1. INTRODUCTION:

Stress seems to be very common in college student’s life. They have to survive academically and to prepare themselves for further professional trainings. Express India, on Jan 10 2010 reported that Crime Records Bureau figures show India’s suicide rate has risen 8 per cent a year for 10 years. According to a 2007 estimate, 45 per cent of suicides involve people between 15 and 29. WHO lists suicide among the top three causes of death in the age group 15-35. The motive when students kill themselves is invariably academic pressure – this accounts for 99 per cent suicides in the age group 12-18 – but psychiatrists sought to assess why the trend has

risen of late and put it down to three reasons: deprivation of sunshine, exam results, and the copycat syndrome. According to Bataineh (2013), stress is an adverse reaction that individuals manifest when they encounter excessive pressure or other types of demands placed on them. Stress especially arises when individuals are under overwhelming situation and believe that they are incompetent to handle. So studies should be conducted to assess the impact of stress on performance and mental health of the students. The studies have tremendous significance for the wellbeing of the students, the future generation.

Researches also show a correlation of many stress factors that college students experience and the harmful effects of stress on their performance. Different studies have shown a variety of factors that can shrink a student’s academic performance. When these stressful situations take place, students become disorganized, disoriented and therefore less able to cope up, thus they face stress related problems as tension, pressure, anxiety, depression and frustrations.

Academic stressors include the student's perception of the extensive knowledge base required and the perception of an inadequate time to develop it (Carveth et al, 1996). Students report experiencing academic stress at predictable times each semester with the greatest sources of academic stress resulting from taking and studying for exams, grade competition, and the large amount of content to master in a small amount of time (Abouserie, 1994).

Agolla (2009) stated that many scholars in the field of behavioral sciences have carried out extensive research on stress and its outcomes, but this area of research needs more attention. However, there is scarcity of studies concerning the nature of the relationship between students’ feeling of stress and their academic performance. Thus if students fail to cope with such demands, stress may lead to anxiety, depression and several mental health problems.

This paper attempts to study the effects of stress on students of different colleges in Kolkata and provide suggestions regarding stress management strategies for the students.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW:

Academic stress among students have long been studied, and researchers Fairbrother and Warn( 2003) have acknowledged many stressors such as numerous assignments, antagonism with other students, disappointment, failures and poor relationships with other students or lecturers, family or problems at home. Lan (2003) mentioned that some physiological symptoms such as headaches were signals of mental overload. Other signals included fatigue, depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction with certain interpersonal relations, change of the current sleeping habit, and a drastic gain/loss of body weight. Feng (1992) pointed out that setting high goals, being a perfectionist, and comparing the self with others, and self-degradation may all cause stress and result in depression. Institutional (university) level stressors are overcrowded lecture halls, semester system, and insufficient resources to execute academic work ( Awino and Agolla, 2008).

According to the Erkutlu and Chafra (2006), the pressure to perform well in the examination or test and time allocated makes academic environment very stressful. Researchers (Malach-Pines and Keinan, 2007) asserted stress symptoms as lack of energy, taking over the counter medication, high blood pressure, feeling depressed, over or less eating habits, difficulty in concentrating, agitation, nervousness and anxiety among others. Other potential sources of stress include excessive homework, unclear assignments, and uncomfortable classrooms (Kohn and Frazer, 1986). In addition to academic requirements, relations with faculty members and time pressures may also be sources of stress (Sgan-Cohen and Lowental, 1988).

