Academic Challenges And Stress: Mental Health Problems Of Childhood And Adolescence

Stress is an integral part of human life. Anything that makes our comfort challenging or threatening is a stress. It is not considered bad for all forms of tension because it helps people work better. Stress among students is inevitable in academics, and it influences the performance of students in all academic activities. Academic stress plays an important role in the determination of mental health. (Subramani & Kadhiravan, 2017).

Education is very important to all individual, is very necessary for everyone in order to improve knowledge. As Nelson Mandela says, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”. But every student will have to face many academic problems that can change their path and test they’re immunity and it can lead to stress or anxiety. Academic stress is mental distress that anticipated frustration associated with academic failure. (Holahan, 1983). Pressure is the source of the stress that every student will experience it along the way while studying. Academic stress is the sources of academic-related stress have included fear of falling behind with coursework, finding the motivation to study, time pressures, financial worries, and concern about academic ability. (Tyrrell, 1992). Mental Illness is full of negativity that can cause academic stress, but it has some positive effects in it, like positive stress can boost your immune system. Students must be prepared to cope this stress effectively. Academic Stress is something we all must deal with at some point in the lives of the learners. Students must have to find a way that works best for them to deal with it.

High school students are people who are going through a very stressful period of transition from a child to an adult (Sulaiman, Hassan, Sapien, and Abdullah, 2009). Students are faced with tension on a daily basis, so stress may be good, but it may be harmful and cause damage. Many common causes of stress are issues like academic achievements, extracurricular, interactions with classmates, colleagues, parents, and sometimes even romances in the life of a high school student.

Among high school students, high academic burden, meaning school tension and results, is something very popular. Whether students take this stress favorably and perceive school work as a task, they will be more productive in studying and attaining their academic goals (Whitman, Neal). If students take the stress negatively, though, they may feel helpless and frustrated and eventually fail to achieve their academic target. (Whitman, Neal). The harmful academic tension can even lead students to plagiarize to get their score (Palmer, 2005). Parents or peer pressure is also a factor in the academic burden faced by students (Palmer, 2005). The school environment itself can be a cause of stress on students. Students moving into secondary education find it challenging to constantly move around to classes. Those matriculating to tertiary education are challenged with leaving home and establishing a new life in new setting. Both can cause stress on students.

According to World Health Organization (2014) mental health is viewed as “a state of well-being in which individuals realizetheir own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and able to make a contribution to community”. Galderisi, et al (2015)defined “mental health as a dynamic state of internal equilibrium which enables individuals to use their abilities in harmony with universal values of society. Basic cognitive and social skills; ability to recognize, express and modulate one’s own emotions, as well as empathize with others; flexibility and ability to cope with adverse life events and function in social roles; and harmonious relationship between body and mind represent important components of mental health which contribute, to varying degrees, to the state of internal equilibrium”.

There are high stress consequences, though, which are much worse than cheating on paper. Some high-stressed students may use other methods to deal with their stress. Many examples of these approaches include misuse of narcotics (drugs, alcohol), eating disorders (over-eating, under-eating) or even thoughts or suicide attempts (Bradley, 2002). Students who are unable to cope with stress can experience anxiety in their life and if this stress is not experienced while the student is still young, the constant stress will lead to future mental problems.

Rawson (1999) highlighted that “many students reported their experience of high academic stress at predictable times which have resulted from preparing and taking exams, class ranking competition, and mastering huge amount of syllabus in a comparatively very small amount of time”.

(Sulaiman, Hassan, Sapien, and Abdullah, 2009). Essentially, if dealt with correctly, stress can be a good thing. If stress is not properly handled, it will only be negative.

To sum it up, depression is the most common yet underidentified mental health problems of childhood and adolescence. Depression can have pervasive and long-term effects on social, personal and academic performance. It is something that should be taken seriously. It can affect one’s cognitive like memory problems, attention problems, feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem, indecisive or difficulty making decisions, loss of control, suicidal thoughts. It can also affect one’s behavior and physiological like showing limited effort, apathy, suicide attempts, low energy, insomnia and poor appetite. Depression can impact many aspect of students’ performance at school, it includes academic achievement and social relationships. Understanding people particularly students with mental illness is important so that they would increase their performance at school and they will have the thought that they are not alone in this world Parents want their children to succeed in school. They want to see good grades, but they also want to see success in life’s other areas. In their attempts to guide their children, parents can become one of the major causes of stress on students. It is wise for parents and others who work with students to take time to recognize the stresses students face, If they then provide stress management techniques, they will do much to relieve and encourage their students. Giving knowledge and patience is a must to improve outcomes that can help the students to succeed in school and have a stable relationship with family, friends and many more. By these simple helpful tips, our micro efforts can transform into macro effect.