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Stress Among Privates Secondary School Students India
Stress Among Privates Secondary School Students India
Stress Among Privates Secondary School Students India
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AEDS
3,2
Academic-related stress among
private secondary school
students in India
118 Sibnath Deb
Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India
Received 13 February 2013
Revised 9 July 2013 Esben Strodl
Accepted 6 January 2014 School of Psychology and Counselling,
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, and
Jiandong Sun
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Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of academic stress and exam
anxiety among private secondary school students in India as well as the associations with
socio-economic and study-related factors.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 400 adolescent students (52 percent male) from
five private secondary schools in Kolkata who were studying in grades 10 and 12. Participants were
selected using a multi-stage sampling technique and were assessed using a study-specific questionnaire.
Findings – Findings revealed that 35 and 37 percent reported high or very high levels of academic
stress and exam anxiety respectively. All students reported high levels of academic stress, but those
who had lower grades reported higher levels of stress than those with higher grades. Students who
engaged in extra-curricula activities were more likely to report exam anxiety than those who did not
engage in extra-curricula activities.
Practical implications – Private high school students in India report high levels of academic stress
and exam anxiety. As such there is a need to develop effective interventions to help these students
better manage their stress and anxiety.
Originality/value – This is the first study the authors are aware of that explores the academic stress
levels of private secondary school students in India. The study identifies factors that may be associated
with the experience of high levels of stress that need to be explored further in future research.
Keywords India, Academic stress, Exam anxiety, Secondary school
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Secondary students’ mental health has become a serious public health issue among
researchers, policy makers and authorities of educational institutions worldwide (China
Youth Social Service Center, 2008; Lei et al., 2007; Liu and Tein, 2005; Zhao et al., 2009).
Academic study is a major source of stress among school students worldwide (Brown
et al., 2006; Christie and MacMullin, 1998; Dodds and Lin, 1991; Gallagher and Millar,
1996; Huan et al., 2008; Tang and Westwood, 2007). Verma and Gupta (1990) define
academic stress as mental distress that typically arises from anticipated potential
Asian Education and Development
Studies
Vol. 3 No. 2, 2014
pp. 118-134 The authors wish to acknowledge their gratitude to all the school authorities for giving
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2046-3162 permission for data collection. Students who participated in the study voluntarily and shared
DOI 10.1108/AEDS-02-2013-0007 their valuable views and opinions about the issue also deserve special appreciation.
academic failure. Academic stress is a significant issue among students attending Academic-
secondary schools, as it is associated with mental health problems such as depression, related stress
anxiety and suicidal ideation (Anderman, 2002; Ang and Huan, 2006; Bjorkman, 2007;
Field et al., 2001; Kouzma and Kennedy, 2000). The latest available data indicates that
more students in Asian countries such as India, China, Singapore, Korea, Japan and
Chinese Taiwan are the victim of academic stress compared to students from western
countries (Ang et al., 2007; Crystal et al., 1994; Deb et al., 2011; Lee and Larson, 2000; 119
Lei et al., 2007; Mitra and Deb, 2011; Zhao et al., 2009). This difference in academic stress
might be related to differences in demographics, socio-economic variables, education
systems and the perceived cultural value of education (Ang and Huan, 2006; Bossy, 2000;
Lin and Chen, 1995; Lu, 2008). It is important to better understand the prevalence of
academic stress in Asian secondary schools as well as potential risk factors for academic
stress in this population.
As in other Asian countries, academic stress is high in India. For example,
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Chandigarh Arun and Chavan (2009) found that out of 2,402 students, 45.8 percent had
psychological problems, half perceived problems in their role as students, 8.82 percent
students reported that life was a burden and 6 percent reported suicidal ideation.
Similarly, Verma et al. (2002) found a relationship between school demands on the daily
time use and the negative emotional states of Indian students. Also, as in other Asian
countries, there is evidence that depression and anxiety in Indian secondary school
students are associated with an increased risk of maladaptive behaviors such as
suicidal ideation, substance abuse and other behavioral addictions (Manna and Nigesh,
2011). As such, there is a need to better understand the prevalence of academic stress
and the factors associated with academic stress in Indian secondary schools.
