PROJECT REPORT

A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

Submitted to the IGNOU for the award of the

MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY

BY

CHAKSHU SHARMA

175787076

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF

DR. NIRUPAMA BHATT

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

completion of the dissertation entitled “A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND ACADEMIC STRESS AND ANXIETY AMONG

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS”. The present work could be completed only

because of the able guidance and affectionate attitude of my guide

…………………………..

I am thankful to all respondents and all those who assisted me by

supplying the requisite information towards the completion of the questionnaire there by

enable me to collect the relevant data.

CHAKSHU SHARMA

175787076

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 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that the Project Report titled A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN GENDER DIFFERENCES AND ACADEMIC STRESS AND

ANXIETY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS submitted to Indira

Gandhi National Open University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award

of Master of Arts Degree in Psychology (MAPC) is an original work carried out by

CHAKSHU SHARMA (Enrolment Number 175787076).

The matter embodied in this Project is a genuine work done by the student and has not

been submitted whether to this University or to any other University/ Institute for the

fulfillment of the requirement of any course of study.

Signature of the Learner Signature of the Supervisor

Name: CHAKSHU SHARMA Name:

Enrolment Number: 175787076 Designation:

Date: Date:

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Miss CHAKSHU SHARMA student of M.A. (Psychology) from

Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhiwas working under my supervision

and guidance for her Dissertation for the course MPCE-. Her Dissertation entitled A

STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER DIFFERENCES AND

ACADEMIC STRESS AND ANXIETY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL

STUDENTS which she is submitting, is her genuine and original work.

Signature:

Name:

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CHAPTER NO. TITLES

I INTRODUCTION

II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

III SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

V DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS

VI DISCUSSION

VII CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

Adolescence is defined as the transitional period between puberty and adulthood in

human development. It refers to a period from thirteen to nineteen years. Margaret

Meed (1928) and Ruth Benedict (1934), the two eminent anthropologists opined that

culture and society plays a crucial role in determining adolescence. Biological processes

and growth are only an indirect influence causing stress in the adolescent. The real reason

may be the way society looks at an adolescent and leads them to look at themselves.

During these developing years the choices they make, the path they choose, and the

behaviour they evolve have a significant influence on their life.

Adolescence is a period of sensitivity. They are fragile, insecure and attractive during this

phase of their life span. It is an era of developing strong personal relations, a period of

mysterious territory for the people associated with adolescent. It is an age to groom them

and search for their identity and individuality. An adolescent dream and aspire for the

future. They deal with apprehensions and dilemma about career, occupation, results,

sexual intimacy, looks, and social status. Speed, electronic gadgets and fashion excites

them. Experimentation is their mantra may it be electronic gadgets, drugs, tobacco or sex.

Adolescence period can be considered as confusing time. In this period the individuals

are not longer viewed as children but, nonetheless, are considered to be too immature to

be treated as adults. The reversal from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to

childhood have both been considered developmental transition’s individual tends to

become more vulnerable during periods of biological, social and psychological

transitions. Physiological changes include onset of puberty and physical growth,

maturation of sex organ, increase in height and weight and brain capacity. Psychological

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changes involve cognitive advances in abstract thinking and reasoning capabilities,

personality and identity development is the key aspect of adolescence. Abstract thoughts,

questions of personal values, commitments and expectations receive more attention and

the urge for autonomy, independence and expression of thoughts becomes more central.

Social and contextual changes are also prominent, for instance, parent child relationship,

peer pressure and peer influence, intimate relationships and school transition. These

changes and challenges lay a lot of stress in their lives. (Eccles et al., 2008; Frydenberg,

2002)

Stress increases the risk for stress related health problems. Today’s adolescent with stress

related symptoms will become tomorrow’s adult stressed out patients {Perski }.

Thus it is important to increase our understanding of stress in the adolescent. Stress is a

negative emotional, cognitive, behavioural and physiological process that occurs as a

person tries to adjust to or deal with the stressors {Bernstein et.al. }. Stressors are

defined as the situations that disturbs or threatens to disturb, individuals daily chores and

cause people to make adjustments {Auerbach and Grambling }.

Auerbach and Grambling defined stress as an unpleasant state of emotional and

physiological arousal that individuals experience in situations that they perceive as

dangerous or threatening to their well-being. Stress is considered in different ways and

may mean different thing to different individuals. It is perceived as events or situations

that cause individuals to feel tension, pressure, or negative emotions including anxiety

and anger. Stress may generates certain physiological changes like increased heart rate

and muscle tension, emotional and behavioural changes {Bernstein et.al. }. Stress is

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regarded as a psychological process that involves an individual’s personal interpretation

and response to any threatening event.

Stress may lay a positive or negative effect on an individual. It means that stress may be

normal, adaptive reaction to threat. It may act as an evolutionary step to reform an

individual and make more competent to handle stressful situation. Stress may sometimes

evolve an individual to transform into more competent individual. Psychologist believe

that sometimes stress positively motivates individuals to achieve and fuels creativity and

sometimes negatively hinders individuals from performance on challenging tasks.

Anxiety is one of the most studied phenomenon in psychology. It is normal human

response to stress. The concept of anxiety is differentiated from fear as it is a normal

human response to stress. Today anxiety is a common phenomenon of everyday life. It

plays a crucial role in human life because all of us are victim of anxiety in different ways

(Goodstein and Lanyon, 1975).

ANXIETY: CONCEPT AND MEANING

Anxiety may be defined as an emotional state in which physiological and psychological

indications like rapid tremor in the limbs, sweating of hands, flushing of the face and

neck, heart palpitations, blood pressure, inability to sit still, pacing the room, chain

smoking, tenseness, restlessness etc. are clearly visible. It has been studied as a

motivational variable which interferes with academic achievement. Anxiety as a normal

phenomenon does not act as an energizer or drive to outperform activities and achieve

our goals. A moderate amount of anxiety may prove beneficial and thereby improve

one‟s performance but as a pathological phenomenon, it impairs the capacity to think and

act freely, and harm our state of mind.

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Hull (1943) and Spence (1956) suggested that anxious persons are emotionally

responsive and hence a well-learned response is not likely to be made- given the

appropriate stimulus conditions- if the individual is anxious. High anxiety or emotional

responsiveness would only add the confusion and difficulty of such tasks.

Spielberger (1966) viewed that anxiety is a palpable but transitory emotional state

or condition characterized by feelings of tension and apprehension and heightened

automatic nervous activity. According to Spielberger's (1966) STAT, anxiety is being

studied as a personality trait (trait anxiety) and also as a transitory emotional state (state

anxiety) and due to lack of distinction between the two, conceptual confusion with

respect of anxiety has arisen.

Anxiety is distinguished from fear, which is an appropriate cognitive and emotional

response to a perceived threat and is related to the specific behaviours of fight-or-flight

responses, defensive behaviour or escape. It occurs in situations only perceived as

uncontrollable or unavoidable, but not realistically so. Barlow (2001) defined anxiety as

"a future-oriented mood state in which one is ready or prepared to attempt to cope with

upcoming negative events," and that it is a distinction between future and present dangers

which divides anxiety and fear. In positive psychology, anxiety is described as the mental

state that results from a difficult challenge for which the subject has insufficient coping

skills.

In the fast pace modern era of rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and commercialisation

where daily routine is being scheduled with excess workload, and is too hectic to be

carried on, anxiety and other problems like stress are increasing. These have become

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characteristics of modern-day life hampering our lifestyle and making certain

phenomenon changes. Anxiety can be correlated with gender, age, socio-economic

background and socio-economic status, educational background, life satisfaction, etc.

Anxiety is one of the most common psychological disorders in school aged children and

adolescents worldwide (Costello et al.,

2003). The prevalence rate ranges from 4.0% to 25% with an average rate of 8.0%

(Bernsteen & Borchardt, 1991; Bodd et al., 2000).

Anxiety is considered to be a universal phenomena existing across culture, although its

contexts and manifestations are influenced by cultural beliefs and practices (Kleinman,

1985; Guarnaccia, 1997). Despite the clinical focus on depression, youth anxiety

disorders also are important because they are precursors to later development of

depression (Chavira et al.,2004).

Anxiety is the displeasing feeling of fear and concern (Davison, 2008). Anxiety may be

defined as a feeling tone of anticipation, generally unpleasant. Physiologically, it

is manifested in the "fight or flight" mechanism which is triggered by a release of a

comparatively large amount of adrenalin into the bloodstream. Anxiety often leads to a

feeling of fatigue. In the psychological sphere, there is often an increased self-awareness

felt as self-consciousness, or as heightened awareness of one's body. Insomnia is

frequent. Perception of surroundings is likewise heightened and may be distorted.

Anxiety is considered to be a normal reaction to a stressor. It may help an individual to

deal with a demanding situation by prompting them to cope with it. However, when

anxiety becomes overwhelming, it may fall under the classification of anxiety disorder.

