Academic Pressure and Mental Health: Understanding Student Well-being in Modern Education

Academic pressure is a budding phenomenon in the existing education scenario, which impacts the emotional conditions of students a lot. Higher levels of academic pressure, merit-based assessment patterns, or vagueness within their chosen professions are just a few parameters related to stress levels within students. In the given context, the present study delves into the relationship between academic pressures and the emotional conditions of students, specifically paying attention to the general emotional or psychological conditions of students. Quantitative cross-sectional study approach has been administered as a methodology for information gathering. Research has been carried out on a population of 500 students corresponding to both secondary and tertiary levels by adopting stratified random sampling. Academic Pressure Scale (APS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), and Students’ Well-being Index (SWBI) instruments are standardized. The findings reflect that many students face high academic pressure levels. Hence, increasing levels of stress and anxiety are strongly associated with this. A strong positive association was found between academic pressure and stress. A negative association was found between academic pressure and students’ well-being. Upon analysis, academic pressure proved to be a significant predictor of reduced levels of well-being, considering the predictors in the regression analysis. It is observed that the age and gender of the participants significantly influence this prediction. In this regard, the stress-related issues that have developed among students need to be addressed by adopting student-friendly, holistic educational practices. The facilities need to be incorporated within education practices to ensure that students experience improved psychological well-being and sound academic development.