One common cause of academic stress in India is the pressure placed upon students
due to the expectations of parents for their child to do well academically (Deb et al.,
2011). This often results in parents encouraging their child to study for a long
periods of time in order to attain high grades or percentages in examinations.
One Kolkata-based study covering students in grades 11 and 12 revealed that nearly
two-thirds (63.5 percent) of the students reported stress because of academic pressure
from their parents – with no significant differences across gender, age, grade and
several other personal factors, and over 80 percent reported examination-related
anxiety (Deb et al., 2011). Deb et al. found that the incidence of parental pressure differs
significantly with differences in the educational levels of the parents, mother’s
occupation, number of private tutors, and academic performance. Fathers possessing a
lower education level (non-graduates) were found to be more likely to pressurize their
children regarding better academic performance. Similarly, another Kolkata-based
study reported negative effects of parental pressure on mental health (Deb and
Bhattacharya, 2012). In this study, the authors observed parental pressure for better
academic performance in 46.2 percent of the adolescents, and female adolescents
(53.2 percent) experienced more pressure than male adolescents (39 percent). Parental
pressure for better academic performance caused high stress among the adolescents
and had negative effects on emotional adjustment, self-concept and self-confidence
(Deb and Bhattacharya, 2013). Other Indian researchers have also reported similar
associations with Chatterjee and Barman (2011), finding a strong relationship between
emotional problems in Indian secondary school children and parental expectations
for academic success. The results indicated that parental expectations varied with
gender and school grade, with expectations higher for male children and higher grades
in school.
AEDS While students experience ongoing daily stress through their interactions with their
3,2 parents, a more acute form of academic stress is exam anxiety. Exam or test anxiety
refers to the situation-specific heightened experience of anxiety arising from
performance testing and involves the experiences of worry, emotionality, interference
(i.e. distracting and blocking cognitions that disturb or interrupt performance during
exams), and lack of confidence (Stöber, 2004). Deb et al. (2011) found that another
120 related cause of academic stress in Indian students was exam anxiety, with over
80 percent reporting examination-related anxiety (Deb et al., 2011). While there is good
emerging evidence of these two forms of academic stress in Indian secondary students,
there is a need for more research to better understand the factors associated with the
stress caused by academic parental pressure and exam anxiety. Moreover there is a
particular need to understand these risk factors for students in grades 10 and 12.
The educational system in Indian secondary schools involves major examinations
at the end of each school year, in addition to weekly and monthly examinations and
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Given these changes there is a need for new research to be conducted to better
understand the prevalence and demographic factors associated with academic stress,
parental academic pressure and exam anxiety as these significant changes have been
implemented. There is some emerging research in this area. For example, Chatterjee
and Barman (2011) still found a strong relationship between emotional problems in
Indian secondary school children and parental expectations for academic success since
the changes in 2009. Their results indicated that parental expectations varied with
gender and school grade, with expectations higher for male children and depending on
the grade the child was in. However in order to devise suitable interventions, more
research is needed in order to better understand the factors associated with the
academic stress, parental academic pressure as well as exam anxiety in grades 10 and
12 Indian students. In addition, as far as we are aware no previous studies have
examined the factors associated with these two forms of academic stress in Indian
private secondary school students. It is likely that these students’ stress and anxiety
levels may be higher because parents pay higher tuition fees and capitation charges in
the hope that their children will do well academically. The present study therefore
examined the prevalence of academic stress, examination anxiety and academic
stress because of parental pressure in Indian private secondary school students under
State Boards in years 10 and 12, and investigated the associations between a range
of demographic variables and these two forms of academic stress.
Method
Site
The city of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the state of West Bengal
located in Eastern India with a hinterland of over 220 million residents. The urban
agglomeration of Kolkata itself is home to more than 14 million people, making it India’s
third-largest metropolitan area after Mumbai and Delhi (Census of India, 2011) and the
eighth-largest metropolitan area in the world (United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs, 2005). People from various neighboring states move to Kolkata for
educational, vocational, and employment purposes. Kolkata’s schools are administered
by the state government or private, including religious and philanthropic organizations.
The medium of instruction in schools is predominantly Bengali or English and, to
a lesser extent, Hindi and Urdu. Kolkata has nine universities, with numerous affiliated
colleges. The literacy rate in West Bengal (77.1 percent) is slightly higher than that for
India overall (74.04 percent; Census of India, 2011).