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Generally, it helps in improving the performance of an individual. It means anxiety

should not cross its threshold value; otherwise it will reach its abnormal level (National

Institute of Mental Health, 2008).

Anxiety can be experienced with long, drawn out daily symptoms that reduce quality of

life, known as chronic (or generalized) anxiety, or it can be experienced in short spurts

with sporadic, stressful panic attacks, known as acute anxiety. Symptoms of anxiety can

range in number, intensity, and frequency, depending on the person. While almost

everyone has experienced anxiety at some point in their lives, most do not develop long-

term problems with anxiety. Anxiety is particularly a human phenomenon and is

considered to be a unique contribution of the 21st century to the mankind. The twenty

first century is also known as "the age of anxiety". Fear or anxiety has evolved over

countless generations as an adaptive mechanism for coping with dangerous or threatening

situation and both terms have been used synonymously. However, there is a distinction

between fear and anxiety. The former is episodic whereas the latter is chronic (Jitender

& Mona, 2015).

ACEDEMIC ANXIETY: CONCEPT AND MEANING

Anxiety is a state of mind in response to some stimulus in the environment which brings

in the feelings of apprehension or fear. When the person is exposed to the cause of

anxiety the next time, the conditioning effect causes a repeat response and the person will

try to avoid the cause. All the responsibilities of being an academic brings with it a state

of mind referred to as “academic anxiety”. This can be associated with almost all the

tasks associated with academics i.e. starting from attendance to classes to the biggest

cause of academic anxiety- exams! It doesn’t stop there, though. Students can be anxious
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about everything from their reading speed to their performance in gym class. According

to Cornell University, "Academic anxiety is the result of biochemical processes in the

body and the brain that make your attention level increase when they occur. The changes

happen in response to exposure to a stressful academic situation, such as completing

school assignments, presenting a project in class or taking a test. When the anxiety

becomes too great, the body recoils as if threatened, which is a normal fight-or flight

reaction".

Adolescence is the developmental period of transition between childhood and adulthood;

it involves biological, cognitive and socio emotional changes. These changes transform

the young person’s vision of the self into more complex, well- organized and consistent

picture. Self-conception of adolescents changes in structure As well as content.

Structurally it becomes more differentiated and organized.

What is self-concept?

Our ideal, or imagined, self is the self that we aspire to be. It is the one that we hope will

possess characteristics similar to that of a mentor or some other worldly figure. our actual

self, however, is the one that we actually see. It is the self that has characteristics that we

nurture or, in some cases, born to have.

Self-concept is the construct that negotiates these two selves. In other words, it connotes

first the identification of the ideal self as separate from others, and second, it

encompasses all the behaviors vetted in the actual self that you engage in to reach the

ideal self. Behavioral scientists often assert that the self-concept is the sole perspective

from which one can understand an individual's behavior because it includes all the

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dimensions of the self, including how one looks (self-image) and what one knows (self-

knowledge), and the ways in which these exist for others (fulfilling the ego).

TYPES OF ACADEMIC ANXIETY:

Freud identified three kinds of academic anxiety viz. objective examination anxiety,

neurotic examination anxiety and normal examination anxiety, depending on whether the

source of danger was from external world or from internal impulses or conflicts.

Objective academic anxiety which was synonymous with fear was evoked by real

dangers in external world. The intensity of objective examination anxiety was

proportional to the actual danger. Neurotic Examination anxiety was evoked by

unaccepted sexual and aggressive impulses that had been severely and consistently

punished in childhood. A study of research reveals four bases of classification of

examination anxiety which are listed below or are briefly described in the section to

follow:-

(i) Normal Academic Anxiety:

In normal academic anxiety, one may face certain kind an degree of threat. He faces

limitation of his powers, the degrees of his vulnerability. Limitation and Vulnerability are

not expressions of illness but are inherent in the nature of man.

Neurotic academic Anxiety: In neurotic examination anxiety, the individual faces a host

of threats which endanger of the neurotic character structure. He must maintain these out

of strongest inner necessity to protect his feelings of safety and unity. These have

acquired enormous subjective value for him so that he must protect them in order to

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maintain his sense of identity and his feeling of worth. At the core of examination

anxiety, is a feeling of better helpless and lack of feeling of wholeness.

(ii) Situational Academic Anxiety:

When an individual feels Academic anxiety because of situation in which he finds

himself, no sooner he is out of situation or gain control of it, then the

examination anxiety subsides.

Characterological Academic Anxiety:

When examination anxiety becomes a component of psychic makeup of the individual, in

such instance, the individual will worry about things that have happened and also about

things that have not happened.

(iii) Conscious Academic Anxiety:

Where the individual is conscious of what he is anxious about. Here the cause is mostly

known and the individual knows that he is anxious.

Unconscious Academic Anxiety:

When an individual experience enduring spells of tension and restlessness without

knowing what makes him so, the examination anxiety is called unconscious examination

anxiety. The manifestation of unconscious examination anxiety may be at the

physiological level, usually in the form of psychosomatic reactions, e.g. asthama,

migraine, urticaria, duodenal-ulcers, high and low blood pressure, general dyspepsia,

anorexia nervosa ETC.

(iv) Trait Academic Anxiety:

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Trait Examination anxiety is defined as a personality trait describing the extent to which

individuals are prone to manifest ‘State’ examination anxiety under condition of

stress. This corresponds to characterological examination anxiety.

State Academic Anxiety:

State examination anxiety is defined as a transitional state of apprehension and tension

which is reaction of stress. This corresponds to situational examination anxiety.

Academic Anxiety as a Motivator:

There are many positive aspects of academic anxiety, but usually the negative aspects are

highlighted. A little academic anxiety from time to time can be beneficial to task

performance. This is illustrated by the Yerker-Dodson law (1908) which postulates that

the relationship between examination anxiety and learning is curvilinear. Neither

lower nor higher level of academic anxiety improves performance. Optional

positive effect is obtained in the middle range. There is research evidence which

supports it and indicates a curvilinear relationship between test academic anxiety and

performance. Application of Yerker-Dodson Law to human learning seems eminently

sensible.

CONCEPT OF STRESS

Stress is an inevitable concomitant of organizational life. Its source in an

organization is task or role related. An organization, being a network of roles

performed in interconnected positions, is dynamic in nature. The complex and

dynamic environment of organization adds to further stress at work. These

environmental forces include: 1. Rapid technological advancements, 2. The demands

made on employee skills, 3. Increased employee expectations about the quality of

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work – life and incongruence between these expectations and the perceived

organizational outcomes, and 4. Changes in organizations like downsizing, mergers,

etc. These factors influence employment security, social relations at work and upward

mobility, which, in turn, will result in stress of the employees.

A number of researches have been conducted about stress over the last hundred

years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being

researched and debated. During this time, it seems that open warfare between

competing theories and definitions does exist. Views have been passionately held and

aggressively defended.

Stress occurs when there is an imbalance between demands made on a person and the

resources available to respond to the demand. The demand may be real (i.e. things

outside the person's control, such as departure time of a plane and traffic) or perceived

(how the person views the situation, i.e. within his/her control or sphere of influence).

Similarly, the resources may be real (fact) or perceived (what one thinks, feels, imagines,

etc).

Definitions

Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. His view in 1956 was

that ―stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how you take it. The

stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure,

humiliation or infection is detri mental. Selye believed that the biochemical effects of

stress would be experienced irrespectively whether the situation was positive or

negative.

Since then a great deal of further research has been conducted, ideas have moved

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further. Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful

biochemical and long-term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in

positive situations.

The most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S

Lazarus) is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced, when a person perceives

that ―demands exceed the personal and social resources, the individual is able to

mobilize. In short, it's what we feel when we think of losing control over the events.

We also recognize that there is an intertwined instinctive stress response to unexpected

events. The stress response inside us is part instinct and part to do with the way we think.

It is generally thought that stress will always have bad effects. It is not always true.

Stress may result in better effects also. The twin effects of stress are: the stress which

results in good effects is called eustress and that which results in bad effects is called

distress.

Eustress

Good stress (i.e.) Eustress can have a positive impact on a person. This form of stress is

achieved, when the brain and body feel challenged and want to extend themselves in

order to respond to the situation. This is caused when a person feels as though (he or she):

1. has ideas of possible solutions to the challenge ( "Look at all these

possibilities!")

2. has the resources (internal and external) to solve the challenge

("I can do it!");

3. has some control over what is happening ("I have choices!");

4. has had sufficient rest between his/her challenges.

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Distress

When we talk of bad stress (Distress), we're talking about something that directly

causes the brain and body to shrink in its working capacity, resulting in low- performance

levels. It is caused when a person feels anxious, threatened (may be embarrassed,

pressed for time, loss of prestige) or is overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness.

This occurs when a person feels he or she:

1. is being forced to face a challenge that he does not want to ("I do not want to do

it");

2. cannot think of a solution to the challenge ("I do not know how");

3. lacks the resources (internal, as in brain capacity, or external as in

materialistic) to solve the challenge ("I cannot do it");

4. has little or no control over the situation ("I am helpless").

