University Students’ Stress Levels, Causes and Relationship with Academic Achievement

Abstract

Stress as a feeling of mental press works to motivate the individuals to response to environment along with its negative consequences. In higher education institutes this feeling of pressure appears in students due to their changed role and several novel academic and assessment functions. It is important to explore presence of stress with its determinants, and itsassociation with academic performance in university students.This study examined stress level, its causes and its relationship with academic achievement in university students. Thepopulation of study was all the male and female students studying in university level. A self-developed questionnaire was used to gather data from 210 respondents. Descriptive statistics, frequencies, percentage, mean, standard deviation, along with t-test, ANOVA and Pearson r were used to analyze data. The study concludes that university students have moderate and high level of stress on environmental, financial and academic targets. No significant relationship was found between stress level and academic achievement. Training on study habits and carrier counselling for university students is recommended.