AEDS Design
3,2 This study involved a cross-sectional study of grades 10 and 12 students studying in
private secondary schools in Kolkata city under West Bengal Council for Higher
Secondary Education (State Board).
Participants
The participants were a group of 400 adolescents, 206 males and 194 females,
122 aged 15-18 years (M ¼ 16.08 years, SD ¼ 0.98). Out of 400 adolescent students, 216
and 184 were from grades 10 and 12, respectively. Participants were selected using
a two-stage sampling technique such that the final sample was drawn from five
English speaking private secondary schools in Kolkata city. The characteristics of
the participants are shown in Table I.
N %
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a four-point Likert scale (low, moderate, high, very high). Single item questions also
asked whether or not the participants experienced academic pressure from their
parents (yes/no), who the source of this pressure was (mother/father/both), whether the
participants had a private tutor and the number of tutors, whether they experienced
stressed from having too many tutors.
Section III. The anxiety related to examinations section is comprised of three
items on nature and level of examination-related anxiety and perception about
coping strategies. The first question asked, “Do you have any anxiety related to
examinations?” (yes/no). Participants were also asked to rate on a four-point Likert
scale their level of anxiety during examinations (low, moderate, high and very high),
as well as indicating the strategy they use to manage their examination anxiety.
Section IV. Communication skills and future aspirations. This section is comprised
of three items on proficiency in English and future aspirations.
Section V. Involvement in extra-curricular activities and academic performance.
This section is comprised of four items on the nature of involvement in extra-curricular
activities, reasons for not participating in extra-curricular activities and details of
the latest academic performance.
Procedure
For selecting the sample, a two-stage sampling technique was followed as mentioned
below:
(1) A group of five higher secondary schools under West Bengal Council for
Higher Secondary Education (State Board) were selected purposively from
the list of schools in Kolkata city, taking geographical spread and medium
of teaching instructions (i.e. English) into account. Out of five schools, three
were co-educational institutions while one was a boys school, and one a school
for girls.
(2) From three schools, 80 available students during the data collection, 40 from
grade 10 and 40 from grade 12 were covered. It is relevant to mention here
that the average number of students in each class ranged from 40 to 50. If the
number of students in any school in grades 10 and 12 was more than 40, the
study covered all the available students. In the case of two schools, the total
number of students in each class during data collection were 50. Therefore the
researcher collected data from all the students i.e., 100 students each from the
AEDS two schools on the basis of voluntary participation. Thus, data were collected
3,2 from 440 students.
A prior appointment was made with school authorities from English medium schools
in Kolkata to apprise them of the objectives of the study and to obtain their permission
for data collection. Afterwards, a tentative schedule for data collection were developed
in discussion with the authorities. Data were collected with the voluntary consent of the
124 adolescent participants.
Results
Sample description
The demographic characteristics of the sample are presented in Table I. There were
206 (51.5 percent) male and 194 (48.5 percent) female students. The age ranged from 15
to 18 years with a mean of 16.07 and a standard deviation (SD) of 0.98. Age and school
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year were closely related with the majority (92.6 percent, 213/230) of 15-16 year-olds
at grade 10 and virtually all (98.2 percent, 167/170) of 17-18 year-olds at grade 12.
The educational level of parents in this sample was very high, with 53.3 percent of
fathers and 36.3 percent and mothers holding a postgraduate degree (Table I). Among
368 students with both parents’ education status available, 107 (33.2 percent) had
both parents and 107 (29.1 percent) had one parent with a postgraduate degree, and
the parents of 139 (37.8 percent) students had an education level of undergraduate
or lower. There were slightly more students with fathers in service occupations than
in business or self-employment (Table I). Most (72.5 percent) participants’ mothers
were housewives, while a small proportion were in service occupations (17.5 percent) or
business (9.8 percent, Table II).
Academic performance and activities
The proportions of students who had an average scores on their tests of o60, 60-69,
70-79 and X80 were 13.3, 35.3, 29.8 and 21.8 percent, respectively. Combining
the first two categories as “low” and the last two as “high,” the proportion of high
grades was significantly higher in male and grade 10 students than their female
and grade 12 counterparts, which was similar across other demographic variables
(Table II).
