Assessment of Academic Stress among Students Pursuing Professional and Nonprofessional Courses

The present study is an attempt to assess the Academic Stress among students pursuing Professional and Non-professional Courses, along with the influence of few Demographic variables on Academic Stress. A total of 600 students (200 Professional and 400 Non-professional) studying in Mysuru city were randomly selected from various Professional and Non-professional Colleges in and around Mysuru city.  The Academic Stress inventory (Lin & Chen, 2009), which measures the Stress of the students was measured in 7 domains. Data was subjected to two way Analysis of Variance, to find out the difference between Course type and Demographic variables, on domains of Academic Stress including total Academic Stress. Results revealed that students pursuing Professional Courses experienced significantly more total Academic Stress, Stress from teachers, Stress from results, studying in group Stress, and in peer Stress. Students from Professional and Non-professional Courses experienced similar levels of Stress from tests,   Time Management, and self-inflicted Stress.  Male students experienced significantly higher stress than female students only in ‘Stress from tests’ domain of Academic Stress.  In total Academic Stress, Stress from teachers, studying in group Stress, and in Peer Stress, among students pursuing Professional Courses female students experienced higher Stress, where as in Non-professional Courses, male students experienced higher Stress.