Effects Of Stress On The Academic Performance Secondary School Students
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Effects Of Stress On The Academic Performance Secondary School Students
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
Background for the Study
Schools around the world are places where people want to study; they are intellectual centres. Unfortunately, Nigerian schools, particularly secondary schools, have fallen short of these goals, and they are plagued by a slew of issues that are preventing them from working properly, particularly for students. These problems include:
1. Provision of fundamental infrastructure services such as housing, electricity, water, and transportation.
2. Funding for secondary schools, including teacher salaries.
3. How parents’ economic status and income effect students.
According to Awe (2000), the difficulties in Nigerian secondary schools that affect pupils have grown over time due to growing enrolment and low funding.
The lack of basic infrastructure amenities, as well as the economic position of the parents, would have a direct impact on teaching and learning, which would reflect on the grade level in secondary schools.
The lack of these necessities might cause stress for pupils. For successful learning to occur, the appropriate memory-enhancing conditions must be established.
Stress can impact learning and memory. Although an appropriate degree of stress can improve learning ability (Kaplan and Sadock, 2000), excessive stress can lead to physical and mental health issues (Niemo and Vainiomaki, 1999), lower student self-esteem (Lenn and Zeppa, 1984; Silver and Glicken, 1990), and decrease academic progress.
According to a high school psychology textbook, stress is a specific pattern of unsettling psychological and physiological reactions that emerge when an environmental event threatens crucial goals and tests one’s ability to cope.
The Medical Review Board also defined stress as the body’s response to change, which necessitates a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response.
Han Selye created the term “stress”. Hans was born in Vienna in 1901. In his second year of medical school (1926), he began constructing his now-famous hypothesis on the impact of stress on people’s ability to cope with and adapt to the constraints of injury and illness.
He noticed that patients with a variety of conditions displayed many identical symptoms, which he eventually attributed to their bodies’ attempts to respond to the stress of being ill. He referred to this group of symptoms as a different stress disorder, stress syndrome, or general adaptation syndrome (GAS).
Selye described stress as the body’s non-specific response to any demand placed upon it. Each demand placed on the body is unique in that it elicits a specific response. When we are cold, we shiver; when we are hot, we sweat; and a vigorous muscular exertion raises the demand on the heat and vascular systems.
However, regardless of the specific response, there is an activated non-specific response that is independent of the reason. For example, if a woman is told that her husband has died unexpectedly
she will experience immense excitement if he returns to the room alive and well. The specific effects of the stress are opposite, but the non-specific effects are identical.
Professor Hans Selye, a pioneer in stress research, has compiled tens of thousands of medical studies that describe the body’s reaction to virtually every sort of stress. He characterises this nervous energy bank account as follows:
It’s as if each human was born with a certain quantity of adaptation energy. The magnitude is determined by his genetic background. There is just so much of it, and we need to budget accordingly.
According to Agunlana (1990), stress is the feeling of being under strain and unable to cope. Stress might be linked to personal aspirations. A stressful moment in life, such as school pressures and other duties, has an impact on an individual’s academic progress.
Stressors abound in our daily lives, and unsatisfactory living remains a concern, particularly in a tough academic setting such as Nigerian secondary schools. With all of the many gifts of civilised westernised, urbanised existence comes stress, which almost everyone experiences at some point.
Stress is defined as an internal or external disruption that undermines the human system’s balance. All humans, whether at work or outside of work, experience stress when their life or well-being is endangered, or when they are confronted with unpleasant circumstances such as caused severe heat, cold, pain, biotic stress vectors, and so on (Gherman, 1981).
Many elements have been highlighted as potential sources of stress in the secondary school setting. Some of these include:
1. Aspiring for higher academic status
2. Exam Anxiety.
3. Insufficient sleep or rest.
4. Poor diet
5. Stress from overscheduling due to inadequate time management.
Knowing all of this as a prerequisite for good academic performance among secondary school kids, who are critical to our economic development, one approach to protect our investment is to help them stay healthy. As a result, research into the impact of stress on student academic performance is critical.
Statement of the Problem
Secondary school students must overcome numerous difficulties in order to achieve peak academic achievement. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between the multiple stressors that students face and the effects of stress on their performance.
However, a study of the literature suggests that little emphasis has been placed on stress-related research. Furthermore, the majority of the inquiry was conducted in the United States of America, with a particular concentration on medical students.
However, there has been little investigation into these specific findings in our local secondary schools, notably in the Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
As a result, it is timely to conduct research on this specific issue, as the findings of the current study would benefit various parties in secondary schools, particularly students and teachers, in planning and carrying out necessary programmes for students, allowing stress-related factors to be reduced and students to achieve better academic performance.
The purpose of the study
The study seeks to determine the effects of stress on the academic performance of secondary pupils in Edo state. To attain this goal, the following objectives were established:
1. To determine whether secondary school students in the Oredo Local Government Area are under stress.
2. To investigate the impact of stress on the academic performance of secondary school pupils in the Oredo Local Government Area.
3. Determine the common causes of stress among secondary school students in Oredo Local Government Area.
4. Determine how stress affects the health of secondary school pupils in the Oredo Local Government Area.
Research Questions
1. Are secondary school pupils in the Oredo Local Government Area experiencing stress?
2. How does stress affect the academic performance of secondary school pupils in Oredo Local Government Area?
3. Identify the most common causes of stress among secondary school students in the Oredo Local Government Area.
4. How does stress impact the health of secondary school pupils in the Oredo Local Government Area?
Significance of the Study
The study’s findings, once widely distributed, will raise understanding about what stress is, what produces it, and how it affects kids’ academic performance. The following people will benefit from this work:
1. Secondary school students: to assist them in managing their activities, thereby reducing stress and improving academic performance.
2. Teachers: assist them in planning school activities in order to reduce student stress.
3. School management: to assist them in improving school activities by incorporating exercises that will reduce stress on kids, consequently boosting their overall academic performance.
4. This study will benefit Edo State and Nigeria in general since a superior academic base for young people brings value to society as a whole.
Limitations of the Study
This subject is exclusively open to government secondary school students in the Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. Respondents would be chosen at random, with a questionnaire serving as the primary data collection tool.
There are a few things that could influence the findings of this study. Some of them are:
1. Students may be dishonest while responding to questionnaires.
2. Students are now studying for their first term assessment, which will result in a limited response.
3. Difficulties in obtaining appropriate supplies.
4. The respondent’s lack of enlightenment about the subject may result in a low-quality response.
Definition of Terms:
To provide clarity, the terminology used in this essay are defined as follows:
1. Stressors: These are chemical or biological agents, environmental conditions, external stimuli, or events that stress an organism.
2. Mental Health: The World Health Organisation defines mental health as more than only the absence of mental disorders. It is defined as a condition of well-being in which each individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with everyday challenges, can work creatively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her community.
3. Stress Syndrome: A collection of stress-related symptoms or characteristics. It could be a psychological problem or an aberrant situation.
4. Academic Performance: It relates to how students approach their studies and how they handle or complete various tasks assigned to them by their teachers.
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