In terms of English proficiency, the majority (95.8 percent, 383/400) reported that
they were able to communicate their views and opinions properly in English. Only
five (1.3 percent) students considered their proficiency as “not clearly” and 74
(18.5 percent) as “moderately.” Most students considered their English proficiency in
communication as “clearly” (46.5 percent) or “very clearly” (29.5 percent). We combined
the last two groups as “high” and others as “low” proficiency. The proportion of
high proficiency differed significantly between parental education, mother’s occupation
and family income levels (Table II). Students whose parents had high educational
levels and those from high income families were more likely to report high English
proficiency. Those whose mothers were housewives were less likely to have high
English proficiency (Table II).
Private tutoring was found to be very common. The vast majority (96.3 percent)
reported having had a tutor in the last year and currently to help them with
their academic learning. This proportion was similar across all demographic
variables except school year. Grade 12 students were more likely to have private
tutor(s) than grade 10 students (Table II). The mean number of tutors was
significantly higher in males and grade 12 students than females and grade 10
High High Having Number
Academic-
academic English private of private Extra-curricular related stress
grades proficiency tutor(s) tutors activities
N n (%) n (%) n (%) M (SD) n (%)
Total 400 206 (51.5) 304 (76.0) 385 (96.3) 3.0 (1.1) 289 (72.3)
Gender 125
Male 206 116 (56.3)* 151 (73.3) 198 (96.1) 3.1 (1.1)* 149 (72.3)
Female 194 90 (46.4) 153 (78.9) 187 (96.4) 2.8 (1.1) 140 (72.2)
School year
10 216 124 (57.4)* 158 (73.1) 204 (94.4)* 2.7 (1.2)*** 150 (69.4)
12 184 82 (44.6) 146 (79.3) 181 (98.4) 3.3 (1.0) 139 (75.5)
Parental educationa
Low 139 64 (46.0) 99 (71.2)* 136 (97.8) 3.1 (1.1) 99 (71.2)**
Middle 107 59 (55.1) 81 (75.7) 102 (95.3) 2.9 (1.2) 69 (64.5)
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High 122 70 (57.4) 105 (86.1) 118 (96.7) 2.9 (1.1) 101 (82.8)
Father’s occupation
Business 169 87 (51.5) 134 (79.3) 162 (95.9) 2.9 (1.1) 138 (81.7)**
Public service 208 108 (51.9) 157 (75.5) 202 (97.1) 3.1 (1.1) 137 (65.9)
Mother’s occupation
Business 39 21 (53.8) 36 (92.3)** 37 (94.9) 2.6 (1.0) 34 (87.2)*
Public service 70 44 (62.9) 61 (87.1) 70 (100.0) 3.0 (0.9) 56 (80.0)
Housewife 290 140 (48.3) 206 (71.0) 278 (95.9) 3.0 (1.2) 198 (69.3)
Family income level
Low (o40 K) 161 82 (50.9) 107 (66.5)*** 154 (95.7) 3.1 (1.2)* 107 (66.5)*
High (X40 K) 180 99 (55.0) 153 (85.0) 173 (96.1) 2.8 (1.1) 137 (76.1)
Table II.
Notes: N ¼ 400. N, number of participants; M, mean, SD, standard deviation. aFor parental education: Academic performance
low ¼ both parents had a educational level of undergraduate degree or lower; middle ¼ one parent had and activities across
a postgraduate degree; high ¼ both parents had a postgraduate degree. Between-group comparisons demographic variables
were made using Fisher exact test and impendent t-test or one-way ANOVA (for number of tutors among a sample of
only). * po0.05; ** po0.01, *** po0.001 Indian students
students (Table II). Students from relatively poorer families had more tutors than
those from rich families (Table II).
Extra-curricular activities at school, such as games and sports, cultural programs,
national social service and others were also popular, with 72.3 percent of students
having ever been involved. More than one-third (36.5 percent) had attended games
and sports and 28.0 percent had attended culture programs; while only 3.3 percent had
attended national social service. High parental educational level, business occupation
of father or mother and high family income had a significant positive effect on
attending such activities (Table II).
