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Gifted Child Quarterly
DOI: 10.1177/001698628302700107
1983; 27; 42 Gifted Child Quarterly
Mary Yadusky-Holahan and William Holahan
Gifted High School Students
The Effect of Academic Stress Upon the Anxiety and Depression Levels of
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42
The Effect of Academic Stress
Upon
the
Anxiety
and
Depression
Levels of Gifted
High
School Students*
Mary Yadusky-Holahan William Holahan
*The authors would like to
gratefully acknowledge
the excellent editorial
assistance of H. Scott Swartzwelder and Jane Collins.
Despite
the
paucity
of
empirical
data
concerning
the
incidence and
severity
of
anxiety
and
depression among
gifted and motivated
students,
the literature
suggests
that
three factors
encourage
these stress reactions.
First, these
students create their own
pressure
to succeed by setting
high,
sometimes
unrealistic, goals
for themselves
(Gissrau,
1976).
&dquo;The
goals
of these driven achievers are
always
one
step
ahead of what
they
can
produce,
so
they frequently
have a sense of
failing
to meet their
impossibly high expec-
tations. Such students are in a constant state of
stress,
even
though they are the winners in the
system&dquo; (Bovilsky,
1982).
Secondly, parents
and teachers of the
academically
talented also exert unusual
pressures
to succeed
(Rothney
&
Koopman, 1958). The students actual or
perceived
inability
to meet the
expectations
of these
significant
others
may
increase the
potential
for
higher
levels
of anxiety
and
depression (Gowan &
Bruch, 1971).
Finally,
the stress that these students
experience may
be
compounded
if the school
they
attend is residential. In
April
of
1981,
the
Independent
School Health Association
sponsored a conference on stress in residential schools
to examine this
problem. They
concluded that the
primary
effect of a residential environment on the
high-ability,
achievement-oriented student is
prolonged
stress due to
the
inability
of the student to
escape
academic and social
pressures (Bovilsky, 1982; Carapetyan, 1982).
Peer
support
is a crucial mechanism for
dealing
with the
stress and
subsequent anxiety
and
depression
created
by
these three factors. Adolescent
friendships provide
a forum
for
ventilating feelings
which result from stress
(Chaikin
&
Derlega, 1974; Cozby, 1973; Rubin &
Shenker, 1978).
Peers also
provide
a vehicle for
self-evaluation, through
a
comparison
of the self to similar others.
Through
this
process
of social
comparison,
unrealistic
expectations
may
be
recognized
and modified (Bleda &
Castore, 1973;
Evans, 1974; Festinger, 1954).
A
major
forum for
peer contact and
support
at a board-
ing school is the residence hall.
Existing evidence
suggests
that
college
students
living
in dormitories form friend-
ships
on the basis of the
proximity
of their rooms
(Ecklund,
Charlis, et al., 1972; Menne &
Sinnett, 1971; Priest &
Sawyer, 1967).
In
addition,
roommates become closer
friends than nonroommates
(Newcomb, 1961;
Rubin &
Shenker, 1978), particularly
when
they
choose each other
rather than
being arbitrarily paired (Hill
&
Stull, 1981;
Wheaton, 1974).
The central
goal
of
this study was to
compare the effects
of
living
alone or with a roommate
upon anxiety and
depres-
sion in the
achievement-oriented, high-ability
student. The
project
was undertaken in an effort to isolate the effects
of
living
without a roommate on students under stress from
multiple sources. The data will be used to assist the school
in
targeting
the emotional needs of students and
developing
programs
to meet them.
It was
anticipated
that all of the students would
report
increased
anxiety
and
depression
in relation to increased
academic
pressure.
In
addition, higher levels of
anxiety
and
depression were
expected among students in
single
rooms,
due to reduced
peer contact and
support. Students
who elected to live in
single rooms were
expected to create
both a
physical
and
interpersonal distance from their
peers
and thus find themselves excluded from the
type
of
dyadic
friendship experienced by roommates.
