International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education – January 2013, Volume 2, Issue 1

ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE

STUDENTS: THE CASE OF EDUCATION FACULTY AT
KING SAUD UNIVERSITY
Marwan Zaid Bataineh
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education,
King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Sudia Arabia

Abstract- This study investigated the academic stressors experienced normal stress of life and begin to have a negative effect on a
by the students at university. A total sample of 232 subjects person Moreover, universities did not take clear steps to learn
participated in this study were obtained from faculty of education at and face serious psychological stress for students during the
KSU. Data were collected through self- administered questionnaire
period they spend of their studies.
which was randomly distributed to the students during lecture time.
Stress is a common element in the lives of every individual,
Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation,
and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result showed that academic regardless of race or cultural background [10]. Over the past
overloads, course awkward, inadequate time to study, workload every few decades, there has been significant investigation on the
semester, exams awkward, low motivation, and high family issues of stress and management of stress [11]. In addition,
expectations were drive moderately stress among students. It was also college students have been shown to possess a unique set of
found that fear of failure is the major source of stress among stressors which can affect their daily experiences [10].
undergraduate students. Moreover, the study found that there were Researcher Campbell [12] defines stress as the adverse
positive correlation between religiosity sources and academic stress reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of
(r= .300**, p=.00). Lastly, the study found that there were no
demands placed on them. Stress occurs when an individual is
significant differences in academic stress among students with
confronted by a situation that they perceive as overwhelming
different, level of study and specializations.
Keywords: Academic Stress, Religiosity Sources, Undergraduate and cannot cope up with. Academic stress among students
Students have long been researched on, and researchers have identified
1. INTRODUCTION stressors as too many assignments, competition with other
Stress has become an important subject in academic contain students, failures, lack of pocket money [13], poor
as well as in our culture. Many researchers in the field of relationships with other students or lecturers, family or
behavioral science have carried out extensive research on problems at home. Institutional (university) level stressors are
stress and its consequences and concluded that the subject overcrowded lecture halls [14,15] semester system, and
needed more concentrations [1, 2, 3, 4]. Stress in academic inadequate resources to perform academic work.
institutions can have both positive and negative consequences Moreover, college students have a unique cluster of
if not well managed [5, 6, 7, 8, 9.However, It is important to stressful experiences or stressors [10]. According to Ross,
the society that students should learn and obtain the essential Neibling and Heckert [16] there are several explanations for
knowledge and skills in order to make them contribute increased stress levels in college students. First, students have
positively to the development of the nation form different to make significant adjustments to college life. Second,
aspects. because of the pressure of studies, there is strain placed on
Nonetheless, University students suffer from different kind interpersonal relationships. Third, housing arrangements and
of academic stressors during their education experiences. The changes in lifestyle contribute to stress experienced by college
idea of this research came by observing the researcher and its students. In addition, students in college experience stress
interaction with the students during the teaching learning related to academic requirements, support systems, and
process; also by the record unit in the college counseling; and ineffective coping skills. Whereas these factors have been
the number of students who are looking for help; to draw the found to be responsible for stress, it is worth noting that in
attention of officials to the university and help them control of order to minimize the stress among students; the University
the stress factors for students, Which also helps in developing administrators must develop appropriate strategies that will
the preferable methods to enable students to cope with this enable them to detect in advance the symptoms and causes of
stressor during the period of their studies. University students the stress.
are at a high risk for increased stress. Demanding academic Moreover, institutions worldwide have not taken serious
pressure and limited social and personal time can add to the steps to find out the health of students, this could be attributed
 International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education – January 2013, Volume 2, Issue 1

