Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on the Psychological Distress and Achievement Motivation of High School Students

This study explores the relationship between psychological distress and achievement motivation among high school students during the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the study examines the role of gender, academic success (through the last exam), socio-economic status, and family type in achievement motivation for the selected group. The study adopted a self-administered online questionnaire using Google forms for data collection (N=103) because of the COVID-19 lockdown. For the study, socio-demographic details of the participants were obtained, followed by administering of Kessler Psychological Distress and Achievement Motivation scales. The study found that the COVID-19 affected the academic performance of 97.2% of the total participants and a positive relationship between psychological distress and achievement motivation. Factors such as family type, family background, and socio-economic status have affected the motivation level in high school students. The more the students are motivated to achieve in academics, the more they are likely to experience psychological distress.