Moreover,
the
personality
traits which
initially
motivated certain students
to live alone
may
also contribute to their isolation. A final
hypothesis was that students in
single rooms would
report
a
greater number of
age-specific problems, since one con-
sequence of reduced
peer contact is a reduced
opportunity
for social
comparison.
Method
Sample
Sixty twelfth-grade
students from a
public residential
high
school served as
subjects.
All of these
students, by
virtue of
having completed
a
lengthy
and
competitive appli-
cation
process and
subsequently being
invited to attend the
school,
were identified as
highly
motivated to achieve
academically and as
having exceptional intellectual
ability.
The
sample
in this
study
consisted of
thirty
students
(19 male,
11
female)
who had selected
single
rooms and
thirty students with chosen roommates
(18 male,
12
female).
All the students at the school
living
alone were
included, whereas those with roommates were selected
using
a standard table of random numbers. Possible envi-
ronmental effects were controlled
by matching
an
equal
number of students
having roommates with those
living
alone, by
both residence hall and floor.
Also,
no
pairs
of
roommates were allowed to
participate
in the
study, so
that roommate conflicts would not be
duplicated.
Instruments
Three instruments were used in this
study.
Each was
administered to students at the school in a
single group
setting.
The data were
gathered in three
separate tests
over a
period of five months.
by Alexandru Bodnar on March 14, 2010 http://gcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
43
The
Depression Adjective
Check Lists
(Lupin, 1981)
are
thirty-two
and
thirty-four
item
adjective
lists used to
measure
self-reported depressive
mood. Two item
analyses
on
separate
male and female
samples
resulted in the
development
of seven checklists. The four
equivalent
forms of the list within the female set and the three
equiva-
lent forms within the male set met the criterion of alternate
forms with
high reliability.
The normative
sample
of
high
school and
college students indicates that a
typical mean
score for males
ranges
from 8.02 to 8.78 with standard
deviations from 4.77 to 5.47. A
typical
mean score for
female students
ranges
from 7.32 to 8.12 with standard
deviations from 4.77 to 5.49
(Lupin, 1981).
The IPAT
Anxiety
Scale
(Krug, Scheier,
&
Cattell, 1976)
is a
forty-item
instrument
designed
to
provide
an
appraisal
of the students total
anxiety
level. The scale is sensitive to
change
over time and
provides separate
scores for covert
and overt
anxiety. The normative
sample
of
high
school
students resulted in a raw score mean of 30.0 with a stand-
ard deviation of 11.4 for males and a raw score mean of 33.1
with a standard deviation of 11.6 for females.
The
Mooney
Problem Check List
(Mooney
&
Gordon,
1950
revised)
is a self-administered
survey
of
personal
concerns. The
High School Form used in this
study
con-
tains 330
items, thirty
in each of eleven
problem categories.
Procedure
The DACL and IPAT
Anxiety
Scale were administered
two
days
before classes
began
in the
fall,
in order to deter-
mine a baseline of
anxiety
and
depression.
A second
testing,
using
the
DACL,
IPAT
Anxiety Scale,
and the
Mooney
Problem Check
List,
was administered
approximately
two
months
later, during
a time characterized
by
normal
academic
pressure.
The final
testing, using
the DACL and
IPAT
Anxiety Scale, was scheduled two
days
before
semester examinations
began
in order to determine
anxiety
and
depression
levels
during
a time of extreme academic
pressure.
These will hereafter be referred to as the
first,
second,
and third
testings, respectively.
All
data-gathering
sessions were held in a
large recrea-
tional
lounge
located in the basement of one of the dor-
mitories. This was a
quiet
area which allowed
subjects
to
choose various
seating arrangements optimal
for their
comfort and to
protect the
confidentiality
of their
responses.
Results
Depression Adjective Check Lists
Figure
1 and Table 1 summarize the effects of academic
stressors on mean DACL scores at chosen intervals in
the four
groups
of students. Mean DACL scores at
testing
one
closely correspond
to national
high-school
norms.