to the fact that students who stay at the university is based on 4-Is there any significant differences in academic stress among
short period, and therefore their stress have little direct impact students that can be attributed to (level of study and
on the activities or operations of the institution. Another reason specializations?
why little have been done on students stress could be due to 2. RESEARCH PURPOSES
the fact that students‟ presence in the institution have no direct Overall, the purposes of the study reported in this research
relationship to the quality of education they get. [17,18,19] were as follows:
reported that, unless the university puts appropriate measures 1- To identify the academic stressor among faculty of
that take care of well-being of the students, the student‟s health education students.
may compromise the quality of education they are supposed to 2- To identify the major sources of stressors among education
get. Gibbons and Gibbons [20] and McCarty et al. [21] have students.
carried out extensive research on stress and found out that, 3- To examine the relationship between religiosity sources and
stress is associated with how an individual appraises situations academic stress of education students.
and the coping strategies adopted. 4- To examine the differences in academic stress among
1.1 Religiosity orientations and stress students that can be attributed to (level of study and
Since the present study investigates the sources of religious specializations).
orientation in direct academic stress among students, the focus 3. METHODOLOGY
will be that individuals may use religion as a defense process The aim of this section is to clarify the methodology of this
to reduce the level of academic stress. According to Pargament research. This gives an account of the research sample,
[22] religion has three roles in the coping process. Religion research design and the instrument that were used for data
can serve (i) as a part of the elements of coping, (ii) as a collection. The reliability, validity and the procedures for data
contributor to coping, and (iii) as a product of coping. analysis were also discussed in details.
Islamic view point sees religion as faith “Iman”, action 3.1 SAMPLE
“Amal”, and worship “Ibadah” triple mandate. This study adopted simple random sampling. The
Adjustment to difficult circumstances appeared to be better population of the study included 300 students from four
predicted by religious coping than by general religious departments namely: Psychology, Special Education, Physical
orientation [23]. Moreover, religious coping strategies showed education and Islamic Studies from King Saud University,
differential relationships to the outcomes of various stressful College of Education. The sample of the study included 232
situations [24]. More specifically, religious coping was helpful students. Moreover, the researcher translated the questionnaire
or harmful depending on the particular type of religious coping from English to Arabic then from Arabic to English. The
strategy employed. Thus, religious coping would appear to be questionnaires were given to eight specialists, two professors
an ambivalent phenomenon which does not automatically in Translation and six professors in Educational Psychology.
entail beneficial outcomes. They were asked to evaluate the translated questionnaire. The
Higher order factor analyses have revealed that particular items of the questionnaire were modified according to the
religious coping methods can be classified into two broad comments received. The Questionnaire was further modified.
overarching patterns: positive and negative religious coping The Questionnaire was distributed to the sample study group
[25]. In general, positive religious coping strategies, which to collect the students' responses.
reflect a confident and constructive turning to religion for The participants were drawn from undergraduate faculty of
support, tend to be beneficial for people undergoing stressful education students at King Saud University (N = 300);
life events [26]. In contrast, negative religious coping formerly self- administered questionnaires were given to a
strategies, those which reflect an engaging in religious struggle population of 300 undergraduate students, out of this, 232
and doubt are generally more maladaptive [26]. questionnaires were duly completed and returned, giving 77%
Based on the review of the existing stress literature, the return rate. The questionnaire was divided into 5-parts;
researcher addressed the following specific questions, which demographic, stress symptoms, sources of academic stressors,
will guide this study; major source of academic stress, and religiosity sources.
1-What is the academic stressor of faculty of education‟ Demographic examined (study level and specializations);
students? Symptoms consisted of 11 items Academic stress sources
2-What are the major sources of stressors among the students? consisted of 14 items Major source of academic stress
3- Is there any relationship between religiosity sources and consisted of 9 items The last part of the questionnaire
academic stress for the students? (religiosity sources) consisted of 8 items. All items measured
on 5-point Likert scale ranging from 5(Strongly agree) to 1
(Strongly disagree).
 International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education – January 2013, Volume 2, Issue 1

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN Self-administered measure was developed. The