Total 400 328 (82.0) 2.0 (1.1) 212 (53.0) 297 (74.3) 1.9 (1.3)
Gender
126 Male 206 165 (80.1) 2.0 (1.2) 116 (56.3) 156 (75.7) 1.9 (1.3)
Female 194 163 (84.0) 2.0 (1.1) 96 (49.5) 141 (72.7) 1.8 (1.3)
School year
10 216 178 (82.4) 2.0 (1.1) 113 (52.3) 160 (74.1) 1.8 (1.3)
12 184 150 (81.5) 2.0 (1.1) 99 (53.8) 137 (74.5) 1.9 (1.3)
Parental educationa
Low 139 114 (82.0) 1.9 (1.1) 78 (56.1) 100 (71.9) 1.8 (1.3)
Middle 107 89 (83.2) 1.9 (1.1) 51 (47.7) 81 (75.7) 1.9 (1.3)
High 122 97 (79.5) 2.0 (1.2) 65 (53.3) 94 (77.0) 1.9 (1.3)
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Father’s occupation
Business 169 139 (82.2) 2.0 (1.1) 84 (49.7) 126 (74.6) 1.8 (1.3)
Public service 208 171 (82.2) 2.0 (1.1) 112 (53.8) 158 (76.0) 1.9 (1.3)
Mother’s occupation
Business 39 31 (79.5) 2.0 (1.2) 15 (38.5) 29 (74.4) 1.8 (1.3)
Public service 70 54 (77.1) 1.9 (1.2) 35 (50.0) 54 (77.1) 2.1 (1.3)
Housewife 290 242 (83.4) 2.0 (1.1) 161 (55.5) 214 (73.8) 1.8 (1.3)
Family income level
Low (o40 K) 161 132 (82.0) 2.0 (1.1) 92 (57.1) 117 (72.7) 1.9 (1.4)
High (X40 K) 180 149 (82.8) 2.0 (1.1) 90 (50.0) 134 (74.4) 1.8 (1.3)
Academic grades
Low 194 166 (85.6)* 2.2 (1.1)** 114 (58.8)* 147 (75.8) 1.9 (1.3)
High 206 162 (78.6) 1.8 (1.1) 98 (47.6) 150 (72.8) 1.8 (1.3)
English proficiency
Low 96 82 (85.4) 2.1 (1.1) 57 (59.4) 68 (70.8) 1.8 (1.4)
High 304 246 (80.9) 2.0 (1.1) 155 (51.0) 229 (75.3) 1.9 (1.3)
Private tutors
None 15 11 (73.3) 1.7 (1.2) 5 (33.3) 12 (80.0) 1.9 (1.2)
Yes 385 317 (82.3) 2.0 (1.1) 207 (53.8) 285 (74.0) 1.9 (1.3)
Extra activities
None 111 86 (77.5) 1.9 (1.2) 51 (45.9) 72 (64.9)** 1.7 (1.5)
Table III. Yes 289 242 (83.7) 2.0 (1.1) 161 (55.7) 225 (77.9) 1.9 (1.2)
Perceived academic
stress and pressure Notes: N ¼ 400. N, number of participants; M, mean, SD, standard deviation. aFor parental education:
across socio-economic low ¼ both parents had a educational level of undergraduate degree or lower; middle ¼ one parent had
variables among a postgraduate degree; high ¼ both parents had a postgraduate degree. Between-group comparisons
a sample of Indian were made using Fisher exact test and impendent t-test or one-way ANOVA (for stress and anxiety
students scores). * po0.05; ** po0.01, *** po0.001
(34.3 percent) reported having pressure from their tutor(s) and 114 (29.6 percent)
thought there was no need to have many private tutors.
Three-quarters (74.3 percent) of students reported having anxiety related to
examinations. The proportion of having low, moderate, high and very high anxiety
was 7.3, 30.0, 28.8 and 8.3 percent, respectively. The overall proportion of having
examination anxiety was similar across all demographic and study factors but
attending extra activities, with those who attended activities more likely to report
examination anxiety. After giving each level a score (1-4), a mean score (SD) of 1.9 (1.3)
was obtained. There was no significant difference across all variables (Table III).