These perceptions can be real (the person actually has no control or power over

changing the situation) or imagined (the person could have influence over the

situation) but the effects are the same: the person feels threatened and in danger. This

danger could be physical safety or his psychological state of mind.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE SEVERITY OF STRESS

The severity of stress is the amount or level of stress that is felt as a result of a stressor.

There are certain factors which influence the degree of stress experienced; these have an

impact on the person's wellbeing both physically and mentally. The characteristics of

the stressor that influence stress include the following:

Significance

How much changes will an event exert depends upon how much the event is important

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and critical to the individual. For example, the death of his/her beloved one, failing in

an examination, breakup with boy/girl friend, etc., may have adverse effect on the

individual. Similarly, a pass in an interview, winning a lottery, promotion to

higher position, etc, may have positive effect on the individual. The greater the

significance and change is, the higher the impact of the stressor is.

Time length

If a stressor continues over a long period of time, it will result in higher stress levels. For

example, insufficient sleep over an extended period of time will result in higher stress.

Cumulative Effect

This is when stressors are built up over a period of time and left unnoticed. It results in

cumulative effect. For example, a long series of little irritations and annoyances

could result in a massive blowout between two people.

Multiplicity

A number of stressors at one time will result in higher stress levels than their sum. For

example, a fight with one's parents, final exams around the corner and loss of a loved

one, etc., all this happening at a time will be more stressful than each of these events that

happened separately.

Approaching deadline

If a demand has been made a few weeks or months in advance of the deadline, the degree

of stress will increase as the due date approaches. For example, if a person is given a

project assignment two months in advance, it will probably seem too far away to get

worked up about. As the deadline approaches, his stress level will increase until he

does something about the project.

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Theories of Stress –

“Canon (1914) and Sely (1965) were the earliest theorists to offer physiological base for

stress. Their model suggests that our SNS and hypothalamus coordinate a physiological

stress response that involves the pituitary and adrenal glands and the secretion of

catecholamine's and corticosteroids. Later stress researchers expanded and modified the

early ideas, for example, in contrast to Selye’s theory of general adaptation, mason

(1971) argued that stress response are based on the type of stressor that we are dealing

with. In all of three theories, psychological aspects did not play major roles. Cannon

suggested that organisms had threshold levels and that if stressors were below these

limits, the fight-or-flight response did not activate. He also discussed emotional stressors,

suggesting that mental processes played some role. Likewise, both cannon and style

believed that events had to be responded. However, even scientist did not explain how

this happened.”

“Richard Lazarus (1966) argued that the role of stress differed significantly across

individuals, depending on how they interpreted the event and outcome of a specific

sequence of thinking patterns called appraisals when one face any potentially stressful

event. During primary appraisal, one ascertain whether the event is positive/ negative, or

neutral, and if negative, if it is harmful, threatening, or challenging. A harm (or harmless)

appraisal is made when one expect to lose or actually relationship and confidence. After

one make primary appraisal, one assesses whether or not one has the necessary resources

to cope with the event. During secondary appraisal, one essentially determines whether

one can deal with the event and how one cope.”

Types of stress

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Survival Stress - When we are afraid that someone or something may physically hurt

one. Their body naturally responds with a burst of energy so that they will be better able

to survive the dangerous situation (fight) or escape it all together (flight). This is survival

stress.

Internal Stress - Internal stress is when people make themselves stressed. This often

happens when we are worried about things which we can't control or put ourselves in

situations we know that will cause us stressed.

Environmental Stress - This is a response to things around one's that cause stress, such

as noise, crowding, and pressure from work or family. Identifying these environmental

stresses and learning to avoid them or deal with them will help in reducing your stress

level.

Fatigue and Overwork - This kind of stress builds up over a long time and can take a

hard toll on your body. It can be caused by working too much or too hard at your job(s),

school, or home.

How Does Stress Affect- Stress can have an effect on both one's body and one's mind.

Public under large amounts of stress can become weary, ill, and unable to anxiety of the

stressful environment.

BACK GROUND CONCEPT OF ADOLESCENT

Adolescents form a major portion of countries population and development of the country

depends upon healthy youth. Adolescence is critical growth spurt in one’s life. This is

an age when adolescence is critical growth spurt in ones life. This is an age when

adolescents are unaware and very men to know about their sexuality. Consequently get

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involved in different sexual activates. They may face many problems related to

sexual issues and rights as they lack knowledge about physical, psychological changes

accompanying their growth and development.

The adolescents rising interest and curiosity about sex is a motivation factor to

acquire information about it. Confronting face to face with the urge to explore sexuality

are the present social norms and taboos. This leads to many misconceptions and mal-

information resulting in adolescence boys and girls trying to experiment sex and

especially girls become more vulnerable to teenage pregnancy or have to bear the brunt

of sexually transmitted disease. This is because they hesitate and lack communication

with their parents, teachers or elders to have open frank discussions regarding sexual

issues. In Indian families parents are not open with their youngsters to talk about

sexual issues and rights, which ultimately affect the curiosity, knowledge as well as

perception regarding these issues.

Health needs of adolescents have neither been researched nor addressed adequately

particularly their sexual issues are often misunderstood unrecognized or

underestimated. The adolescents are not even aware of their right to information.

MEANING AND DEFINITIONS OF ADOLESCENCE

The term adolescence derived from the Latin word ‘adolesco’, meaning “to grow” or

“to grow to maturity”1 term adolescence has a broader meaning; it includes mental,

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emotional and social maturity. “To build a better future for all, we must ensure that

energy a girl has, not only the right but also the means to get an education and realize her

dreams.”The term adolescence meaning “to emerge” or achieve identity is a relatively

new concept, especially in development of thinking the origin of the term is derived from

the Latin word adolescere meaning “to grow to maturity” indicate the defining features of

adolescence.

Adolescents aged between 10-19 years account for more than one fifth of the world’s

population. In India, this age group forms 21.4 percent of the total population (National

Youth policy 2003).

The world health organization (WHO) defines adolescence as. Progression from

appearance of secondary sex characteristics (puberty) to sexual and reproductive

maturity. Development of adult mental process and adult identity Transition from total

socio-economic dependence to relative independence.

This definition reflects the dilemmas of the adolescents who are on the threshold of

adulthood coming to grip with their sexuality and responsibility with little or no support

form the outside world.

Adolescence has been identified as a distinct period in human development marked by

biological changes beginning at the onset of puberty. With the arrival of puberty,

hormonal changes particularly, the production of male and female hormones lead to an

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increase in sex drive. The first development task relating to sex, adolescence must master

over forming new and more mature relationship with members of opposite sex. This is far

from easy for both boys and girls, after they years during late childhood when members

of the two sexes had their own gangs and interest, and during puberty when both boys

and girls develop attitudes of resentment against members of opposite sex.

Now that they are sexually mature, both boys and girls begin to have new attitudes and

development towards members of the opposite sex as well as also in activity in which

they are involved. This new interest which begins to develop when sexual maturation is

complete is romantic in nature and is accompanied by strong desire to win the approval

of members of the opposite sex.

Although theories attempting to explain this phase of life differ in some respect, there is

consensus amongst psychologists that this transition from childhood to adulthood is a

turbulent time period that affects children both psychologically and physically.

Physiological changes during adolescence include growth spurts enlargement of genitals

maturation of primary sex organs, development of acne, growth of facial and public hair

and production of estrogen in girls and testosterone in boys. Girls also experience

menarche the first menstrual period and develop breast, while boys develop muscles,

begin to produce sperm and the experience nocturnal emission. These changes can be

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overwhelming and confusing for adolescents and a lack of information and understanding

about the body and how to take care of it may lead to poor health practices.

These physical changes signal a range of psychological changes, which manifest

themselves thought adolescence varying significantly from person to person.

Psychological changes generally include questioning of identity and achievement of an

appropriate sex role, movement towards personal independence and social changes in

which, the most important factor is peer group relations. Mainly adolescents begin to

develop sexual feelings and are conscious about the appearance. Some may feel physical

discomfort and awkwardness. Which can result in poor image and lower self. Esteem.

They are also particularly vulnerable to peer pressure and many lack the assertiveness

and refusal skills to combat it which can result in sexual experimentation and use or

abuse of drugs and alcohol. Unsafe sexual practices can lead to teenage pregnancy,

unsafe abortion HIV/AIDS and other STDs. Further, based on their status of mind set

Three main stages of adolescence can be discerned. Early adolescence (9-13years)

characterized by a spurt of growth and the development of secondary sex characteristics.

Mid adolescence (14-15 Years) this stage is distinguished by the development of a

separate identity from parents, of new relationship with peer groups and the opposite sex

and age of experimentation.Late adolescence (16-19) at this stage adolescents have fully

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developed physical characteristics (similar to adults) and have formed a distinct identity

well formed opinions and ideas (NCERT, 1999).

