Effect of Stress on Students

According to a study by the Associated Press and mtvU, “eight in 10 college students say they have sometimes or frequently experienced stress in their daily lives over the past three months,” (‘Stress in College Students”). College Students are inevitably going to be affected by stress at some point throughout their college experience; however, the cause of the stress can vary by student. Some of the causes of stress on college students can be tests, homework, home life, social life, and jobs. Many times, college students have all or most of these causes piled on top of one another; therefore, giving them extremely high levels of stress. There are many negative effects of stress on college students.

My day just started and I’m already beyond stressed; I had to wake up, fix my hair, put on makeup, find my suit, and then bring myself here, ugh. As a high school student, I go through a good bit of stress trying to juggle advanced placement classes, clubs, a social life, a job, and writing this oratory; it seems like I never get a break. According to the American Psychological Association, high school students score a 5.8 on a ten point scale of stress during the school year, whereas adults score a 5.1. To put those scores in context, the APA suggests that the healthy level for a high school student is a score of 3.9. Clearly, teens are inundated with high levels of stress, and to make matters worse, the adults around them often refuse

A new national survey suggests that teens across the US are feeling high levels of stress that they say negatively affect every aspect of their lives. More than a quarter (27%) say they experience "extreme stress" during the school year versus the minor 13% in the summer. 34% expect stress to increase in the coming

One of the biggest lies ever said about teen years is that they’re “the best years of your life.” If you were to ask any high schooler in today’s world how he/she feels about that phrase, they may think the exact opposite. Education dates back to the earliest human life. The American Education System offers a cosmic field of choices for all students. With so many choices, students get to choose different subjects. With all those different subjects, students become busy with a lot of classwork and/or homework, thus creating stress on students. Students who are stressed by school work, such as testing, studying, and homework, should be given less to do, because it would improve student’s energy and relaxation.

In a survey done by the American Psychological Association, they found that 30 percent of teens were dealing with feelings of sadness or depression due to stress, while 31 percent felt overwhelmed. This is not new information. With standardized testing designed to make-or-break a student, homework, preparing for college, sports, extracurriculars, and spending time with family and friends, it is no wonder an average student’s anxiety is high- even higher than adults. Standardized testing, huge onslaughts of homework, and the pressure of getting into prestigious universities are all factors that induce stress, anxiety, and even depression.

Now, how many of these students do not typically undergo an encouraging experience within America’s high schools is what’s unsettling. Flipping through 3 significant sources, what was most commonly reported as a typical mood of a High School adolescent was stress, being the most talked about characteristic. Sophie Bethune notes that “Teens report that their stress level during the school year far exceeds what they believe to be healthy (5.8 versus 3.9 on a 10-point scale)” (Teen Stress Rivals That of Adults, apa.org) while Dr. Rosalind Dorlen on another source mentions that a majority of the symptoms reported from adolescents experiencing an abundance of stress include “a high level of stress are persistent and ongoing anxiety and depression, elevations in blood pressure and other somatic complaints.” (High School Seniors and Stress, stress.lovetoknow.com).

One topic in psychology I find particularly interesting is the amount of stress that students in this generation are subjected to, specifically while in college. There are many reasons why this topic is interesting to me. The first and obvious reason is because I myself am a college student. Therefore, I have personally experienced the tremendous amount of stress that is put on students. I have also witnessed my friends and peers cope with this stress in various ways, some of which are healthy and some of which are not. I also am interested in this topic because I feel that it is universally an important topic. With the job market being so competitive, and the need for advanced degrees becoming commonplace, students are constantly focused on

Student stress may be seen as part of daily but the percentage of students feeling is high continuing to climb. A poll conducted mtvU/Associated press (2009) showed 85% of students experienced daily stress, a 5% increase from the year before. The mtvU/Associated press (2009) survey revealed the leading stress factors were school work (77%) and grades (74%). Along with this, 69% of the students

Your alarm goes off at 6:00am. From the moment you open your eyes, you dread the rest of the day. You don’t want to get out of bed because you know that, all day, you’ll be burdened with the stress and anxiety that comes from your classes. It weighs on you every moment from the time you wake up to the time you go back to sleep. This is what around 25% of teens have felt at some point in their lives (Mercury News). While academic stress has been experienced by every educated individual on some level, the extent to which the negative effects are realized is far less than it should be; thus, the American education system needs to work to decrease this burden on students by raising awareness, not wasting time on unrealistic solutions, and creating

Generalized anxiety is a problem that the United States faces nationwide. As we grow older and move into educational settings that are more taxing, anxiety becomes more prevalent. Today, college students are facing more stress than ever before. They are constantly pushed to be the best they can be, to be in the most extracurricular activities they can be in, and to attend the best schools possible. All of these goals and high expectations lead students to be harder on themselves, which makes other aspects of their life fall by the wayside, leading to high levels of stress and pressure.

Thesis:  Today I will discuss about sources and effects of student stress and efficient ways to manage this emotional and physical strain.

A very important factor of stress is school. School can cause a lot of stress. "One of the greatest sources of pressure is school. Where we are herded like cattle from room to room, chewing on our cud, while the hay of knowledge is force fed to us as we are trying our hardest to gulp it down as more and more is shovelled in"( ).Grades can act upon stress. Students may think that you always need good grades, parents can cause this or even just their own minds. Teens want to get into a good college so they stress. "Stress is created by parental pressure to perform and to stand out among other children. When they can't rise up to that expectation, or during the process of meeting it, children may suffer from frustration, physical stress, aggression, undesirable complexes, and depression"( ). Students who are involved in extra activities, usually develope unfriendliness, jealousy, shyness, and may become loners ( ). "Over scheduling a student's life can put them under stress. A child's in school and after school activities should be carefully arranged to give them some breathing space. Parents may want him to learn music, painting, or be outstanding in a

Many of these experts appeared in a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association. This published survey concluded that “during the school year, teens say their stress level is higher than levels reported by adults. […] Teens report that their stress […] far exceeds what they believe to be healthy […] and tops adults averages reported stress levels (5.8 for teens versus 5.1 for adults) (“American”). As one can imagine, the brains of developed adults are designed to handle the stress placed upon them; however, teenager brains are not made to endure nearly the same caliber of strain and certainly not more. Extremely concerning, this information highlights that an unhealthy amount of stress is being placed on top of adolescents today when compared to adults. Confirmed by a four step study published by New York University when researchers say, “Nearly half [...] of all

“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.”-Hans Selye. Today’s high school students are more stressed out than ever, according to the American Psychological Association (APA Survey). However, it is what we do about this stress epidemic that will decide the future of today’s students. High school students need a break during the school day, to decrease stress, improve cognitive function, and improve the overall mental health of students.

Which collects the health statistics of students from universities all around the world every second year, reported that 40.2 percent of Santa Clara University students identified that stress affected their individual academic performance during the last 12 months of their studies (Temple,2011). Temple (2011) reported a survey conducted in 2004 that assessed the overall well-being of 47,202 undergraduates nationwide. The findings were that 32.4 percent of students recognized stress as the main obstacle to their academic performance. This was said to be above the common cold, depression, death of a relative, sexual assault and eating disorders. Stress is “once considered as the nation’s number one health epidemic; prolonged stress can lead to ulcers, heart disease, stroke, major depression and to a shorter life span” (Temple, 2011).