ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS: AN ANALYSIS OF ITS DETERMINANTS

Abstract

The senior secondary stage (Classes XI and XII) is widely regarded as one of the most demanding phases of a student’s school life. It coincides with high-stakes board examinations, the selection of an academic stream, preparation for competitive entrance tests, and decisive career planning, all of which unfold during the turbulence of late adolescence. The present study sought to identify and analyse the major determinants of academic stress experienced by senior secondary students and to examine how these determinants vary across gender, stream of study, and type of school board. A descriptive survey design was adopted, and data were gathered from a representative sample of 300 senior secondary students drawn through stratified random sampling. A structured academic-stress questionnaire built around academic, personal, familial, social, and institutional dimensions was used along with a standardised stress measure. Findings indicate that parental and self-expectation, fear of failure, examination and evaluation pressure, intense peer competition, and an overloaded curriculum emerge as the most powerful determinants of academic stress. Girls reported significantly higher stress than boys, science-stream students reported higher stress than commerce and humanities students, and students of competitive private and central boards reported higher stress than their counterparts in state boards. The study underscores the need for school-based counselling, realistic expectation-setting by parents, and stress-management interventions.