Adolescence is a growth process. The ages from 10-19 are rich in life transitions. How

young people very in experience greatly depending on their circumstances. At age 10 the

expectation in most societies is that children live at home go to school, have not yet gone

through puberty are unmarried and have never worked. By their 20th birthday many

adolescents have left school and get married, are sexually active and entered in the labour

force.

The association of adolescence with sexuality is another factor which increases resistance

to the concept, particularly in regard to female adolescence. The largest generation of

adolescents in history 1.2 billon is preparing to enter adulthood in a rapidly changing

world. Their educational and health status, their readiness to take on adult roles and

responsibilities and the support they receive from their families, communities and

governments will determine their own future and the future of their countries.

Nearly half of all population are under the age of 25 the largest youth generation in

history. The state of world population report (2003) examines the challenges and risks

faced by this generation that has impact directly on their physical emotional and

mental well being today millions of adolescents and young people are facing

problems regarding sexual issues with the prospects of early marriage and child

22 | P a g e
bearing incomplete education, and the threat of HIV/AIDS. The report stressed that

increasing the knowledge, opportunities, choices and participation of young people will

enable them to lead healthy and productive lives so that they can contribute fully to their

communities and to a more stable and prosperous world.

Today’s adolescents and young people have diverse experience with the different

political, economic, social and cultural realities they face in their families and

communities. Yet there is a common thread running through their communities. Yet there

is a common threat running through their lives and that is the hope for a better future.

This hope is bolstered by the millennium development goals agreed by world leaders in

2000 to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, the spread of HIV/AIDS, maternal and child

mortality and ensure universal primary education to improve sustainable development by

2015.

In every region, there is a need for positive dialogue and greater understanding among

parents, families, communities and governments about the complex and sensitive

situations faced by adolescents and young people. The report examine such factors as

changing family structures and living conditions, rapidly changing norms and social

behaviors, the growth of orphans and street children, the impact of urbanization and

migration, armed conflict, the lack of education and employment, and the continuing toll

of gender discrimination and violence.

23 | P a g e
Just as youth need guidance, young women and men need supportive relationship and

institutions that respond to their hopes and concerns. By taking concerted and

comprehensive action to address the challenges faced by adolescents and young people.

Government can meet their commitments and international development goals, and give

greater hope to the worlds largest youth generation.

While there is little comparative research differences within and between societies are

more pronounced with regard to adolescents, and generalizations may be less useful than

recognize a prolonged transition to adulthood in other worlds adolescence seem to extend

from late childhood into the 20s. Moreover, we know far less in a systematic way about

adolescents than about other age groups.

Policy maker’s communities and families need to plan policies, programs and guidance to

raise awareness among the largest number of the young people regarding the resources

they need to contribute to their societies.

In the life cycle of a homosapien organism, adolescence is a period of transition from

childhood to adulthood. It is characterized by rapid physical, biological and hormonal

changes resulting in to psychosocial, behavioural and sexual maturation between the age

of 10-19 years in an individual. Adolescence is often described as a phase of life that

begins in biology and ends in society. It means that physical and biological changes are

universal and take place due to maturation but the psychosocial and behavioural

24 | P a g e
manifestations are determined by the meaning given to these changes within a cultural

system. The experience of adolescents during teen years would vary considerably

according to the cultural and social values of the network of social identities they grow

in.

It is pertinent at this juncture to raise the question. Has the period of ‘adolescence’ been

recognized universally having the same meaning? In reality, there are markedly different

notions of adolescence in different parts of the world. These stand apart from western

account of what does or should happen during this transitional period between childhood

and adulthood.

The evidence in literature from cross-cultural studies both supports and challenges the

hypothesis that adolescence is a difficult period in development. There are cultures

where adult status is granted to both boys and girls through initiation rites at puberty,

amounting to an abrupt transition from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. But

it clearly confers the adult identity on the individual. However, it may be an extended

period of transition in other cultures. Socialization process, it is acknowledged plays an

important role in how inevitable biological changes are dealt with. There is little reliable

date on the relative influence on their lives of peers, family and community. But it is

essential that resources are provided to growing youngster through propolicies,

programme and counseling and guidance.

25 | P a g e
Documented work related to experience of young people, across the globe, indicates that

the forms adolescence takes within culture, let alone across cultures, are diverse and

distinctive. Still, one can certainly identify common features related to biological,

cognitive and psychological imperatives of human development. Further, with the world

becoming a global village through increased communication has led to the emergence of

world youth community, resulting in to commonalities in interest of adolescents across

cultures such as style of dressing up, eating habits, music preferences and sexual

explorations. However, these commonalities get coloured, adapted and transformed to

give different meaning within a cultural system.

There is therefore, a cautionary note for all those who work with adolescents and youth

may it be researchers, practitioners, employers, policy makers and parents not to have

a universalistic notion about adolescence. Adolescence needs are to be understood in

historical and cultural context and its variegated and tentative nature be acknowledged

and appreciated. It is particularly significant when policies are formulated and

interventions are planned for adolescents to ensure their well being with reference to a

particular culture of country.

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27 | P a g e
CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF

RELATED

LITERATURE

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INTRODUCTION

“An essential aspect of a research project is review of related literature”

- J. Mouly (1979)

The review of related literature is as important as any other component of research

process. It involves the systematic identification, location and anal ysis of documents

containing information related to the research problem. The major purpose of

reviewing the literature is to determine the study already been done that relates to one‟s

problem. Another important function of review is how it helps in planning the present

work or the resources, and specific procedures and meaning instruments that have been

opted for this work. Being familiar with previous research also facilitates interpretation

of the results of the study. Finally, these reviews give information which can either

support or challenge the conclusions of the investigator‟s research and therefore provide

clues to later research.

MEANING OF THE RELATED STUDY

Study of the related literature implies locating, reading and educating reports of

research as well as reports of causal observation and opinions that are

related to the individual‟s planned research project.

29 | P a g e
NEED FOR THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A thorough survey of literature can be of great help to the investigator to understand the

problem from different dimensions. It enriches the study. It gives necessary insight to the

research study by which one can think creatively.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

1. The review of related literature enables the researcher to define the limits of his field.

It helps the researcher to delimit and define his problem. The knowledge of related

literature, brings the researcher up-to-date on the work which others have done and thus

to state the objectives clearly and concisely.

2. By reviewing the related literature the researcher can avoid unfruitful and useless

problem areas. He can select those areas in which positive findings are very, likely to

result and his endeavors would be likely to add to the knowledge in a meaningful way.

3. Through the review of related literature, the researcher can avoid

unintentional duplication of well established findings. It is no use to replicate a study

when the stability and validity of its results have been clearly established.

4. The final and important specific reason for reviewing the related literature is to know

about the recommendations of previous researchers listed in their studies for further

research.

Eric, Stewart, and Enedima (2016) explored two factors acculturation and social

support which was associated with academic achievement. A sample of 60 ninth-grade

students of Mexican origin were taken. Results indicated that students with high

integrated cultural support were academically strong. Females performed well because

they perceived more social support while male were slightly more acculturated.

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Cummings and Davies 15 suggested that parental conflict brings a negative impact on

the developmental process of child. Parental conflicts results into children’s

maladjustment which in turn results in negative effects on social, cognitive, educational

and psychobiological functions. Cummings, Goeke-Morey and Papp, 08 opined that

parental conflicts is a disagreement that leads to a greater or reduced interaction of the

parents. This interaction can either be positive or negative.

M. Lavanya and R. Ganesan (2014) conducted a study to find the comparative analysis

on stressors among school students of various standards. The data was collected from

high school students using structured questionnaire and was analyzed using statistical

package for social sciences (SPSS 17.0). The findings suggested that higher physical

stress levels could contribute to anxiety, negative emotions, depression, sleeping

disorders and loneliness. High-stakes learning and performance situations could put a

counterproductive stress on students. There was a significant difference between the

weight gain/loss and their classes. There was a significant relationship between class

standards and sadness/depressive behavior.

Melodie Wenz-ross, Gary N. Siperstein et al. (2015) examined in this study were

middle school stress, social supports and adjustment of 482 sixth-seventh and eighth-

grade adolescents. Multiple regression analyses were used to relate differing types of

stress and social support of depression and liking of school. The effects of adolescent

characteristics (gender, grade level grade point average and education placement status)

also were assessed. Results showed that higher academic stress and less emotional

support from the family were related to lower academic self-concept and higher peer

31 | P a g e
stress and less companionship support from peers were associated with lower social self-

concept.

hejwal (2000) asked 113 college students to write about their own stressful life

experiences and the ones they had observed other experiencing. Results indicated that

52% reported stress experiences related to conflict at home and with friends. Death

of closed ones was reported to be stressful by 4 7% while 23% experienced stress in

relation to changes in financial status and 11 % experienced stress in relation to plans

for future.