Compared to these baseline
results,
the
reported depres-
sion at the second
testing
was
significantly higher
for
Table 1
Mean DACL Score with Standard Deviation
for Student
Groups
at Three
Testing
Times
three
groups: males with roommates
(t = 4.30,
df
=
34,
p
<
.01),
males without roommates
(t = 1.85, df
=
36,
p < .05),
and females without roommates
(t
=
1.86,
df
= 20,
p
< .05).
At
testing three, significantly higher
DACL scores
were also
reported, compared
to
testing one,
in males with
roommates
(t
=
2.47,
df
=
34, p
<
.05) and in females without
roommates
(t
=
2.34,
df
=
20, p
<
.05).
In
comparing testing
two with
testing three, males without roommates had
significantly
lower
depression
scores in the third
testing
(t
=
1.69,
df
=
36, p
<
.05), as did females with roommates
(t
=
2.06,
df
=
22, p
<
.05).
Figure
1. Mean
( SEM) depression adjective
check list
scores over three
testings
for four student
groups
(M - Male, F -
Female).
by Alexandru Bodnar on March 14, 2010 http://gcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
44
No
significant differences between
depression scores
of the four
groups
were observed within either
testing
one
or two. At the third
testing, however, females without
roommates
generated higher depression scores than both
females with roommates
(t = 2.49,
df
= 21, p
<
.05) and
males without roommates
(t = 1.70,
df
= 28, p
<
.05).
IPAT
Anxiety
Scale
Table 2 illustrates the relative
homogeneity
of
reported
anxiety scores in the four
groups
of students over several
testings.
None of the
groups
differed
significantly
from
national normative
high-school groups
and no rise in
anxiety
scores was observed as the semester
progressed.
The Pearson coefficient of correlation between mean
DACL scores and mean IPAT
Anxiety Scale scores was
0.56.
Table 2
Mean IPAT
Anxiety
Scale Score with Standard Deviation
for Student
Groups
at Three
Testing Times
Table 3
Percentage
of Students in Each
Group Responding
to
Specific Mooney Problem Checklist Item
Mooney Problem Check List
Similarities were noted between
groups regarding
cate-
gories
with the
greatest and least concentration of items
marked. For all four
groups the two
categories expressed
as least
problematic were
(1)
Home and
Family and
(2) Curriculum and
Teaching Procedures. In the four
categories having
the
greatest number of concerns identi-
fied, two were common f6,~ill
groups: (1) Social and Recrea-
tional Activities and
(2)
Health and
Physical Development.
As indicated
by
these
results,
the four
groups were
gener-
ally
in concordance as to their
perceived problems.
An item
analysis,
a
portion of which is illustrated in
Table
3, revealed several
unexpected differences both
between
groups
and between sexes. Females without
roommates described themselves as
losing
their
temper,
being nervous, feeling inferior, moody, worrying,
not
living
up
to their
ideal, and
wanting
more time to themselves
much more
frequently
than females with roommates. A
less
extreme, though similar, trend was found
among
males.
Discussion
Consistent with the
hypothesis of this
study,
the
depres-
sion
reported by
all
groups, except females with room-
mates,
was
significantly higher during
the second
testing
than
during baseline. Two
groups,
males with roommates
and females without
roommates, reported significantly
higher depression
at the third
testing compared to baseiine.
In addition to the three factors discussed
above, viz.,
unrealistic
goals, high expectations from
significant others,
and the residential
setting, stressors
specific to this school
situation
may
have contributed to this
heightened depres-
sion. These stressors include a
demanding academic
workload,
a
change
in social status
through being
removed
from a school where
they were the
brightest
to one in which
they
are
merely average, and the
feeling
that it would be
an admission of failure to their
community
should
they
be unable to meet the
rigorous standards for retention.
The
group
of females with roommates did not
respond
to these stressors as
predicted. There are several
possible
explanatory
factors.