The only scientific research that specifically related leisure satisfaction to academic stress was that of Ragheb and McKinney (1993) who established a negative association between academic stress and leisure satisfaction. This area of research attracts the need to inspect stress among students and identify stressors which is main source of academic stress faced by students at various management institutions in Pakistan. Graduate students perceive that faculty exert great power over their lives and feel that they live in a state of substantial powerlessness (Altbach, 1970). Students report experiencing academic stress at predictable times each semester with the greatest sources of academic stress resulting from taking and studying for exams, grade competition, and the large amount of content to master in a small amount of time (Abouserie, 1994). An undergraduate study done by Neumann et al (1990) concludes that college students may in fact experience the burnout phenomenon due to learning conditions that demand excessively high levels of effort and do not provide supportive mechanisms that would facilitate effective coping. Types of role stress present among the engineering and management students in India was explored in a study conducted by Agarwal and Chahar (2007). Role overload, role stagnation and self-role distance were found to be the major stressors experienced by the students. Male students experienced more role stagnation than females. The results did not show any significant differences on any of the role stressors between first year students and their seniors, or between management and engineering students. The results of this study are helpful in understanding the social and educational environment prevailing in the country. In a study conducted with the sample of 249 student participants, undergraduate university students were found to experience higher levels of stress as a result of academic commitments, financial pressures, and lack of time management skills. The students’ health, emotional state, and academic performance can be devastated when they negatively interpret the stressful context or when the stress level intensifies (Ranjita Misra and Mckean, 2000).

As observed by Lauren Bigham et al. (2012) college years have been deemed as one of the most stressful periods of a person's life. The millennial generations of college students are unique in characteristics, including the manner in which they handle stressors. An epidemiological cross-sectional study of randomly selected college students (N=246) completed the Stress Tolerance Questionnaire (STQ), which was comprised of checklists for stressors, symptoms, and coping strategies. Stress tolerance ratios (STRs) were calculated, and subjects divided into high or low stress tolerance groups. Ten lifestyle/coping factors (out of 29) were significantly associated with high stress tolerance (HST): one was a protective factor (feeling supported) while the nine others put a person at risk for low stress tolerance (cleaned apartment, prayed, called mom, used internet social network (among others) (p<0.05). Coping mechanisms and lifestyle habits currently employed by the millennial college students are not only ineffective for alleviating stress, but also has the effect of putting these students at risk for low stress tolerance. Bhat U et al. (2018) concluded that psychological stress is highly prevalent among college students especially among engineering and art students and those who are residing with their families.

Ross, S et al. (1999) examined interpersonal, intrapersonal, academic and environmental sources of stress and found that daily hassles to be more stress-inducing factors than significant life events, in which intrapersonal sources of stress were the leading stressors. More specifically, the study delineated that change in sleeping habits, vacations/breaks, changes in eating habits, increased workload, and new responsibilities were the top five sources of stress among college students. According to Bataineh (2013), a study showed that academic overloads, course awkward, inadequate time to study, workload every semester, exams awkward, low motivation, and high family expectations produced moderate level of stress among students. It was also found that fear of failure was the primary source of stress among students.

Sulaiman et al. (2009) found that female students have experienced a higher level of stress compared to male students because they tend to be extra emotional and sensitive toward what is happening in their surroundings. Jogaratnam and Buchanan (2004) found the same finding that female students reported a higher level of stress than their male counterparts concerning the time pressure dimension of stress. More to these findings, stress and anxiety levels among female college students were found to be elevated compared to counterparts (Bayram and Bilgel, 2008).

In a study conducted among 656 undergraduate students in India, low performing and high performing students were found to have significantly different scores on different sources of stress (Veena and Shastri, 2016). In a study, Taylor and Owusu-Banahene (2010) concluded that stress has a crippling effect on students’ academic performance. Different components of stress such as social and financial stress were also claimed to decline students’ academic performance (Pariat, Rynjah, and Kharjana, 2014).

3. OBJECTIVE:

The main objective of the current study is to

· Identify the factors causing academic stress among students.

· Ascertain the symptoms of stress found in students.

· Suggest stress management interventions to minimise stress among students.

4. METHODOLOGY:

The present study is exploratory in nature. The study is based on mainly information available through structured questionnaire formed with the help of psychometric instruments like Stress Index (Srivastava and Singh, 1988). A total of 100 students of different semesters of different Colleges participated in the survey. For qualitative analysis data, Likerts’ Summated scale is adopted.

5. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY:

In this section data have been analysed from the responses received by administering questionnaire to 100 students of different colleges in Kolkata.

General Profile of the Respondents:

100 students were interviewed. They belong to age group varying widely between 18and 22 years. Respondents belong to honours and general degree colleges of Kolkata. 54 respondents were male and 46 were female.

The symptoms of stress are measured on a 5 point Likert Summated Scale: 1 denotes ‘Never’, 2 denotes ‘Occasionally’, 3 denotes ‘Sometimes’, 4 denotes ‘Quite Often’ and 5 denotes ‘Almost Constantly’. Scores are computed from average ratings or scale-values of the individual items under respective variables. Table 1 shows that the score: 1-2 indicates lower level of stress, score: above 2-3 shows moderate level of stress, higher level of stress is shown by score: above 3-4 and score: above 4-5 reveals very high level of stress.

The behavioural symptoms of stress depend on several factors like adaptability, smoking habits, intake of alcohol, decision making ability, ability to communicate, etc. Table 1 shows the distribution of behavioural symptoms of stress among the respondents.

Table 1. Behavioural symptoms of stress among the respondents

Scores	Frequency	Percentage
1—below 2	46	46
2—below 3	23	23
3—below 4	17	17
4—5	14	14
Total	100	100

Fig 1: Behavioural symptoms of stress among the respondents

The above table reveals that 46% of the respondents suffer from lower level of behavioural symptoms of stress, 23% of the respondents exhibit moderate level of stress whereas 17% of the respondents show higher level of stress and only 14% of respondents show very high level of stress.

Table 2: Physical Symptoms of Stress among the Respondents

Scores	Frequency	Percentage
1—below 2	22	22
2—below 3	38	38
3—below 4	24	24
4—5	16	16
Total	100	100

Fig 2: Physical symptoms of stress among the respondents

It is found that 22% of the respondents show lower level of physical symptoms of stress (Table 2). The physical symptoms of stress consist of headaches, gastric trouble, back pain, migraine, Change in eating habits, pain in neck, difficulty in breathing, lack of concentration, anxiety, tension, fatigue, depression, dissatisfaction, drastic gain or loss of body weight, sleeplessness, nervousness, moodiness, etc. The above table shows that 38% of the respondents exhibit moderate level of physical symptoms of stress whereas 24% respondents show higher level of stress and only 16% shows very high level of stress.

Table 3: Psychological Symptoms of Stress among the Respondents

Scores	Frequency	Percentage
1—below 2	42	42
2—below 3	34	34
3—below 4	13	13
4—5	11	11
Total	100	100

Fig 3: Psychological symptoms of stress among the respondents

Again, regarding the psychological symptoms of stress, Table 3 shows that 42% respondents suffer from lower level of stress, 34% exhibit moderate level of stress, 13% shows higher level of stress and only 11% shows very high level of psychological symptoms of stress.

The psychological symptoms of stress are revealed through the following factors like loss of interest in activities, worthlessness, poor concentration, frustration, temper outburst, helplessness, etc

Table 4: Academic Stress Index of the Respondents.

Scores	Frequency	Percentage
1—below 2	17	17
2—below 3	43	43
3—below 4	26	26
4—5	14	14
Total	100	100

Fig 4: Academic Stress Index of the respondents

Academic Stress Index consists of factors related to academic overload, continuous poor performance, uncertain about job after completion of course, stress due to overcrowded lecture halls, high expectations from parents, teachers and self, lot of work burden due to assignments, projects and examination, difficulty in achieving social intimacy, relations with faculty members, time pressures, stress due to team work , lack of fair grading system, lack of pedagogical competence of professors, dissatisfaction with one’s department and college , lack of interest in a particular subject, punishment by teachers etc.

