Academic Stress : A Case of the Undergraduate students

Sammanfattning: This study examined the perceptions of major of sources of academic stress among male and female undergraduates. Data were collected via a survey in which participated 100 students, with mean of age (M=23, 21) and standard deviation (SD=3, 27), varied in year in school, age and gender; and the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. The survey consisted of 33 potential stressful situations, which were divided into 4 categories: Relations with other people sources of stress, personal sources of stress, academic sources of stress, and the environmental sources of stress. The results show the academic sources of stress appeared to be the most stressful for all the students due to the pressure originated from the course overloads, and the academic evaluation procedures. A variety of personal, familial, and social factors were also identified as least stressful stressors. The first year undergraduates, especially female students reported higher degree of stress than male students did. The findings from this study may be useful for further research on how these potential sources of stress influence the performance and the health of the students.