyce Munsch. “Coping with School Stress: A Comparison of Adolescents With and Without Learning Disabilities.” N.p. n.p., 1 May 1996. PDF. 24 October 2016.<http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.aclibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfview
er?sid=0bf9b05-052f-4a53-af62-8e2941215bcf%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=110>.
LaRue, Denise E., Herrman, Judith W. "Adolescent Stress Through The Eyes of High-Risk Teens." Pediatric Nursing. 1 Sept. 2008. eLibrary. Web. 24 October 2016. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/elib/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=17&edition=&ts=BC72138C1F78C2236D3A80C2348065AF_1416093069205&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B158170732&pdfflag=y#>.
Online survey of 1,018 U.S. teens (ages 13-17) and 1,950 adults (18+) by Harris Interactive for the American Psychological Association August 2013 Frank Pompa, USA TODAY. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739/>.
Personal:
This issue is relevant to me because as a student, I have experienced many hardships due to academic stress. Some teachers/professors will assign excessive amounts of homework, exams, readings, and projects without regard to the fact that the students are also taking other courses that have large workloads as well.
In my high school days, I knew someone who slept 2 hours a night because he was juggling 5 AP classes, badminton, track & field, and other extra curricular programs. I've seen my roommate go through 4 cups of coffee during all-nighters and crashing the next day for over 17 hours. I even know someone who brought textbooks with her to her mother's funeral because she had exams that following week.
For me, as a child to immigrant parents, my mother and father both did not complete high school because they were forced to leave their home countries at a young age. They came to America to have a better life for themselves and for their family. For my brother and I, there is already a large expectation to become successful because of our available resources. However, because of the modern day job market, we have impending stress ontop of the expectation to do well in school. And I know many others are in the same boat.
Academic stress is no joke, it affects many in my community, especially at Cal State LA. Though, one of the actions that needs to be taken against this is regulation of material to be completed outside of class. Another would be to destigmatize mental illnesses and let students know that it is okay to ask for help when dealing with these illnesses. And finally, to promote ways of relieving stress.
Community Affected By This Social Issue:
"I have to work my class schedule around track practice. Usually when I get home at the end of the day, I'm exhausted, but I have to keep up with my assignments. I can't fail my classes or I'll lose my scholarship."
"Sometimes I have so many assignments and projects due that I don't have time to sleep because I have to finish everything. I sleep about 5 or 6 hours a night on weekdays. Usually not all at once."
"I like academic stress at times. It can be a lot of pressure, but I feel like it pushes me to work a lot harder. Although, I know that not everyone feels the same way I do."
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