Discussion Academic-
An overwhelming number of students (82.4 percent) reported that they felt stressed related stress
because of academic pressure and more than one-third (35.0 percent) experienced high
and very high levels of such stress. Findings of the present study add to a growing
body of literature that Asian students experience high levels of academic stress
(Lee and Larson, 2000; Lei et al., 2007; Sun, 2011; Zhao et al., 2009). However the results
from this study, suggest that the level of academic stress in private secondary school 127
students in India may be less than that found in some other Asian countries. A recent
multicultural survey (Lei et al., 2007; Zhao et al., 2009) found that Chinese students
have the highest academic pressure among four participating countries. Nearly
90 percent (86.6 percent) of the Chinese participants feel high or very high pressure,
while 69, 74.8 and 67.1 percent of Japanese, Korean and US students perceive the same
(Evening, 2010; Jia, 2010).
While other studies also reported that females usually report more academic-related
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stress than males ( Jones and Hattie, 1991; Xie, 2007; Zhao and Yuan, 2006), the present
study only found a non-significant trend for female secondary students to experience
more academic stress compared to male students. One reason previously suggested
for this gender difference is that females are more likely to regard school performance
as very important, and therefore they worry more about academic failure ( Jones
and Hattie, 1991). As such it may be that such gender differences in perception of
importance of school performance are not as strong in Indian private schools.
There was a non-significant trend for academic stress to be more prevalent among
students with mothers who were housewives than students with mothers who worked
in business. As housewife mothers remain at home, it is possible that they may spend
more time supervising their children’s homework and providing more encouragement
to do well. This is an area that we find theoretically interesting and requires further
research and confirmation.
As far as parental pressure is concerned, the results of the present study corroborate
with some of the previous studies carried out in Kolkata, India (Deb et al., 2011; (Deb
and Bhattacharya, 2012). In regard to this issue, some of the previous studies carried
out in China observed similar findings. For example, Chinese students consider high
parental expectation to be the number one source of academic pressure, followed by
self-expectations and peer competition (Lei et al., 2007; Zhao et al., 2009). India, like
China, has the economic advantages and challenges of a large population. In India, out
of the total population of 1.21 billion about 40.4 percent of population are children
(Census of India, 2011). As there are a relatively small number of so called “good”
secondary schools, there is always a huge competition among children at the entry
level to primary school. In India, economic and social development is under great
pressure and this is keenly felt by the middle class who are under greater stress to hold
their ground, protect their social position and to move ahead (Ganguly-Scrase and
Scrase, 2009). Therefore, insisting that children achieve good academic performance is
a very common phenomenon among parents of middle class families.
The findings of the present study also revealed that 37 percent of students
reported high and very high levels of examination anxiety. Students who engaged in
extra-curricular activities were also more likely to experience exam anxiety, suggesting
that these students may have felt less prepared for their examinations because of the
competing demands of their extra-curricular activities. There was a non-significant
trend for students with high parental education background, no tutors and high
English proficiency to experience more examination anxiety. These are areas that we
AEDS find theoretically interesting and require further research and confirmation.
3,2 The results however do indicate that the demographic variables included in this
study are not strong risk factors for examination anxiety and that future studies
should explore other variables.
The consequences of school-based anxiety are important. Anxiety is associated
with substantial negative effects on children’s social, emotional and academic success
128 (Essau et al., 2000) and anxiety leads to school avoidance, decreased problem-solving
abilities, and lower academic achievement (McLoone et al., 2006; Rapee et al., 2005).
As such, it is important for future research to explore interventions for reducing
academic anxiety. It is likely that such interventions will need to target parental
expectations and how parents communicate these expectations to their children.
As far as academic performance is concerned, this has been found to be better in
males especially among grade 10 students. The high grade students are defined in the
present study as those who achieved a mark o70 percent in the last examination.
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In this regard, there was a non-significant trend for parental educational level to be
associated with higher grades. Presumably mothers and fathers with higher levels of
education, value education more, and so provide stronger encouragement to their
children to attain higher educational standards. Another observation from the study
is that students with poorer academic performance experience significantly more
academic stress. More than half of the students experienced pressure from parents for
better academic performance especially the students with lower grades. Associations
between low academic grades and academic stress have been reported by some of the
previous studies (Bjorkman, 2007; Li et al., 2007). Bjorkman (2007) found a strong
negative correlation (r ¼ 0.42) between total GPA and perceived level of academic
stress among 268 grades 6-8 students in the USA. Among 538 Chinese junior high
school students, Li et al. (2007) found that students with lower grades reported
significantly more academic pressure than those with middle or higher academic
achievement. As such there is a particular need for interventions that target students
with lower academic grades. Again this is likely to involve interventions that assist
parents in providing appropriate communications with their children.