First, persons
in distress seek out
others similar in
personality
in order to
compare reactions
(Firestone, Kaplan,
&
Russell, 1973; Gerard &
Rabbie,
1961; Miller &
Zimbardo, 1966; Rabbie, 1963; Schachter,
1959). Secondly, women
report
more intimate
friendships
with their roommates than do men
(Hill &
Stull, 1981).
Finally, female
friendships involve more
sharing
of confi-
dences than do those between males
(Booth, 1972;
Rubin
&
Shenker, 1978).
It is
possible that females
undergoing
stress
during
times of increased academic
pressure
experience an elevated need for affiliation and this need
is satisfied
by
the emotional
support
and
opportunities
for social
comparison provided by
a roommate.
Expanding
this
conclusion,
it is
possible to
explain why
females without roommates meet the
predictions
under
the
hypothesis that students in
single
rooms would
report
by Alexandru Bodnar on March 14, 2010 http://gcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
45
higher
levels of
depression
than students with roommates.
That is, females
living
alone
may
not be able to meet their
increased need for emotional
support
and social
compari-
son
during
times of academic stress due to the lack of
a roommate.
Males without
roommates, however, may
not
respond
as
clearly to
peer group exclusion. Douvan and Adelson
(1966) report
that adolescent males do not form restrictive
i
friendships as do females. Rubin and Shenker
(1978)
found
that whereas intimate emotional self-disclosures are not
central to male
friendships, they
are to female
friendships.
These factors
may
account for the results
indicating
that
males in
single
rooms were not
significantly more
depressed
than males with roommates.
The
prediction that
depression
would rise relative to
greater
academic stress was
only supported by
data from
the females in
single
rooms.
Curiously, the other three
groups reported
less
depression before final exams than
during the time of normal academic demands. This unex-
pected
trend
may
have been caused
by
an environmental
factor. An
unexpected
winter storm closed the school for
three
days,
and the third
testing
took
place
the
evening
of
the first
day
the school was closed.
Although this condition
may
have
mitigated
stress
by providing
time for extra
study,
sleep
and
recreation, clearly
it
only reduced
reported
depression
to a
significant degree
in the
group
of females
with roommates. The
only subjects
who did not
report
lower
depression
at this
testing were the females without
roommates, they actually reported significantly
more
depression
than
during
their baseline test.
A
surprising finding,
inconsistent with
predictions,
was
that
anxiety
scores at the second and third
testing
remained
similar to the baseline and national norms. There are sev-
eral
potential interpretations of these data.
First, the instru-
ment
may
not have been sensitive to the
particular appre-
hension of these students.
Secondly, although
the students
were assured of the
confidentiality
of their
responses, they
may
have distorted their answers to
appear socially accept-
able. A third
explanation
is that
anxiety truly was not
present
in the students.
Although anxiety
is an
expected
reaction to
stress, these students
may
have
developed
successful
coping mechanisms over
many years
of
grap-
pling
with the demands of themselves and others for
achievement. All of the students in the
sample had had
one or more
years
of residential
living
which
may
have
increased their tolerance for the
singular stresses of this
living
situation.
Finally, although
not a
problem reported
with this
instrument,
the students
may have formed a
response
set to the
items, resulting
in little
change
in self
reported anxiety
levels. Future research
might
be under-
taken
using
the
Eight
Parallel
Anxiety Battery (Scheier
&
Cattell, 1960),
which
provides alternate forms with
known interform
reliability,
to
guard against
this
possibility.
The
theory
was advanced that students in
single
rooms
might
be isolated because of
personality factors, in addition
to the
physical
ones mentioned
previously.
The
responses
of the students to the
Mooney
Problem Check List
provide
support
for this
prediction
in that students in
single rooms
described their
temperament more
negatively
than the
students with roommates. While it is unclear whether
these differences
originally influenced their choice to live
alone or whether these
responses were the result of sub-
sequently
reduced
peer contact,
such
dispositions would
seemingly
sustain
any
alienation from
peers
and increase
the isolation of students without roommates.
Females without roommates
reported losing
their
temper, being nervous, feeling inferior, moodiness and
worrying
much more
frequently
than did
any other
group.
