effects of stress on academic performance

Academic burnout is a serious issue that affects a wide range of students each year (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Luo, Wang, Zhang, Chen & Quan, 2016; Rahmati, 2015). However, as numerous researchers show, the development and acquisition of self-esteem by students can actually help to alleviate stress and increase one’s academic performance (Arshad, Zaidi & Mahmood; 2015; Fernández González, González Hernández & Trianes Torres, 2015). Self-esteem is defined as confidence in oneself and in one’s self-worth or value, and it is similar to the concept of self-efficacy, which is a belief in one’s ability to succeed at certain tasks (Arshad et al., 2015; Rahmati, 2015). What researchers have shown is that the more self-efficacy or self-esteem a student possesses, the more likely that student is to succeed academically (Arshad et al., 2015; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Rahmati, 2015). The reason for this is that students who esteem themselves highly and have a sense of their capacity for knowledge acquisition tend to know what it takes to stay on top of their academic tasks and duties and therefore are better able to manage their academic career. Those who are not so self-aware or self-knowledgeable tend to get in over their heads and thus experience academic burnout. They become easily stressed, overloaded and unable to cope with the demands of the college life. They find no strength within themselves to rise up and take ownership of the educative process. This in turn leads them to abandon the pursuit altogether sometimes or else to continue through but always receiving low grades and thus coming out with a sub-par performance.
While self-esteem is an important variable in understanding the effects of stress on academic performance, another important variable is gender (Arshad et al., 2015). Female students may not have as high of self-esteem as male students in college, but they do tend to achieve a high level of academic performance nonetheless (Arshad et al., 2015). One reason for this may be that female students have significant social support systems in place and maintain a generally optimistic outlook—two more variables which have been associated with keeping stress levels down so that academic focus can be maintained (Fernández González et al., 2015). Aside from these two variables, others have also been identified, such as having goals set for oneself, having the capacity to regulate effort and engage in deep processing, and having parents who are involved in one’s life and can offer emotional support (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016). All of these factors have been found to be important in the mediation of stress and the ability to keep school burnout at bay.
Burnout has been described as the effect of overwhelming stress in a student’s life (Luo et al., 2016; Rahmati, 2015) and the main mediating factors in alleviating stress that have been shown to be effective across numerous studies is the ability to have some sort of emotional support system in place that provides an outlet for stress and inputs of positive emotional reinforcement that can facilitate the maintenance of higher levels of self-esteem (Arshad et al., 2015; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Luo et al., 2016). Luo et al. (2016) have shown that burnout results, moreover, from a combination of cynicism about the value of school and academics in general, physical and mental exhaustion (i.e., the depletion of mental stamina), and a perception of overall decline in one’s academic performance. These factors coupled together can lead to a student feeling burned out on books and unless the student is emotionally and socially supported by peers or parents, the student is unlikely to get back up on the academic horse and keep it till success comes his way.
The reason that self-esteem has been found to be so effective in keeping burnout at bay is that it helps the student to regulate negative emotions and negative feedback that might come from time to time as school becomes more challenging. If the student is unable to face these challenges and overcome them, because of a lack of emotional maturity, the burden will seem overwhelming and academics will seem like a dead end for the student (Arshad et al., 2015; Fernández González et al., 2015; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Luo et al., 2016). In order for the student to attain the necessary levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy to keep academics from seeming like a burden that is too heavy to shoulder, social networks and emotional support should be part of the student’s life. The more supported a student feels early on, the more likely that student is to generate high levels of self-worth, which in turn leads the student to learning how to regulate negative emotions and challenging times.
Overall, the research overwhelming supports the idea that self-esteem and self-efficacy are the two most consistent variables in predicting a student’s academic success over the long-term (Arshad et al., 2015; Luo et al., 2016; Rahmati, 2015). The more prepared a student is in terms of having a social and emotional sense of self-worth, the more likely the student is to succeed in his academic performance. Factors such parental support and the ability to engage in deep processing also play a role in the regulation of stress (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016) and therefore can be viewed as important skills to develop for students. Thus if students wish to be prepared for the rigors and challenges of the academic life, they should be directed towards developing self-esteem and self-efficacy, and they should ensure that they have social and emotional support systems in place for when the times come that they are needed.



References
Arshad, M., Zaidi, S. M. I. H., & Mahmood, K. (2015). Self-Esteem & Academic
Performance among University Students. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(1), 156-162.
Fernández González, L., González Hernández, A., & Trianes Torres, M. V. (2015).
Relationships between academic stress, social support, optimism-pessimism and self-esteem in college students. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 13(1), 111-130
Honicke, T., & Broadbent, J. (2016). The influence of academic self-efficacy on
academic performance: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 17, 63-84.
Luo, Y., Wang, Z., Zhang, H., Chen, A., & Quan, S. (2016). The effect of perfectionism
on school burnout among adolescence: The mediator of self-esteem and coping style. Personality and Individual Differences, 88, 202-208.
Rahmati, Z. (2015). The study of academic burnout in students with high and low level of
self-efficacy. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 171, 49-55.