In order to improve the academic performance most of the parents and/or guardians
look for private tutors for their children for additional academic input, which is
common across socio-economic groups in Kolkata as well as across India. That means
that children attend a double educational system, i.e. formal (school classes) and
non-formal (private tutors or coaching centers) after the school hours and/or during
vacation.
The present study also revealed that 96.3 percent of grades 10 and 12 standard
(science) students had private tutors and 42.0 percent had four or more private tutors.
Significantly more grade 12 standard students had more than four private tutors
compared to grade 10 students ( po0.01). As good performance in grade 12 final
examinations is going to ensure admission in preferred stream, parents appoint more
private tutors. More male students had four or more private tutors than their female
counterparts, which shows the special attention parents that pay to male students.
In general, male children tend to receive special care and attention from the parents,
perhaps because of expectation that during their old age parents might get care
and support from their male children. However, some Indian studies have found
a contradictory picture in other geographical locations, i.e., females receive more
attention from their parents (Deb and Bhattacharya, 2012; Deb and Chatterjee, 2008).
Another interesting observation is that parents with low socio-economic backgrounds
invest more money in appointing more private tutors for better performance. Perhaps Academic-
they wish to see that their children lead a better life through good education, which related stress
will in turn bring a change in the family in terms of social status and upliftment of
economic condition of the family.
About one-third of the students with private tutors reported experiencing pressure
for better performance. Having four or more tutors was significantly associated
with high academic stress and examination anxiety. Interestingly, about one-third 129
(29.6 percent) of the students attending the private tutors feel that there was no need to
have private tutors, but their parents insisted. Excessive workload for attending four
and above private tutors or coaching centers after school may cause more stress and
psychological problems. There is therefore a need to carry out another in-depth study
to find out whether there is any positive relationship between having four or above
private tutors and good performance; if so, what is the proportion of students that
benefitted from, and/or were victimized by, this type of double education system.
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confusion as and when students face it, developing a study schedule by the students in
consultation with the teachers, and so on.
In addition, school authorities could consider organizing special lectures or
workshops for the parents to inform them about quality parenting with special
reference to supervision of study of the children on regular basis, guiding them with
positive feedback and to not pressurize them for extra-ordinary performance.
There is an urgent need for every school to appoint student counselors
proportionate to students to address various academic and personal issues of the
children. The availability of school psychologists within schools in India, however,
is likely to present some serious challenges. A study conducted approximately 15 years
ago found that counseling services were available in only 9 percent of schools in India
(Bhatnagar, 1997), and a more recent study of school psychology provision in 83
member states of the United Nations found the number of school psychologists in
India was unknown ( Jimerson et al., 2009). It is estimated that in the world’s most
child-populous countries (China, India, and Indonesia), at least 379 million children
have no access to school psychology services ( Jimerson et al., 2009; Ying et al., 2012).
In India, psychologists, including counseling psychologists, tend to work in clinics
and provide support to schools and services for children rather than being located
within school environments where they can deliver key services such as individual
assessments, specific interventions for individuals and groups, training for other
school staff, and promoting mental health and wellness overall. Advocacy is required
for sensitizing the authorities for recruitment of school psychologists or student
counselor in every school.
Conclusion
More than four-fifths of the grades 10 and 12 private secondary students in this study
experience academic stress to some extent, while more than one-third experienced
high and very high level of academic tress. Approximately half of the students in this
study reported experiencing parental pressure for better academic performance.
The proportion was significantly higher among low grade students. The vast majority
of the students (96.3 percent) have had private tutors and 42 percent had four or
more tutors. Having four or more tutors was significantly associated with a higher
percentage of feeling high or very high academic stress and exam anxiety.
Three-quarters of students reported having anxiety related to examinations while
37.0 percent students reported high and very high level of anxiety. The presence of
stress and anxiety among male and female students across grades 10 and 12 were Academic-
found to be similar. Although extra-curricular activities was not found to be a related stress
mitigating factor for academic stress, it was found to be associated with lower
examination anxiety.
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