Educational Research and Review Vol. 7(5), pp.

127-132, 5 February, 2012

Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR
DOI: 10.5897/ERR10.192
ISSN 1990-3839 © 2012 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Academic performance and perceived stress among

university students
Nadeem Talib and Muhammad Zia-ur-Rehman*
National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, Pakistan.
Accepted 4 January, 2012

This study aims to investigate the effect of factor such as perceived stress on the academic
performance of the students. A sample of 199 university graduates and undergraduates in Rawalpindi
and Islamabad was selected as a statistical frame. Instrumentation used for this study is previously
validated construct in order to evaluate the effect of factor under study. To determine the relationships
between perceived stress and academic performance, correlation coefficient was calculated. Perceived
stress was found to have significant negative correlation with academic performance of students.
Moreover, the mean stress score among low academic achiever versus high academic achiever as well
as low stress level and high stress level group were found to differ significantly. However, stress level
among male and female students do not differ significantly whereas engineering students differ
significantly from management sciences students based on the perceived stress score. Course load,
sleep problem and social activities were the major source of stress affecting academic performance of
the students. In nutshell, perceived stress was found important factor that needs university
administration, faculty and parent’s focus on effective psychoanalysis services along with stress
management programs that could be useful for achieving academic success.

Key words: Academic performance, perceived stress, engineering students, management science students.

INTRODUCTION

Students are the people who are going to grow up and in society and academia in particular about the effects of
matters to the world. Nations need future professional as stressors resulting in making the topic interesting and
well as the people who are good human beings and serious enough, as suggested by the much of the
prove beneficial for the society. University students are at research (Rees and Redfern, 2000; Ellison, 2004; Ongori
that point of academic career where they are about to and Agolla, 2008). If not well managed this factor could
enter the professional regions. At this stage they are cause/create positive as well as negative consequences
faced with many problems, as much of the literature according to the level of stress experienced by the
reflects which hinders their performance and interpose students and society as a whole (Stevenson and Harper,
the achievement of the desired goals. These problems 2006; Tweed et al., 2004; Smith, 2002).
which may be termed as stressors can be categorized as At university level, there may be stressors like
academic, financial, time or health related, and self- course/syllabus load, financial problems, relationships
imposed (Goodman, 1993; LeRoy, 1988). In addition to with classmates, over crowded lecture halls, semester
its sleep deprivation, social activities, job responsibilities system, anxiety, employment requirements are the
and, having boy/girl friend are also some other factors potential indicators which could affect the academic
which turn the heads of the students. performance (Spielberger, 1983; Barker, 1987; Ongori,
Therefore these days, there has been a lot of wakening 2007; Fair Brother and Warn, 2003). Moreover, much of
the research reveals that some of the factors related to
health include nutritional problems, exercising activities
and social support also influence the academic
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. performance of the students and add to the reason for
128 Educ. Res. Rev.