These
feelings
seem to be unrelated to academic
demands,
since a
strikingly
low
percentage
of females
living alone
report feeling
that
they
do not
spend enough
time in
study.
Interestingly,
73% of the females in
single
rooms
expressed
wanting
more time to themselves.
Perhaps
this
suggests
a
desire to avoid situations with the
potential
for social
rejection
or for solitude which
may
have
originally
en-
couraged
their choice of a
single
room.
The
prediction
that students in
single
rooms would
report
more
age-specific problems was not
strongly sup-
ported by
the data.
Although males and females without
roommates
consistently
checked more items
per category
than males and females with
roommates, respectively,
the differences were not
significant. In
fact,
all four
groups
were
very
similar in the
categories they identified as most
and least
problematic.
Conclusions
A
preliminary response
to these data was the creation
of an affective education course to be included in the
school curriculum. The
goals
of this course are to teach
students to
recognize
stress and its
expression
in terms
of
depression,
to assist students in
developing constructive
methods for
dealing
with
stress,
and to teach students the
communication skills
necessary
for
building supportive
peer relationships.
In this
population,
a clear link has been established
between academic stress and
depression. Moreover,
it
has been found that students without the
support
of room-
mates
generally describe themselves in terms of failure
(see Table
3, e.g.
&dquo;Not
living up
to
my
ideal&dquo; and
&dquo;Feeling
inferior&dquo;)
and
experience the emotional trauma associated
with self
deprecation.
These
findings have
important implications
for residential
high schools, colleges,
and universities.
They suggest
the
need to alter the
physical structure of residence halls to
increase social interaction. Since at times the students in
this
study reported depression levels almost twice the
national
norm, highly
motivated students under academic
stress in a
residential setting
should be the
target
of coun-
seling
outreach. Alert counselors should be able to antici-
pate predictable crisis
periods, characterized
by increased
academic
demands,
and enact
preventative support
measures.
by Alexandru Bodnar on March 14, 2010 http://gcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from
46
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633-649.
Rabbie, J. M. Differential preference for
companionship under threat.
Journal
of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, 1963, 67, 643-648.
Rothney, J. W.
M., & Koopman, N. Guidance of the
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Henry
(Ed.), Education
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Rubin, Z., & Shenker, S.
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Mary Yadusky-Holahan.
Address: Chatham
County Mental Health Center, 1105 East Cardinal
Street, Siler
City,
North Carolina 27344.
William Holahan.
Address: Human
Development and
Psychological Services, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Peabody Hall, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina 27514.
Book Reviews
Reva Jenkins-Friedman
Book Review Editor
MAKER,
C. JUNE. Curriculum
Development for the
Gifted. Rockville,
MD:
Aspen Systems Corporation, 1982;
392
pp. $32.50.
The
purpose
of C. June Makers book &dquo;is to
provide
teachers and
prospective
teachers of the
gifted
with a
comprehensive
handbook of theoretical and
practical
approaches
to
teaching
these
special
children&dquo;
(p. ix). She
achieved her
purpose although
she is much shorter on
theory-particularly
curriculum
theory-than
she is on
practice. Having
said
this,
it must be observed that the
field of
gifted
education in
general
tends to be short on
curriculum
theory
as demonstrated
by
the dearth of writ-
ings
which
grapple
with curriculum
design theory
as
applied
to the education of the
gifted.
True,
most books on the education of the
gifted
have a
section or sections devoted to &dquo;differentiated curriculum&dquo;
but these
are,
with
very
few
exceptions,
atheoretical and
discuss and describe
practice. It is not that
program
planners are unmindful of the critical
importance of differ-
tiated curriculum-few terms are used more
frequently-
but rather that the basic
significant questions
of curriculum
design
are
ignored
or dealt with
inadequately.
We enrich
or accelerate but we do not create total curriculum
designs
and
learning environments which would
provide
the
gifted
with
adequate
and
appropriate experience
for
nurturing
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