Venkataransana (2008) investigated the influence of yoga on academic stress of

high school children. The study is a combination of within subjects design and between

subjects design. Result for the test

and post test conditions of the experimental group showed a significant decrease in all

the five areas as far as academic stress is concerned.

Jain and Jain (2007) examined the role of perceived parental encouragement in

male and female adolescent students attending coaching institutions at Kota

(n= 400) in Rajasthan. The adolescents with greater perceived parental

encouragement had lesser academic anxiety. Furthermore, coaching and self-

attending boys and girls had disclosed significant influence on academic anxiety.

Interaction of type of study, gender, and parental encouragement also had significant

effect on academic anxiety.

Smith and Kimberly (2007) examined potential predictors of the academic-related

stress experienced by college students. In particular, the relationships among the

coping strategies used by college students, social support, the parenting style used by

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college student's mothers and fathers, college student's experience of anxiety, and

academic-related stress were examined. 93 undergraduate students enrolled in

a psychology course at a large southeastern university completed a series of self-

report questionnaires that measured the variables under the study. Results suggested

that anxiety, problem-focused coping, and support from significant others may serve

as potentially important predictors of the academic-related stress experienced by

college students.

Manzon (2007) examined the relationship between the level of stress in university

students and examinations, and analyze the influence of certain health indicators and

the students self academic opinion. There was an increase in the level of stress of

college students during the period of examinations. There were also health

alterations ( among, caffeine or drug consumption and food alterations) during the

period of presence of the stressor.

Bhansali and Trivedi (2008) conducted a comparative study between boys

and girls of 16-18 years to know the academic anxiety prevailing amongst them.

The objective of the study was to find out the gender differences in incidences and

intensity of academic anxiety amongst adolescents. A total sample of 240

adolescent, 120 boys and 120 girls from different high schools of Jodhpur city were

selected. It was formed that girls on the whole had more incidences and intensity of

academic anxiety in comparison to boys.

Hussain, Kumar, and Hussain (2008) examined the level of academic stress

and overall adjustment among public and government high school students and

also to see relationship between the two variables (academic stress and

33 | P a g e
adjustment). For that purpose I 00 students of class IX were selected randomly

from two different schools out of which 50 were taken from public and the

remaining 50 were taken from government school. Results indicated that

magnitude of academic stress was significantly higher among the public

school students where as government school students were significantly better in

terms of their level of adjustment.

Bajor kman (2008) investigated the relationships among academic stress, social

support and internalizing and eternalizing behaviour in a sample of 6t\ ?1h and 81h

grade students of suburban Illinois. Findings suggest that academic stress is a relevant

construct to consider when investigating potential correlates of emotional behavioural

problems.

Seiffge-Krenke (2008) gave an overview about studies on academic stress

including anxiety before examination, decrease in achievement, bad grades as well as

aggression and rivalry among pupils with respect to school- related problems. German

Pupils exhibited a mean level in academic stress. However clinically disturbed

adolescents reported the highest levels in academic stress as compared to non•

conspicuous adolescents.

Huar (2008) examined the contributing role of four different aspects of adolescents

concern namely family, personal, peer and school concerns. Gender differences were also

examined in term of these prediction as well as academic stress experienced by the

adolescents. Results showed that only the scores on the personal concern subscale were

positively associated with the academic stress arising from self and other expectations in

both boys and girls.

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Mac George (2005) pointed out that academic stress is associated with a variety of

negative health outcomes including depression and physical illness college

students completed measures of academic stress of supportive communication

received and of health status. Results indicated that the positive association

with academic stress and depression decreased as informational support increased.

In addition, emotional support was negatively associated with depression across

levels of academic stress.

Rayle (2005) examined the relationship among personnel and family valuing

of education, self-esteem, academic stress and educational self-efficacy.

530 female undergraduates, personnel and family valuing of education and self-

esteem were related to education self-efficacy differences existed between Euro-

American woman and women of color and of both groups, personal valuing of

education, self-esteem and academic stress predicted educational self-efficacy.

Xia (2005) examined the relationship among different test sources coping strategies

and female university students negative feeling by applying the structure equation

modeling analysis of 239 university students. They were asked to fill questionnaire on

stress, coping, depression and anxiety. Result indicated: (i) there was significant effect of

stress on negative feeling (2) the stress coping strategies and negative feelings are

different across stress source. Academic stress had direct effect on negative feelings (3)

whatever the stress is from academics, economic or inter personnel situation, negative

problem solving and support seeking strategies always have the affection negative

feelings.

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Tali (2006) studied 191 university students with learning disabilities (LD) differed from

190 students with out disability in terms of social support, stress and sense of coherence.

Findings indicated that students with LD perceived themselves as having less social

support than students without LD had more social support. Although overall the level of

stress reported by the entire sample was relatively low. Students with LD tended to

experience slightly higher academic stress than students without LD.

Lauren Deborah Feld (2011) this study reported a high prevalence of harmful

physical and psychological correlates of stress and related unhealthy behaviour

such wide spread and chronic sleep deprivation. Students reported that heavy

academic work load and pressure for success contributes to many of these

behaviour.

According to Olaitan W. Akinlele (2012) , anxiety and self concept has direct

relation.he applied an anxiety and self concept test and found that overall, low anxiety

students had high grade point average than high anxiety students and that there is a

positive relation between self concept and academic performance.

Filipe Amorim and Geraldine (2013) also studied about Self esteem and anxiety

amongst Asian and European student. They used Rosenberg Self esteem Inventory and

Hospital anxiety scale (Zigmond and Smith 1983). Sample size was 61( European 30 and

Asian 31). They found a significant difference in self estem between European and Asian

student but not in Anxiety.

Academic anxiety amongst adolescents in relation to socio emotional school climate by

Sona Thakur and Ajay Kumar (Pratap collage Ludhiyana). The tools used was Academic

anxiety scale by Pal, Mishra & Pandey 1985 and socio emotional school climate

36 | P a g e
inventory by Sinha and Bhargava. The Sample size was 200 adolescents (100 boys and

100 girls from urban and rural schools). They found negative relation, more perception of

emotional school climate less anxiety and Vice Versa. They also found no difference in

variables in gender.

Fite (1992) research result show an invert correlation between anxiety and self-concept,

indeed high anxiety is relevant with low self-concept and high self-concept is in relation

with affirmative attitude toward school.

These results indicate that self-concept and self-esteem have a momentous role on mental

health so that with a decline in these factors, symptoms and traits of anxiety, depression,

loneliness, shyness and being reserved will be revealed and if persistent, serious problems

will ensue (Kaplan 1995).

According to MacIntyre and Gardner (2012) conducted a study on 120 college to

know their anxiety level. He found that students with high levels of anxiety at the input

stage may ask for their foreign language instructors to repeat sentences more often than

do their low anxious counterparts, or they may have to reread material in the foreign

language on several occasions to compensate for missing or inadequate input.

Trivedi.R.M. (2014) worked on ‘ Anxiety Level and Achievement of 100 Under

Graduate Students’ and found a negative relationship had been existed between the

anxiety levels and achievement among the girls, but among boys a positive correlation

had been found, but the correlation had been found to be very low and not significant.

Bhansali and Trivedi (2015) conducted a comparative study between boys

and girls of 16-18 years to know the anxiety prevailing amongst them. The

objective of the study was to find out the gender differences in incidences and

37 | P a g e
intensity of anxiety amongst adolescents. A total sample of 240 adolescent, 120

boys and 120 girls from different high schools of Jodhpur city were selected. It was

formed that girls on the whole had more incidences and intensity of anxiety in

comparison to boys.

hejwal (2010) asked 113 college students to write about their own stressful life

experiences and the ones they had observed other experiencing. Results indicated that

52% reported stress experiences related to conflict at home and with friends. Death

of closed ones was reported to be stressful by 4 7% while 23% experienced stress in

relation to changes in financial status and 11 % experienced stress in relation to plans

for future.

Gupta (2015) conducted a study to find out the relationship between anxiety and

achievement with respect to economic status. The low anxiety group had higher mean

achievement motivation than the high anxiety group but the difference was not significant

girls were more anxious than boys. Correlation between anxiety and achievement

motivation in all the groups having low academic achievement was negative irrespective

of socio-economic status.

Kumari K.V, (2015) has studied some correlates of academic achievement of college

students. The study reveal that academic achievement is negative related to anxiety and

positively related to achievement motivation. The main effects of the three variables,

anxiety, achievement motivation and sex on academic achievement is significant and the

interaction effect of anxiety and sex as well as achievement motivation and sex are

significant on academic achievement.

38 | P a g e
Goswami (2010) conducted a study on achievement motivation and anxiety among the

students of working and non-working mothers studying in secondary colleges of shilling.

Comparison of boys and girls of both working mothers and non-working mothers showed

that boy of working mothers were mostly achievement oriented then all other groups. She

found that there was no significant difference in anxiety among the groups but the girls of

the working mothers found to the have more anxiety then the rest of the groups.