lower GPA (Hammer et al., 1998; Trockel et al., 2000). make research procedure faster by obtaining a large number of
The research concluded by Kelly and Clanton (2001) accomplished questionnaires rapidly and efficiently.
concluded that less sleep or more sleep factor not only
create maladjustment psychologically as well as anxiety Instrumentation
which is a significant contributor to low academic
achievement. A self administered questionnaire used to collect the data consist of
Numerous other studies have found a relationship three sections.
between stress and poor academic performance (Clark Section A is the student’s profile. This section is developed by
the researcher and participants were asked to report data about
and Rieker, 1986; Linn and Zeppa, 1984, Struthers et al., themselves and some demographic information.
2000). In similar studies, a significant negative correlation Section B was Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), developed by
was found between the stress levels of students and their Cohen et al. (1983). This scale of 14 items is mostly widely used
academic performance (Blumberg and Flaherty, 1985; psychological instrument for measuring stress. The PSS questions
Felsten and Wilcox, 1992) as well as an inverse seek the respondent’s feelings and thoughts during a certain time
frame. The information obtained will help to determine the level of
relationship between self-reported stress level and
stress they perceived at that particular time. In each case, a five
academic performance. point likert type scale ranging from 1(Never) to 5(very often) was
used. PSS scores were obtained by reversing the score on the six
negative items, (e.g., 1=5, 2=4, 3=3, 4=2, 5=1). Items number 4, 5,
Research purpose and objectives 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 and 13 are positively stated items.
Section C was the stress factors survey. This section requires the
participants to identify the factors of stress that they experience
The purpose of the study is to explore the effect of during the given time frame. Several factors of stress were listed in
perceived stress on student academic performance and the questionnaire and respondents may indicate more than one
to identify the factors that cause stress among students factor, which they perceive relevant to them. The stress factors
which further affect their academic performance. focused in this study are limited to those discussed by Cohen et al.
The following research questions are formulated to (1983).
guide the study.
Moreover in the questionnaire, the student’s academic performance
is obtained from their Grade Point Average (GPA), which is a
1) Describe relationship between perceived stress and common measure of academic performance used in universities
student’s academic performance; Moreover, relationship here in Pakistan.
between academic performance and perceived (High Vs
Low) stress levels.
Data reliability and normality
2) To determine whether there is a difference between
low academic achievers and high academic achievers Since normality in the data is considered important for better results
based on perceived stress score. and generalizations to wider population. In this paper, normality and
3) To determine whether there is a difference between distributions of data was crossed checked by means of multiple
male and female university graduates on perceived methods like kurtosis, skewness, Q-Q Plots and Kolmogorove-
stress scores and Smirnov test; overall the data were found normal. Likewise
consistency of response was checked by means of Cronbach
4) To determine whether there is a difference between alpha. On the bases of the Cronbach alpha results, internal
Engineering students and Business students on consistencies of the response were found satisfactory.
perceived stress scores. It may be noted that in behavioral research an alpha of 0.60
or higher is acceptable and indicates the reliability of the scale
use (Kerlinger and Lee, 2000). The reliability coefficient for
METHODOLOGY Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) developed by Cohen et al. (1983) is
(0.69).
Data collection

The research was based on primary data, which was collected by Data analysis
means of survey questionnaire from University students in
Rawalpindi, Islamabad. All data were analyzed using the statistical package for the social
sciences (SPSS). Moreover, descriptive analysis, correlation
analysis and t-statistics was used to evaluate the study objectives.
Population

The population for this study is university students enrolled in RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Among the respondents, it was found that 62% (n=123)
Sample were male and 38% (n=74) were female. It may be noted
that the age range 18 to 25 years represented the largest
The sample size for the study is 250 university students; and percentage of respondents (59%). The students who are
convenience sampling has been used. This method is used to doing their degrees in Management Sciences (Business
 Talib and Zia-ur-Rehman 129

Table 1. Student performance. Moreover, social activities (36.9%), not sleeping too
much (25%), sleeping much (32%), problems with boy
GPA Frequency Percent and girl friend (20%), not exercising enough (17.3%),
3.50-4.00 55 27.6 nutrition (13%) contribute to stress among students.
3.00-3.49 49 24.6 Other factors do not really contribute to stress among
2.50-2.99 50 25.1 students.
2.00-2.49 38 19.1 Table 2 explains the means and standard deviations of
0.00-1.99 7 1.5 the factors which depicts the dependent variable that is,
academic performance. It may be noted that though
students tilt towards agreement side, the stress level is
not so high.
Table 2. Means and standard deviations. However, 30.6% of the students were found upset
because of something that happened unexpectedly in the
Stress level Means SD previous semester with mean (3.22±1.00), 35% found
Perceived stress 2.76 0.419 nervous and stressed, 45.8% were found that they could
not cope up with important changes that were occurring
in student’s life. 53% of the students do not found
themselves thinking about the things that they have to
Table 3. Pearson correlations with GPA. accomplish, 70% of the students felt that they are not
confident about their abilities to handle their personal
Stress level R Sig. problems. 46% of the students were not able to control
Perceived stress -0.392** 0.000 the way they spend their time in the last semester.
However 37% of the students were found angered
**, *Correlation is significant at 0.01 and 0.05. because of the things that were beyond their control.
26.1% of the student felt that problems are strut up; so
soaring that they could not surmount them.
To determine the relationship between academic
Table 4. Stress level (Low vs. High) correlation with GPA.
performance (GPA) and the independent variables
perceived stress, Pearson product moment correlation
Stress level r Sig.
coefficient was calculated. Tables 3 and 4.
High perceived stress -0.50* 0.000 Table 2 depicts that there is a significant correlation
Low perceived stress -0.36* 0.000 between perceived stress and academic performance.
*Correlation is significant at 0.05. The value of correlation is (-0.392) which implies that
when the level of perceived stress is higher, the
academic performance of the students is lower. However,
it is important to note that correlation is near to moderate.
Administration) are 101 (51%), students who are doing It reflects that the stress level they experience was not
their degrees in Engineering (Software beyond the limit where it could not be handled or as high
Engineering/Electrical Engineering/Telecom Engineering) to the extent that they cannot cope with their academic
are 87 (44%), while others constitutes 5%. activities. It is not so surprising that because of this, more
Table 1 indicates that in general, we can say that than 50% of the students score GPA more than 3 which
student performance is good, where majority (52.2%) of are considered as good academic performance. To
them scored Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.00 and investigate further, we divide the stress the students
above. Out of this number (27.6%) of them achieved 3.50 perceived into two levels that is, high stress level and low
and above which indicates excellent academic stress levels. The students whose total stress score is 35
performance. It may be noted that only 20% of the and above out of 70 (total stress score) are categorized
students scored GPA less than 2.00. This indicates that as high stress level and those students whose stress
the number of low academic achiever is relatively low. score is below 35 are categorized as low stress level.
Moreover, it has also been seen that the relationships
also varies according to the stress levels the students
Stress factor survey
perceived, that is, if stress level is high, the academic
In stress factors survey, students were asked to identify performance is significantly more lower (r = -0.50) as
the stress factors that might contribute to their academic compared to the lower stress (r = -0.36). An interesting
performance. There were 16 stress factors listed in the fact is also noted that in both stress levels groups (high
questionnaire. and low), there is an inverse correlation between the
Majority of the students (53%) claimed course load is academic performance and perceived stress; however
the source of their stress which affects their GPA. there is significant difference among male and female
130 Educ. Res. Rev.