This study was non-experimental in nature and employs a questionnaire was divided into 5-parts; demographic, stress
cross-sectional design. In this study, survey research design symptoms, sources of academic stressors, major source of
was used [27]. Survey research designs are procedures in academic stress, and religiosity sources. Demographic
quantitative research in which investigators administer a examined (study level and specializations); Symptoms
survey to a sample or to the entire population of people in consisted of 11 items, academic stress sources consisted of 14
order to describe the attitudes, opinions, behaviors or items, major source of academic stress consisted of 9 items
characteristics of the population. In this procedure, survey The last part of the questionnaire (religiosity sources)
researchers collect quantitative, numbered data using consisted of 8 items. All items measured on 5-point Likert
questionnaire (mailed questionnaire) and statistically analyze scale ranging from 5(Strongly agree) to 1 (Strongly disagree).
the data to describe trends about responses to questions and to The instrument was used based on the one earlier used by [21]
test research questions. They also interpret the meaning of the and [4]. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, the
data by relating results of the statistical test back to past reliability test was carried out and measured 0.90 Cronbach
research studies. It was nonetheless appropriate in a study that alpha for all the 42 items.
aims at investigating different kind of academic stress among 3.4 RELIABILITY
undergraduate education students at KSU. The Cornbach alpha analysis for reliability was conducted
3.3 INSTRUMENTS and it was found that all the reliability values for the
instrument and reliability for the domains as below in table 1:
Table 1 package for social science (SPSS) version 17. In relation to
Reliability Values for stress scale the interval data collected, relevant measures of descriptive
Category N of Items Alpha Values statistic, correlation and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were
engaged. This process of deriving statistical results would
Domains
lead to the interpretation and drawing of conclusions.
Academic Stress 14 0.78
Stress Symptoms 11 0.81 4. RESULT
Main Stressors 9 0.75 Research question 1: What is the academic stressor of
Religiosity Sources 8 0.91 faculty of education students?
Total Instrument 42 0.9 Table 2 shows clear differences in academic stress of the
students, and this result is very clear through the mean and
standard deviation, this finding reflects that, most of the
3.5 VALIDITY students are experiencing stress in their daily academic
To ensure the validity of the instrument; the content activities differently. However, Table 2 indicates that item 14
validity for the instrument were determined through the help (academic overloads) were moderately effect of causing
of experts in the relevant field. However, the items of the stress with mean= 3.86 and std. deviation = 1.24, and the
questionnaire were adjusted and evaluated according to the second item 12 (Course awkward) were moderately effect of
judge‟s comments. causing stress with mean = 3.50 and std. deviation = 1.12.
3.6 DATA ANALYSIS On the other hand, item 4 (lateness) indicate low effect
The quantitative data collected through the survey which cause the academic stress with mean = 2.04 and std.
questionnaire were analyzed statistically using statistical deviation = .995.
Table 2
Mean and Standard Deviation of academic stress
Items N Items No. Items Rank Mean Std. Deviation
Academic overloads 232 14 1 3.86 1.24
Course awkward 232 12 2 3.50 1.12
Items Name 232 10 3 3.46 1.21
Workload every semester 232 1 4 3.40 1.23
exams awkward 232 9 5 3.34 1.22
Low motivation 232 13 6 3.33 1.13
High family expectations 232 7 7 3.27 1.05
Inadequate financial resources 232 8 8 2.97 1.31
teacher weakness 232 11 9 2.84 1.12
 International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education – January 2013, Volume 2, Issue 1

Table 2 (Continued)
Overcrowded lecture halls 232 5 10 2.82 1.09
Lateness to do assignments 232 6 11 2.78 1.25
Competition with fellow students 232 2 12 2.63 1.09
Absences 232 3 13 2.32 1.14
Lateness 232 4 14 2.04 .995
Total 232 3.04 .590
Research question 2: What are the major sources of mean = 3.41 and std. deviation = 1.272. Nonetheless, the
stressors among the students? lowest sources of stress among the students was item 3
Table 3 indicates that item 1 (fear of failure) was the main (Inadequate resources e.g. Computers, Books, Lecturers), with
major sources of students stress with mean = 3.90 and std. mean = 2.76 and std. deviation = 1.04.
deviation = 1.277, then item 9 (academic punishments) with
Table 3
Mean and Standard Deviation of major sources of stressors
Items Std. Deviation Mean N
Fear of failure 1.27 3.9 232
Academic Punishments 1.27 3.41 232
University policy of Accumulative average 1.25 3.4 232
Teachers fairness 1.35 3.3 232
Overload hours every semester 1.25 3.21 232
Quizzes and exams 1.26 3,0 232
Family stressor 1.28 2.98 232
Financial problems 1.31 2.97 232
Inadequate resources e.g. Computers, Books, Lecturers 1.04 2.76 232
Research question 3: Is there any relationship between conducted for the total sample (N=232), this finding shows
religiosity sources and academic stress for the students? in table 4 which indicated that there is positively highly
The relationship between Religiosity Sources (M=4.48 and correlated between Religiosity Sources and academic stress
Std. 0.69) and academic stress (M=3.04 and Std. 0.59) were (r=.300, p=.000).
Table 4: Correlation between Religiosity Sources and Research question 4: Is there any significant differences in
academic stress academic stress among students that can be attributed to
Variables Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) (level of study and specializations?
Table 5 indicates that there is no significant differences
Religiosity Sources .300** .000
(F(0.995), p=0.490>0.05)of academic stress among the
Academic Stress students due to specializations, and there is no significant
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). differences (F(0.866), p=0.679>0.05) of academic stress due
to level of study.
Table 5: ANOVA for academic stress among students according to level of study and specializations
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 46.872 85 1.339 0.995 0.49
Specializations Within Groups 129.212 146 1.346
Total 176.083 231
Between Groups 20.625 85 0.589 0.866 0.679
Level of the Study Within Groups 65.345 146 0.681
Total 85.97 231
5. Discussions inadequate time to study, workload every semester, exams
Regarding academic stressor that effect the students in awkward, low motivation, and high family expectations were
research question 1, academic overloads, course awkward, moderately causing academic stress for the students, and this
 International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education – January 2013, Volume 2, Issue 1