Hussain (2014) investigated on the Academic Attainment of University Students in

Relation to the Level of Aspiration and Anxiety to a sample of 45 undergraduate and pre-

university students of Aligarh Muslim University. The tools used were the L.A coding

test by Ansari and Sinha’s anxiety scale. The major findings were that the academic

performance of the group with moderate anxiety was significantly better than that of both

the high and low anxiety groups. Anxiety bore a curvilinear relationship with academic

achievement. High anxiety has an adverse effect on academic performance. Low anxiety

showed a lack of drive and motivation in the students.

Singh and Kumar (2016) conducted a Study on the Relationship between Anxiety and

Educational Achievement to 200 male graduate students. Sinha’s comprehensive anxiety

scale was used to measure the anxiety. The total marks obtained in high school and

intermediate examinations were taken as measures of educational achievement. The inter-

correlations show that there is negative relationship between anxiety and educational

achievement. It means that anxiety has negative effect on educational achievement. There

is a difference between the average achievement scores of low and high anxious students.

39 | P a g e
The t-values indicate that low anxious students achieve better in comparison to high

anxious students, so far as their educational achievement is concerned.

Jha (2012) carried out a Study on Anxiety and Achievement in Science to a sample of

342 boys and 104 girls of central Patna. The tools used were Taylor’s manifest anxiety

scale, Mohsin’s test of general Intelligence and Non-Verbal science selection test. The

findings of the study were that there is a negative relationship between achievement in

science and anxiety for the boys sample, but for girls, although the direction is negative,

it is not significant statistically. No significant difference was found between the two

sexes in respect of achievement in science, but statistically significant differences were

obtained between the two sexes in respect of

Ganesan (2015) conducted a Study on the Effect of Anxiety on Academic Achievement

to a group of 170 final year arts and science post-graduate students of Annamalai

University. Tools used were Taylors manifest anxiety scale and the final semester marks

of the students were used to measure academic achievement. The results indicate that

there is negative relationship between anxiety and academic achievements of

student .Low anxiety students are high academic achievers and high anxiety student are

low academic achievers. Sex is not a determining factor of student’s anxiety. Student’s

course of study (Arts and science) is not a determining factor of student’s anxiety.

Student’s food habits have no influence upon their anxiety. Student’s socio-economic

status has no influence upon their anxiety at post graduate level. Students belonging to

both nuclear and joint families have the same level of anxiety.

Ramakrishna (2007) conducted a Study on the Effect of Anxiety Levels of M.Ed

Students on Academic Performance. The sample consisted of 9 male and 12 female

40 | P a g e
postgraduate students (M.Ed) of Osmania University, Hyderabad. The IPAT (Institute of

personality and ability testing) Anxiety Scale published in 1976 is used for the study.

After testing the hypothesis he found that there is a low positive correlation between

academic performance and anxiety levels of students. Male and female students differ in

their anxiety levels. The academic performance of students on the anxiety test day differs

from that of the academic performance on the same subject on the non-test day. There is

no correlation between the age and anxiety levels of students. The younger students

exhibited same anxiety levels when compared to older students.

Chutia (2012) studied on the Academic Anxiety among the School Going Adolescents of

Lakhimpur District of Assam and observed that the Academic anxiety level of school

going adolescents is found to be high. The academic anxiety of girls is found to be higher

than the boys and the difference between the boys and girls is found significant in respect

of their academic anxiety. The school going adolescents studying in the English medium

school have higher academic anxiety than the school going adolescents studying in

assamese medium schools and the difference between two is found to be significant.

Board exam, frequent class test, overloaded homework, private tuitions, parents pressure

for good results etc are the cause of anxiety.

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 CHAPTER 3

SIGNIFICANCE

OF THE STUDY

42 | P a g e
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Student reacts to school in a variety of ways. For some student it is stressful because it is

an abrupt change from middle school to high school. For others separation from home is

a source of stress. Although some source of stress is necessary for personal growth to

occur, the amount of stress can overwhelm a student and affect the ability to cope.

Another source of stress is the difficulty of achieving social intimacy. Fear of academic

failure is a definite Stressor (Spielberger CD, 1983, Kendall et al. 1965).

Kumarswamy (1989) also found that stress was more in Second year medical students

and this may be due to the fear of not attaining their goal of being a doctor. Several

studies reported Medical students experience more stress. A major stressor for first year

medical students is the amount and complexity of material to be learned. Student feels

academic pressure because all their class mates were superior college students. Fatigue is

often cited as a stressor in second year, and many researchers describe a hypochondriacal

phenomenon by which medical students imagine they have the disease they are studying.

In the third year medical students begin to care patient. Acceptance of death and dying

emerges as a key issue in coping with stress.

An overview of` the survey of Literature reveals that so far no serious effort has been

undertaken to study of correlation between academic stress and anxiety among School

student in relation to gender. Therefore, the investigator feels it important to conduct a

research on academic stress and anxiety among secondary school students in relation to

gender.

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 CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically investigate the research problem. It

gives various steps in conducting the research in a systematic and a logical way. It is

essential to define the problem, state objectives and hypothesis clearly. The research

design provides the details regarding what, where, when, how much and by what means

enquiry is initiated. Every piece of research must be planned and designed carefully so

that the researcher precedes a head without getting confused at the subsequent steps of

research. The researcher must have an objective understanding of what is to be done,

what data is needed, what data collecting tools are to be employed and how the data is to

be statistically analyzed and interpreted. There are a number of approaches to the design

of studies and research projects all of which may be equally valid. Research is a

systematic attempt to obtain answers to meaningful questions about phenomenon or

events through the application of scientific procedures. It an objective, impartial,

empirical and logical analysis and recording of controlled observation that may led to

the development of generalizations, principles or theories, resulting to some extent in

prediction and control of events that may be consequences or causes of specific

phenomenon. Research is a systematic and refined technique of thinking, employing

specialized tools, instruments and procedures in order to obtain a more adequate solution

of a problem than would be possible under ordinary mean. Thus, research always starts

from question. There are three objectives of research factual, practical and theoretical,

which gives rise to three types of research: historical, experimental and descriptive.

Research design has been defined by different social scientists in a number of ways. All

these definitions emphasize systematic methodology in collecting accurate information

45 | P a g e
for interpretation. Selltize et al. (1962) expressed their views as, “Research designs are

closely linked to investigator’s objectives. They specify that research designs are either

descriptive or experimental in nature.” Research design tells us how to plan various

phases and procedures related to the formulation of research effort (Ackoff Russell,

1961). Miller (1989) has defined research design, “as the planned sequence of the entire

process involved in conducting a research study.”

Kothari (1990) observes, “Research design stands for advance planning of the method to

be adapted for collecting the relevant data and the techniques to be used in their research

and availability of staff, time and money.” In this way selecting a particular design is

based on the purpose of the piece of the research to be conducted. The design deals with

selection of subjects, selection of data gathering devices, the procedure of making

observations and the type of statistical analysis to be employed in interpreting data

relationship”.

Every study is distinguished on the basis of its different purposes and approaches.

Therefore, so many methods have been adopted. For the present study, Descriptive

Method was used. Because it is considered as one of the best method in education, it

describes the current status of the research work. It involves interpretation, comparison,

measurement, classification, evaluation and generalization all directed towards an

understanding and solution of significant educational problems.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The problem under taken by the investigator is stated as “A STUDY OF

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER DIFFERENCES AND ACADEMIC

STRESS AND ANXIETY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS”.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The researcher of the present study framed the following objectives:

 To study the anxiety among secondary school student

 To study academic stress among secondary school student

 To study the relationship between academic stress and anxiety among secondary

School student

 To study gender difference with respect to anxiety and academic stress among

secondary school student

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY:

The researcher of the present study framed the following hypothesis.

1. There is significant mean difference between male and female with respect to

stress.

2. There is significant mean difference between male and female with respect to

academic anxiety.

3. There is significant relation between Academic anxiety and stress among

school going adolescents.

Operational Definition of the Terms

Academic stress: Academic stress is the feeling of anxiety or apprehension over one’s

performance in the exams. It can lead to students being unable to perform to the best of

their abilities in exams.

Anxiety: Anxiety is our body’s way of telling us that there is something in the

environment in need of our attention. It is basically a series of biochemical changes in our

47 | P a g e
brain and body, such as an increase in adrenaline (causing your heart to beat faster) and a

decrease in dopamine (a brain chemical that helps to block pain).

Population

For the present study, Secondary School Students of age group 13 years to 16 years from

2 government and 2 private schools in Alwar, Rajasthan was selected.

Sample

Data was collected on the total 60 Secondary School students from 2 government and 2

private schools in Alwar Rajasthan. Out of which 30 was male and 30 females was

selected.

Exclusion and Inclusion Criteria:

Sample was selected only from secondary schools of 2 govt. and 2 private schools. No

student was included below the age group of 13 years and not above 16 years. Half of the

sample was females and half was males.