Table 5. Mean perceived stress scores among the two categories of the students relative to their
academic performance.

Category GPA Mean SD

Low GPA 2.9037 0.393
Perceived stress
High GPA 2.6557 0.390

Stress level Levene’s test for equality variances t-test for equality of means
F Sig. t Sig.(2-tailed)
Perceived stress
0.313 0.576 4.534 0.000

Table 6. Mean perceived stress scores among the two categories.

Stress level Gender Mean SD

Male 2.7340 0.421
Perceived stress
Female 2.8065 0.392

Stress level Levene’s test for equality variances t-test for equality of means
F Sig. t Sig.(2-tailed)
Perceived stress
0.784 0.377 -1.179 0.240

Table 7. Mean stress among the management students and engineering students.

Stress level Discipline Mean SD

Management students 2.6987 0.368
Perceived stress
Engineering students 2.8253 0.451

Stress level Levene’s test for equality variances t-test for equality of means
F Sig. t Sig.(2-tailed)
Perceived stress
5.040 0.026 -2.067 0.040

students as well as their academic performance. Female Further, the students are categorized discipline-wise
students still have performed better than the male into two (Table 7). The students who are doing their
students and have better GPA than Male students even degrees in BBA and MBA are categorized as
in case of some sort of stress. Management students. On other hand the students who
Table 5 displays the mean perceived stress scores are doing their Engineering degrees (that is, Electrical
among the two categories of the students relative to their Engineering, Software Engineering and
academic performance (that is, low GPA versus high Telecommunication Engineering) are categorized as
GPA). It has been found that there is significant Engineering students. In order to see the difference
difference in the perceived stress between two categories between the mean stress among the Management
of the students. It may be concluded that students with students and Engineering students, t-test results reveals
more mean perceived stress have low GPA as compared that there is a significant difference between the mean
to those with less mean stress and have relatively high stress scores among the managers and engineers. It may
GPA. So perceived stress have significant impact on the be noted that the stress score among engineers is more
student’s academic performance. than the mean stress score among managers
Table 6 displays the mean perceived stress scores (Management students). Although the difference in the
among the two categories, that is, gender wise (male stress is not so high among Management students and
versus female). It has been found that there is no Engineering students, however, we can say that
significant difference in the perceived stress scores engineering syllabus or study requires more time,
between male and female university students. concentration and hard work, that is why Engineering
 Talib and Zia-ur-Rehman 131