finding is in close agreement with Ongori and Agolla [3], who just that. It includes self-control, perseverance, endurance, and
reported that (81%) of the students agreed with the statement a focused struggle to achieve one‟s goal. Nonetheless, being
that academic workload is stressful. Moreover, this finding is patient gives us control in situations where we feel have little
consistent with earlier findings by [13,7]. One more study by or no control. „We cannot control what happens to us but we
Elizabeth [28] who agreed and reported that, the workload of can control our reaction to our circumstances‟. This finding is
college is significantly more involved than the high school in close agreements with studies regularly found that belief in
workload, and it comes with less hand-holding from parents God is high among students. Seventy-nine percent of students
and teachers. With challenging classes, scheduling issues to surveyed by HERI claim to believe in God [32], a finding that
coordinate, difficult tests and other academic obstacles, smaller surveys examining only one or two institutions appear
coupled with the more independent nature of the college to confirm [30,31]. Belief in God varies considerably by race:
learning structure, many new and returning students find 95 percent of African-American freshmen believe in God,
themselves studying long, hard hours. compared to 84 percent of Latinos, 78 percent of whites, and
Moreover, statements, inadequate financial resources, 65 percent of Asian Americans [33]. But while a majority may
teacher weakness, overcrowded lecture halls, lateness to do believe in God, only about two in five students say religion is
assignments, competition with fellow students, absence and “very important” in their everyday lives [32], and only about
lateness were causing academic stress for students lower than one in five students claims to discuss religion “frequently”
the other items mentioned above. [34].
In summary, the majority of the students experience However, question 4 intends to look at the differences in
moderate level of stress. This indicates that academic stress is academic stress among education students with different
not acute; it is just reasonable and moderate. However, being demographic variables; level of study and specializations. The
student, it is common to have normal level of stress that drive result indicated that there were no statistically significant
the student doing their work and duties at university. as being differences among education students differ level of study and
mentioned by Smith et al [29]. He submits that stress specializations that can be attributed to academic stress.
encourage us to do things. It gets us out of our chair, think However, the result could be attributed to that first year
about things differently, and seek solutions to problems. students do not included in this study which is transition period
Sometimes it makes us sensitive to what others may think of from high school to university is a particularly stressful
us and our actions. situation for most students. On the other hand, it could be
Regarding the major source of students stress in question 2, attributed that the students participated in this study from the
the result reveals that the major sources of students‟ stressors same faculty who having the same teaching approaches
are fear of failure and academic punishments. This result is in (independent study and self-directed learning) which allow
close agreement with findings by [15], who reported that them to study through group discussions and use the
students‟ stressors are fear of failing, academic workload, and cooperative learning style with other students. Thus, the
academic performance. teaching approached used in this system where the students are
On the other hand students also indicated financial asked to do assignments or report instead of stressful exams
problems, inadequate resources (e.g. Computers, Books, will certainly be reflected to the student‟s academic stress
Lecturers, and overload hours every semester) as stressors according to level of study and specializations.
sources. This finding is in close agreement with study by [13] In summary, university should consider offering services
who reported that inadequate resources such as computers, such time management to help students manage their time
overcrowded lecture halls, lecturers, and text books were wisely and coping strategies through counseling programs for
mentioned since their availability or in availability leads to students during their studies. These strategies to empower
success or failure in academic pursuits. university students to manage stress may prove to be
This study concluded in question 3, that religiosity sources beneficial. According to Dziegielewski et al [11] programs that
skills (religiosity values, praying, and reading Quran) were identify stressors and provide information on stress reduction
significantly related to the academic stress for students. and burnout prevention can help students learn to better cope
Students with these skills were able to control their academic with stressful experiences. Subsequently, better coping skills
stressor during their study times at university. This result is are associated with decreased anxiety levels and decreased risk
clear when prophet once said in prayer; he would find rest and for academic failure. The literature suggests that stress is a
relief. Hence, verily Allah does not change men‟s conditions common theme among college students, and when stressful
unless they change their inner selves” (Quran 13:11). One experiences are greater than the coping resources, multiple
more things prayer and patience provide us with critical tools problems often arise [10]. Hence, programs which assist in the
that can ease our worries and pain (Quran 2:45), and it is not identification of stressors, and focus on prevention of burnout,
 International Interdisciplinary Journal of Education – January 2013, Volume 2, Issue 1

and counseling regarding coping strategies should enhance [7] Stevenson, A., & Harper, S. (2006). Workplace stress and
student success [10]. However, this study adds to the body of the student learning experience, Qual. Assur. Educ., 14(2):
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reactions to stressors.
5.1. Limitations of the study [8] Elfering, A. Grebner, S. Semmer, N. K. Kaier-
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university degree programs. Repeat of this study with a larger, Organisational Psychol. (78): 237-52.
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Construction Industry, Berkshire, UK: Chartered Institute
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