Sampling method

Random sampling method was used for the present study.

Research Design

A research design is a set of methods and procedure used to collecting and analysing

measures of the variables specified in the research problem. In this research the

descriptive research design was used.

Tool Used

ACADEMIC ANXIETY’S SCALE FOR CHILDREN

I)'Academic Anxiety' Scale for Children (AASC) developed by Dr. A.K. Singh and

Dr. A. Sen. Gupta (2009).

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In the present study, academic anxiety scale towards school students of class VIII, IX, X

(age range: 13-16years) has been developed by Dr.A.K.Singh and Dr.A. Sen. Gupta

(2009) will be used. The preliminary form of the "Academic Anxiety" Scale of Children

(AASC) had 30 items. After carrying out item analysis based upon Kelly technique

(1939), only 20 items were retained and the remaining 10 were dropped.

Administration:

The present scale (AASC) has been administered individually. The investigator read out

the instructions given by the constructor of the scale. There is no time limit for the test,

but ordinarily the pupils take 10 to 15 minutes in completing the test.

Reliability and Validity:

The reliability of the AASC test was computed through test-retest method and the split

half method. In order to compute the test-retest reliability, the test was administered twice

on a sample of 100 pupils with 14 days’ gap. Subsequently, Pearson’s r was computed

between the two sets of scores. The obtained Pearson’s r was .60 which was significant

beyond .01 level. For the Split half reliability of the test, it was administered on a fresh

sample of 100. Subsequently, the test was splited by the odd-even method. The resulting

odd-even correlation coefficient was .433 (p<.01) which, after being corrected for full

length, became .65. After modification also the scale was found to be reliable i.e. .56. The

validity coefficients of AASC against these different measures are .31, .41 and .57

respectively 84 (significant at .01). On the basis of the obtained correlation coefficients it

can be said that Academic Anxiety Scale for Children (AASC) is a valid test.

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II) Bisht Battery of Stress Scale (BBSS)-(2006)

This battery was originally developed by Abha Rani Bisht, Kumaun University, Almora.

This battery has the following scales in it:

(a) Scale of existential stress (SES)

(b) Scale of achievement stress (SAchS)

(c) Scale of academic stress (SAS)

(d) Scale of self-actualization stress (SSAS)

(e) Scale of physical stress (SPS)

(f) Scale of self-concept stress (SSCS)

(g) Scale of social stress (SSS)

(h) Scale of role stress (SRS)

(i) Scale of institutional stress (SIS)

(j) Scale of family stress (SFS)

(k) Financial stress scale (FSS)

(l) Scale of vocational stress (SVS)

(m)Scale of superstition stress (SSUS)

This battery measures the four components of the stress:

i. Frustration

ii. Conflict

iii. Pressure

iv. Anxiety

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Reliability:

Reliability of the scales of the battery was calculated by three ways for knowing (i)

dependability i.e., short-term test-retest correlations, (ii) stability, i.e., retest after a longer

interval, and (iii) internal consistency, i.e., split-half correlations and correlation between

total scores and scores on each of the component.

Validity:

All the scales appear to be having content validity and item validity. The method of

selecting items supports this supposition. In addition, construct validity (discriminability)

was estimated for all scales in a two-fold fashion. The first type tested if the construct

measured differentiated students on some related construct. For this memory was taken.

The second type tested if the construct measured by the scales was not related to

construct predicted by theory. For this internal evaluation was taken. In both the construct

validity was affirmed.

Demographic Information Sheet

Demographic information sheet was used to collect various demographic information

about sample including age, gender and type of family.

Statistical Techniques Used

For this proposed study, the inferential statistical (t-test and correlation) measures was

done and other suitable statistical methods will be used for analysis.

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 CHAPTER 5

DATA ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATIONS

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS

After collecting data, the investigator analysed the data as it was difficult to explain the

raw data because raw data gathered on certain tests have no meaning rather it is heap of

certain facts or observation. Keeping in view the objectives of the study and their

corresponding hypotheses, the data was statistically processed using appropriate design

and technique. Hence, after the data has been collected this must be processed an

analysed to draw proper inference.

Statistics is a good tool in the hands of a research. It can help in attaining some

objectives only if one is clear about the theoretical basis of the variables and their

relationship so it is necessary to interpret the result obtained statistically. It is only then

one can give meaning and direction to research. According to Good, Barr and Scates

(1941), “The process of interpretation is essentially, one of stating what the results

show? What they mean? What is their significance? What is the answer of the original

problem? ” That is all the limitations of the data must enter into and become the part of

interpretation of the result.

Thus, the analysis of data means studying the tabulated material in order to determine

inherent factors or meanings. It involves breaking down the existing complex factors

into simpler parts and putting the parts together in new arrangement for the purpose of

interpretation.

As it is of much importance to get a sum correctly solved. It is also equally important to

interpret it correctly. Interpretation is the most important step in the total research

process. It calls for a critical examination of the results of one’s analysis in the light of

all limitations of data gathered. Thus analysis and interpretations of data help

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researchers to attack the related problems with appropriate statistical techniques to avoid

the unnecessary labour.

Testing of Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: There is significant mean difference between male and female with

respect to stress.

The differential analysis provides inference involving determination of statistical

significance of difference between categories with reference to the selected variables. In

the present investigation the investigator applied t-test.

Table 5.1: Mean, S.D., N and t-Value to locate difference in stress level Scores of

Adolescents

Self Concept N Mean SD t-Test Level Of Result

Significance

Boys 30 34.68 4.94 2.45 1.96 Accepted

Girls 30 35.05 5.84

Interpretation: The results of above table indicate that there is a significant difference in

the stress level of adolescent girls and boys. The mean values of stress obtained by boys

were 34.68 whereas the mean scores of the girls were 35.05. The t-value for was

significant at 0.05. The calculated ‘t’ value is 2.45 which is more than the table value at

0.05 level i.e. 1.96 with df 98. It means the Hypothesis which read as there is

significant difference between male and female adolescents with respect to stress is

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accepted.

Hypothesis 2: There is a significant mean difference between male and female with

respect to academic anxiety.

Table 5.2: Mean, S.D., N and t-Value to locate difference in Anxiety Scores of

Adolescents

Result
Anxiety N Mean SD t Level of
Significance

Boys 30 17.84 4.17

Girls 30 18.20 4.27

Interpretation: The results of above table indicate that there is a significant difference in

the academic anxiety of adolescent girls and boys. The mean values of academic anxiety

obtained by boys were 17.84 whereas the mean scores of the girls were 18.20. The t-

value for was significant at 0.05. The calculated ‘t’ value is 2.52 which is more than the

table value at 0.05 level i.e. 1.96 with df 98. It means the Hypothesis which read as

there is significant difference between male and female adolescents with respect to

anxiety is accepted.

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Hypothesis 3: There is a significant relation between Academic anxiety and stress

among school going adolescents.

Correlation analysis is used to find out the relationship between two variables. The

correlation co efficient is valued in the field of education as the measure of relationship

between test scores and other measures of performance. In the present study, the

correlation analysis is used to find out the strength of relationship between stress level

and academic anxiety.

Table 5.3: Relationship between stress and academic anxiety

N Df Calculated Level of

Variable value of ‘r’ significance

stress

Academic 60 58 0.43 Significant

anxiety

Interpretation: It is inferred from the above table that there is a positive significant

statistical relationship at (0.05 level of significance) between stress level and academic

anxiety among school going adolescent. Through presenting the result of the third

Hypothesis, it indicates the existence of positive statistical linking relationship between

stress level and academic anxiety. The calculated r value for stress level and academic

anxiety is 0.43.

DISCUSSION

Anxiety is one of the most studied phenomenon in psychology. It is normal human

response to stress. The concept of anxiety is differentiated from fear as it is a normal

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human response to stress. Today anxiety is a common phenomenon of everyday life. It

plays a crucial role in human life because all of us are victim of anxiety in different ways

(Goodstein and Lanyon, 1975).

Anxiety is a state of mind in response to some stimulus in the environment which brings

in the feelings of apprehension or fear. When the person is exposed to the cause of

anxiety the next time, the conditioning effect causes a repeat response and the person will

try to avoid the cause. All the responsibilities of being an academic brings with it a state

of mind referred to as “academic anxiety”. This can be associated with almost all the

tasks associated with academics i.e. starting from attendance to classes to the biggest

cause of academic anxiety- exams! It doesn’t stop there, though. Students can be anxious

about everything from their reading speed to their performance in gym class. According

to Cornell University, "Academic anxiety is the result of biochemical processes in the

body and the brain that make your attention level increase when they occur. The changes

happen in response to exposure to a stressful academic situation, such as completing

school assignments, presenting a project in class or taking a test. When the anxiety

becomes too great, the body recoils as if threatened, which is a normal fight-or flight

reaction".