students have more mean stress score than Moreover, since the correlation is weak or more
Management students. generously moderate, it indicates that the stress level of
the student is not so high. It is quite surprising that more
than 50% of the students have more than 3.00 GPA. To
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS investigate further, moreover, it has also been seen that
the relationships also varies according to the stress levels
The educators and behavioral scientists hold it very the students perceived that is, if stress level is high, the
important to identify the effect of the various factors on academic performance is significantly more lower ( r=-
student’s academic performance these days. 0.50) as compared to the lower stress (r=-0.36). An
Results of this study reveal that majority of the students interesting fact is also noted that in both stress levels
(53%) claimed that course load is source of stress which groups (high and low), there is an inverse correlation
affects their GPA. The reasons could be lack of time between the academic performance and perceived stress
management, research based study requirements, found; however there is significant difference among
semester system and some security conditions prevailing male and female students as well as their academic
in the country due to which unexpected holidays hinder performance is concerned. Female students still have
their studies. Moreover, other causes are social activities performed better than the male students and have better
(36.9%), not sleeping much (25%), sleeping too much GPA than male students even in case of some sort of
(32%). stress.
Here it is important to mention that most of the Moreover, the mean perceived stress scores among
universities are offering undergraduate and graduate low academic achiever and high academic achiever
programs both in morning and evening sessions. Due to reveals a significant difference. It may be concluded that
this, the problem of sleeping too much and not sleeping students with more mean perceived stress have low GPA
much are observed. The students of evening sessions as compared to those with less mean stress and have
sleep till late hours in the morning because they could not relatively high GPA. So perceived stress have significant
sleep at night due to many reasons either conversation impact on the student’s academic performance.
on cell phones or using social networking sites, and so The gender-wise (male versus female) means
have sleeping too much problem. These student sleep perceived stress scores among the two categories reveal
the whole day till their session starts in the evening that there is no significant difference in the perceived
because the overall set up in the country, that is schools, stress scores between male and female university
colleges, job routines of the people around are in the students.
morning sessions and these students found themselves Further, the students are categorized discipline-wise in
alone at home so they prefer sleeping, ultimately causing two. The students who are doing their degrees in BBA
many problems and affect their academic performance. and MBA are categorized as Management students. On
On the other hand, students enrolled in the universities other hand, the students who are doing their Engineering
in the morning sessions, they have not sleeping much degrees (that is, Electrical Engineering, Software
problems because they are busy the whole day within the Engineering and Telecommunication Engineering) are
university and at night with friends on the cell phones or categorized as Engineering students. In order to see the
using social networking sites the whole night, as the difference between mean stress among the Management
telecommunication companies here in the country are students and Engineering students, t-test results reveals
offering free night packages and phone calls are free. that there is a significant difference between the mean
This is a very serious concern observed in the country stress scores among the managers and engineers. It may
and government is now trying to take some sort of action be noted that the stress score among engineers is more
or legislation against the free sms and free phone calls than the mean stress score among managers
night packages as it is spoiling the young generation as a (Management students). Although the difference in stress
whole. The study also show that problems with boy and is not so high among Management students and
girl friend (20%) contribute to stress among students. Engineering students, however we can say that
Other factors does not really contribute to stress among Engineering syllabus or study requires more time,
students. concentration and hard work; that is why Engineering
Further, a significant correlation was found between students have more mean stress score than
perceived stress and academic performance with Management students.
correlation coefficient (-0.392). It means that when the So it is recommended that the University Administration
level of stress is higher, the academic performance will or Deans of the Department plan suitable activities
be lower. program for students such as stress management
These findings are inconsistent with Womble (2003) programs, counseling sessions, confidence building
who found that student stress was not significantly programs, problem solving skills in order to overcome the
correlated with student GPA. However, it was consistent problems of the students whether they are personnel or related
with Blumberg and Flsherty (1985) and Felsten and Wilcox to studies. Moreover, it is also suggested that there should be
(1992). a student counselor or student affairs committee whose
132 Educ. Res. Rev.