The table reveals that 17% of the respondents suffer from lower level of academic stress, 43% of the respondents suffer from moderate level of academic stress, whereas higher level of academic stress have been found 26% of the respondents. However, only 14% of the respondents show very high level of academic stress. Hence, we find that Academic Stress Index have significant impact on the respondents.

In higher learning institutions, students are likely to be the victims of stress. Identification of stressors among students helps the educational administrator, lecturers and supervisors to monitor and control the stress, anxiety and depression among students. This highlights the need for research to examine the sources of academic stress faced by students in various colleges. With such knowledge, educationists will be able to pay more attention to the sources of academic stress of students and the use of counselling measures to assist students in the sound development of their bodies and mind. Teachers often emphasize the acquisition of knowledge, so they often neglect the emotional feelings of students during the teaching process, which can cause emotional stress and learning problems for students.

6. STRESS MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS:

It is important to the society that students should learn and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills that will in turn make them contribute positively to the development of the general economy of any nation. It is important for the institutions to maintain well balanced academic environment conducive for better learning, with the focus on the students’ personal needs. Students have different expectations, goals, and values that they want to fulfil, which is only possible if the students’ expectations, goals, and values are integrated with that of the institution (Goodman, 1993). Stress management Techniques include self-management, conflict resolution, positive attitude, self-talk, breathing, meditation, exercise, diet and rest. Effective stress management also involves learning to set limits for the issues that create stress.

Interventions at student level:

· Effective time management

· Developing hobbies

· Positive attitude

· Family support

· Counselling

Interventions at institutional level:

· Restructure courses to reduce work load

· Career counselling

· Friendly environment

· Design and offer stress related courses

7. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS:

It can be concluded from the present study that 14% of respondents show very high level of behavioural symptoms of stress, 16% shows very high level of physical symptoms of stress and 11% shows very high level of psychological symptoms of stress. Academic Stress Index also have significant impact on the respondents. It is found that 43% of the respondents suffer from moderate level of academic stress, again higher level of academic stress have been found among 26% of the respondents and 14% of the respondents show very high level of academic stress. This is an alarming situation.

Identification of stressors among students should be crucial by the College administrators and teachers so as to monitor and mitigate the stress, anxiety and depression among students. Often, students feel that professors exert great power over their lives and they suffer in a state of ample powerlessness. The components of academics, in general, are curriculum and instruction, team work, assessment and placement. Among these components, curriculum and instruction aspects were found to be largely responsible for stress among the college students. Placement related issues are followed by assessment related matters and the team work issues.

A strong personality type can combat job anxiety better than a weaker one. Hence, institutions should arrange for personality development programmes periodically for the students. Apart from conventional education, professional, job specific and moral education should be introduced at institutions for overall grooming of the students. Choosing the right career course analyzing one’s strengths, weaknesses and area of interest can help to reduce academic stress to a great extent. A beginning may be made to help students for the right career planning. Frequent orientation programmes at the academic institutions may be one approach.

Yoga is the most effective source of man’s permanent satisfaction in life. It is the source of continuous well-being, a forum where moments of happiness can briefly appear. Practice of yoga develops an inner state of deep awareness in students to realize the meaning of life with the increase in their age. The practice of yoga optimizes the self-affirmation and self-care of the students as their age increases and balances the self-confidence, self-motivation, self-potency and interpersonal relations. Managing time intelligently can help one to maximize productivity. A student should learn when to say no, otherwise he will be in the danger of stretching himself too thin. Family support is very helpful for students faced with stress. While college students should take advantage of family support, their family members should try to understand their interests, specialties, and abilities so as to avoid having too much high expectations from them and thus causing them additional stress.

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Received on 31.08.2025 Revised on 25.09.2025

Accepted on 16.10.2025 Published on 11.05.2026

Available online from May 14, 2026

Asian Journal of Management. 2026;17(2):179-185.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2026.00028

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