CONCEPT OF STRESS

Stress is an inevitable concomitant of organizational life. Its source in an

organization is task or role related. An organization, being a network of roles

performed in interconnected positions, is dynamic in nature. The complex and

dynamic environment of organization adds to further stress at work. These

environmental forces include: 1. Rapid technological advancements, 2. The demands

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made on employee skills, 3. Increased employee expectations about the quality of

work – life and incongruence between these expectations and the perceived

organizational outcomes, and 4. Changes in organizations like downsizing, mergers,

etc. These factors influence employment security, social relations at work and upward

mobility, which, in turn, will result in stress of the employees.

Academic anxiety amongst adolescents in relation to socio emotional school climate by

Sona Thakur and Ajay Kumar (Pratap collage Ludhiyana). The tools used was Academic

anxiety scale by Pal, Mishra & Pandey 1985 and socio emotional school climate

inventory by Sinha and Bhargava. The Sample size was 200 adolescents (100 boys and

100 girls from urban and rural schools). They found negative relation, more perception of

emotional school climate less anxiety and Vice Versa. They also found no difference in

variables in gender.

Every study is distinguished on the basis of its different purposes and approaches.

Therefore, so many methods have been adopted. For the present study, Descriptive

Method was used. Because it is considered as one of the best method in education, it

describes the current status of the research work. It involves interpretation, comparison,

measurement, classification, evaluation and generalization all directed towards an

understanding and solution of significant educational problems.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between academic anxiety and stress

level amongst adolescents.

This study falls under the category of descriptive research. A questionnaire was used to

collect data. Thus, survey design is adopted to carry out the research work. In the present

study

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sample consisted of 100 students of studying in Secondary schools of Alwar, Rajasthan.

The random sampling technique was used to select the sample of students from senior

secondary school in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. 30 boys and 30 girls were selected as

sample from the same classes.

'Academic Anxiety' Scale for Children (AASC) developed by Dr. A.K. Singh and Dr. A.

Sen. Gupta (2009) was used to assess the academic anxiety of children. Similarly, For the

measurement of stress level, Bisht Battery of Stress Scale (BBSS)-(2006) were used. In

order to obtain empirical verification of the proposed hypotheses, the data was analyzed

by applying t-test. As the objectives of the present study demand to compare between

students on the variables of stress level and academic anxiety. For this purpose ‘t’ test has

been employed to find out the significance of difference between the students.

The findings for the present study was discussed as:

 There is a positive significant statistical relationship at (0.05 level of significance)

between stress level and academic anxiety among school going adolescent.

 There is a significant difference in the academic anxiety of adolescent girls and

boys.

 There is a significant difference in the stress level of adolescent girls and boys.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

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INTRODUCTION

The contemporary world is facing and surfacing unimaginable and unending changes that

are flooding into various aspects of human life. Education, with no exception is also

undergoing innumerable changes in the society. These changes are posing a great

confusion both to people and pupil. The secondary school level is an important stage in

the academic life of any individual. During this stage the students come under the

influence of various psychological aspects which contribute a lot in the success and shape

of their future. Noticing this conspicuous reason, efforts should be made to meet the

requirements of the students and provide proper direction.

The secondary education provides a vital link between elementary education and higher

education. The boundaries of knowledge cannot yield capsule, finalize and finished

products. Being on ones toes is the only answer to this challenge. The tremendous

growth of information and changes in the other side are creating a panic position to the

secondary stage student. This is a vital factor influencing the academic achievement of

the students and at the same time causing a tremendous disturbance on their behavior,

which includes attitude and adjustment as the main factors.

―The statistics bear a testimony to the fact that there is a tremendous expansion

of education since independence. Yet, today education in our country is a target of

criticism from educationists, politicians and non-professionals. So that education to be

considered as the most significant factor responsible for student unrest in particular and

dissatisfaction of the society in general. We are fumbling because of some serious

loopholes in the educational system of our country‖.

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(Kochhar,1991).We started implementing a number of recommendations of the

Mudaliar Commission (1952-53) but they were given up halfway when some new ideas

were put forth by the Kothari Commission. Later, a hasty implementation of National

Policy of Education 1986.

There is increasing evidence that education is a powerful instrument to improve all

types of well-being of a nation. It is also an established fact that the degree of education

and the technical competence but not the amount of nature and natural reserves determine

the economic welfare of any country. So progress of a country can be measured with the

quality and quantity of its schools. There has been a rapid change of vast magnitude in all

spheres during the recent past. Technological changes, industrial changes, occupational

changes, and revolution of rising expectations from all walks of people with all these

social changes, it is important that the educational system should change itself to the

needs of the day.

During the senior secondary school stage the student develops some attitudes, aspiration,

achievement targets, adjustments, achievement motivation, creativity and such other

important factors which play an important role in his future life.

A secondary school in India comprises a great lot of students, but the present educational

scenario is ringing alarm bells with a very poor standard of performance owing to many

reasons.

To perform and restructure the secondary education, number of committees has been set

up. Soon after independence these important bodies examined the problems of Secondary

Education. The Tarachand Committee (1948), the University Education Commission

(1948-49) and the Secondary Education Commission (1952-

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53) have identified the problems and suggested some remedies. The Radha Krishnan

Commission (1948) had expressed the view that ―Secondary Education in India was the

weakest link in our educational machinery and needs urgent reforms‖.

To have a good educated citizen we must have good universities. To have good

universities we must have good colleges. To have good colleges we must have good

secondary schools. To have good secondary schools, basically we must have good

secondary students. The performance of the secondary school students has become a

big concern for the teachers, academicians and researchers. The students themselves are

making a hue and cry for direction and help. It is the dire necessity of the people

concerned to know where the flow is. Does the defect lie with students? If so, can the

defect be rectified? What are the factors influencing for the low standard? How far any

psychological and sociological factors relate? –are the specific challenges to be

answered by the researchers and at the micro level what dimensions of certain

psychosocial factors enhance the academic achievement of the students, is the basic issue

seeking an immediate solution.

However a dearth in the area of researches with respect to study the relationship

among Academic Anxiety and stress level become the motivation factor for the

researcher to undertake the present study.

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FINDINGS

 There is a positive significant statistical relationship at (0.05 level of significance)

between stress level and academic anxiety among school going adolescent.

Through presenting the result of the third Hypothesis, it indicates the existence of

positive statistical linking relationship between stress level and academic anxiety.

The calculated r value for stress level and academic anxiety is 0.43.

 There is a significant difference in the academic anxiety of adolescent girls and

boys. The mean values of academic anxiety obtained by boys were 17.84 whereas

the mean scores of the girls were 18.20. The t-value for was significant at 0.05.

The calculated ‘t’ value is 2.52 which is more than the table value at 0.05 level

i.e. 1.96 with df 98. It means the Hypothesis which read as there is significant

difference between male and female adolescents with respect to anxiety is

accepted.

 There is a significant difference in the stress level of adolescent girls and boys.

The mean values of stress obtained by boys were 34.68 whereas the mean scores

of the girls were 35.05. The t-value for was significant at 0.05. The calculated ‘t’

value is 2.45 which is more than the table value at 0.05 level i.e. 1.96 with df

98. It means the Hypothesis which read as there is significant difference between

male and female adolescents with respect to stress is accepted.

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CONCLUSION

The present study was conducted on academic anxiety and stress level of adolescents of

100 Students of Alwar, Rajasthan School, including 50 boys and 50girls students. Thus, it

may be concluded that there is no significant relationship among academic anxiety and

stress level among adolescents. There is a significant difference in the academic anxiety

of adolescent girls and boys. There is a significant difference in the stress level of

adolescent girls and boys.

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 CHAPTER 7

DELIMITATION &

SUGGESTIONS

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DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 The study was limited to two government and 2 private secondary schools of

Alwar Rajasthan

 The study was further delimited to 60 students of senior secondary schools of

Alwar Rajasthan

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDY

This study may have following suggestions: -

1. It is scientifically proved that the success of individuals’ work is 80% dependent on

emotional intelligence and only 20% on intelligent quotient.

2. The study will help in understand the impact of Anxiety on stress.

3. Overburden may cause high Anxiety. Thus students should not be loaded with extra

Burdon.

4.It helps students to overcome anxiety proneness and adjust for emotional, educational

and social situations.

5. It helps psychologists, parents, college, guidance workers and counselors and also for

educational administrators.

6..The study as confined only to Alwar, Rajasthan state, it is therefore suggested that

study may be conducted on other states also to increase comprehensiveness of its

conclusions.

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7. The sample of only 100 adolescent girls and boys was considered in the study. A study

may be conducted on large sample to search at very definite conclusions regarding self

concept.

8. Such a study can be conducted on the sample of rural adolescent boys and girls at

senior secondary level and college level also.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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QUESTIONNAIRE

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 QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX 1

ACADEMIC ANXIETY' SCALE FOR CHILDREN (AASC) DEVELOPED BY

DR. A.K. SINGH AND DR. A. SEN GUPTA (2009).

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APPENDIX 2

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