purpose is to not only provide counseling related to the Psychol.,1323: 220-227. Hembree R (1988). ‘Correlates, causes,
effects, and treatment of test anxiety’. Rev. Educ. Res., 58: 47-77.
studies but also solve problems that student face. It has Kelly WE, Kelly KE (2001). ‘The relationship between sleep length and
also been suggested that the universities should run the grade point average among college ‘.students. Col. Stud. J., 35: 84-
programs only in the morning sessions particularly at the 88.
th
undergraduate level because the morning shifts is well Kerlinger FN, Lee HB (2000). ‘Foundations of Behavioral Research’. 4
suited to the students as almost all the education at edition. USA: Wadsworth Thompson Learning.
Linn BS, Zeppa R (1984). Stress in junior medical students:
schools and college levels in the morning till noon. Relationship to personality and performance. J. Med. Educ., 59: 7–
Similarly the parent’s job routines are also in the day 12.
time. LeRoy A (1988). ‘How to survive a non traiditional nursing students.
Imprint, 35(2): 73-86.
Parents should also check on the use of the
Ongori H (2007). ‘A review of the literature on the employee turnover.
communication and social networking technologies Afri. J. Bus. Manage., 1(3): 49-54.
because they are causing problems of sleep at night. Ongori H, Agolla JE (2008). ‘Occupational Stress in organizations and
So the university administration and faculty members its effects on organizational performance, J. Manage. Res., 8(3): 123-
135.
should also take serious notice of the observations found Pfeiffer D (2001). ‘Academic and environmental stress of living situation
in the study and take some remedial measures in order among undergraduate and graduate student’.
to reduce the stress as it is affecting their academic Rees CJ, Redfern D (2000). ‘Recognizing the perceived causes of
performance. stress-a training and development perspective, Ind. Commer. Train.,
32(4): 120-127.
Smith A (2202). ‘The scale of perceived occupational stress’, Occup.
Med., (50): 294-298.
Stevenson A, Harper S (2006). ‘Workplace stress and the student
learning experience, Qual. Assur. Educ., 14(2): 167-178.
REFERENCES Struthers CW, Perry RP, Menec VH (2000). An examination of the
relationships among academic stress, coping motivation, and
Akgun S, Ciarrochi J (2003). 'Learned Resourcefulness Moderates the performance in college. Res. Higher Educ., 41: 581–592.
Relationship between Academic Stress and Academic Performance', Struthers CW, Perry RP, Menec VH (2000). An examination of the
Educ. Psychol., 23(3): 287-294 relationships among academic stress, coping motivation, and
Blumberg P, Flaherty JA (1985). ‘The influence of non-cognitive performance in college. Res. Higher Educ., 41: 581–592.
variables on student performance’. J. Med. Educ., 60: 721–723. Trockel MT, Barnes MD, Egget DL (2000). ‘Health related variables and
Brown AL (1983). Day JD. ‘Macro rules for summarizing texts: The academic performance among first year college students:
development of expertise’. Verbal Learning Verbal Behav., 32: 1-14. Implications for sleep and other variables. J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 263:
Clark EJ, Rieker PP (1986). Gender differences in the relationships and 527-532.
stress of medical and law students. J. Med. Educ., 61: 32-40. Tweed RG, White K, Lehman DR (2004). Culture, stress, and coping.
Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R (1983). ‘A global measure of Internally and externally-targeted control strategies of European
perceived stress’. J. Health Soc. Behav., 24(4): 385-396. Canadies, East Asian Canadians, and Japanese, J, Cross Cult.
Deshler DD, Schumaker JB, Lenz BK, Bulgren JA, Hock MF, Knight J, Psychol., 35: 652-668.
Ehren BJ (2001). ‘Ensuring content-area learning by secondary Womble LP (2003). ‘Impact of stress factors on college student’s
students with learning disabilities’. Learning Disabilities Res. Prac., academic performance’. Undergraduate J. Psychol., p. 16.
16: 96-108.
Ellison KW (2004). ‘Stress and police Officer, 2nd ed., Charles C.
Thomas Publishers, Springfield, IL, pp. 71-86.
Evan EJ, Fitzgibbon GH (1992). ‘The dissection room: Reaction of first
year medical students. Clinic Anatomy, 5: 311-320.
Fairbrother K, Warn J (2003). ‘Workplace dimension, stress and Job
satisfaction, J. Managerial Psychol., 18(1): 8-21.
Goodman ED (1993). ’How to handle the stress of being a student’.
Imprint, 40: 43.
Hammer LB, Grigsby TL (1998). ‘The conflicting demands of work,
family and school among students at an urban university. J.