Stress in the Educational Environment and Its Impact on Academic Success and Psychological Well-Being of Learners

Introduction

World Health Organisation reports in recent years have regularly stated an increase in the prevalence of mental disorders among pupils and students. Researchers note that the high school and university years represent a period when stress often outstrips the resources that support well-being and serve as a buffer against a variety of problems (academic, personal, family, professional). A student’s quality of life and psychological well-being during the university period can serve as significant predictors of future professional productivity (Samokhvalova et al., 2023). The results of empirical studies unequivocally indicate serious negative consequences of stress on academic performance, motivation, and the well-being of students across different levels of education, as well as its broader implications, which are critical to both educational practice in general and the positive functioning of each learner more specifically.

Both foreign and domestic psychology bodies have accumulated considerable experience that requires theoretical understanding and practical verification concerning various concepts of stress in education, as well as an analysis of the role of personal and regulatory resources in overcoming student academic stress. Taken together, these findings underscore the relevance of studying psychological well-being and resources necessary for its maintenance in learners at all levels of education.

The purpose of this article is to analyse modern approaches to the study of stress in the academic environment, as well as the mechanisms through which it affects academic performance and the psychological well-being of learners in contemporary educational conditions. Additionally, the study aimed to identify promising future directions of research concerning the study of psychological resources that support academic performance and help maintain psychological well-being in stressful educational contexts. To this end, we examined prominent approaches to assessing and understanding student stress and analysed the results of current research on the impact of stress in relation to contemporary educational conditions (including the development of distance technologies). Finally, we outline areas of further research in this direction along with conceptual and methodological difficulties pertaining to research in this area.

The Concept of Stress in the Educational Environment

Many stressors characteristic of the educational environment has led researchers to identify a specific type of stress - academic stress. At present, there is no unified understanding of academic stress. This is the reason for contradictory research results and differences in the description of academic stress phenomenology by each respective author. Some researchers use the term, academic stress to refer to a stimulus or learning situation that causes anxiety. Others use the term to refer to a reaction, a subjective experience, or an emotional state that may be accompanied by feelings of anxiety and/or worry (e.g., ‘I am stressed because I am worried about failing an exam’). Another field of research examines academic stress through the lens of learners' psychological resources for coping with difficult learning situations, defining it as a mental state of tension initiated by an individual's relationships within the educational environment when the degree of negative impact exceeds the individual's adaptive resources (Konrad et al., 2021). The World Health Organisation defines academic stress as a specific way in which learners perceive events and situations arising in the learning process as threatening, resulting in anxiety, worry or fear. Academic stress is most often defined as a learner's psychological reaction to various learning difficulties that are subjectively perceived as exceeding their individual resources, cognitive or personal, for managing the challenging situation. This anxious reaction is accompanied by biochemical, physiological, cognitive and behavioural changes (Harahap et al., 2022). It should be emphasised that these challenging circumstances are stressogenic in and of themselves, as they are accompanied by a loss of resource reserves, which compounds the stress (Hobfoll et al., 2006). Academic stress occurs at any level of education, but the most sensitive periods for its occurrence are transition periods such as the transition to high school education and the adaptation to university education.

Along with the notion of academic stress, researchers use the term exam stress to refer to those circumstances of knowledge assessment. Examinations are considered one of the most common sources of acute stress for learners. Depletion of psychological resources associated with the impact of this stressor can lead to the emergence of mental disorders including suicidal behaviour. Statistics indicate an increase in suicidal behaviour among students during exam periods (Reddy et al., 2018). The factors specific to academic and exam stress and the extent to which they may overlap are not clearly defined in the literature (Putwain et al., 2023). As exams relate to a particular type of learning activity, exam stress can be seen as a subtype or context-dependent form of academic stress. Studies have shown that some learners are negatively affected by exam stress even during the exam preparation stage and report tension during study sessions (Connor, 2003).

Domestic researchers consider academic stress as a psychological phenomenon that manifests itself in different responses with a variety of avenues for resolving the resulting stress in situations of risk and uncertainty (Semina, Fedorova, 2023). At the same time, it is noted that if there are sufficient resources stress, in a certain forms, can positively affect the learning process. Indeed, learning activities are content-neutral, but learning situations can have subjective significance: what is a stressful event for one learner may act as a motivating and activating personal resources for another (Matyushkina, 2016; Semina, Fedorova, 2023; Córdova, et al., 2023). However, excessive, repetitive experiences of academic stress can deplete resources and negatively impact a learner's psychological well-being and academic achievement (D'Mello, 2013; Shannon et al., 2019).

Sources, Factors and Manifestations of Stress in the Educational Environment

The systematisation of stress factors in the educational environment is a pressing research concern that remains incomplete. The sources of stress in the educational environment include assessment procedures, excessive study load, difficulties in self-organisation and time management, parents' exaggerated expectations regarding academic performance, low social skills, competition among peers, financial constraints, difficulties in balancing academic and personal responsibilities. Learning conditions such as crowded classrooms, rigid assessment practices, and inadequate educational resources also contribute to stress and so on. Additionally, fear of failure undermines learners’ self-esteem and confidence. There have been attempts to systematise these stressors (Reddy et al., 2018; Ibda et al., 2023). Researchers have identified the most pronounced external factors associated with educational stress among high school pupils and university students and have categorized them into four main groups according to learning context.

The first group includes assessment circumstances such as exams, quizzes, tests, and project presentations. The second group includes factors associated with academic workload, teaching methodology and administrative and pedagogical factors such as rich curricula, innovative teaching methods, use of distance technologies, and extracurricular courses and so on. Academic stress in this context manifests itself when learners feel overwhelmed by academic tasks and find it difficult to fulfil academic requirements. Some researchers highlight the concept of innovation stress, noting that while the introduction of innovative practices is intended to reduce the impact of academic stress, at the stage of implementation, these same factors can become a source of stress (Arpentieva et al., 2020). The third group of stress factors affecting academic performance and psychological well-being include changes in the learning environment during the transition to a higher level of education, for example, when entering university or changing educational institutions (Morosanova et al., 2023). For example, students in their first years of study must cope with both intensive work loads directly related to learning as well as new systems of social relations. These factors can cause long-term maladaptation and in some cases provoke emotional disorders and increase suicidal risks (Kholmogorova et al. 2009; Hirai et al. 2015). The fourth group include various factors related to social relations including teacher-pupil, or professor-student, as well as relations with peers. Additionally, expectations of family members regarding the academic achievements of the learner represent stress factors (de la Fuente et al., 2020).

Thus, the external factors that cause academic stress are diverse and relate to various aspects of the organization of the learning process (Connor, 2003). At the same time, examinations are considered the most significant source of academic stress, and the learner's subjective attitude towards them can influence the entire learning process long before their direct participation (Denovan, Macaskill, 2013; Bob et al., 2014).

With regard to internal factors, researchers highlight individual learner characteristics that instil a vulnerability for academic stress under certain learning conditions including low levels of self-efficacy and self-regulation, anxiety, low achievement motivation, difficulties in self-organisation and time management, underdeveloped social skills, difficulties in establishing a balance between study and personal life, fear of failure leading to low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence (Harahap et al.,2022).

With regard to symptomatology indicative of academic stress in learners, four broad groups of directly observable manifestations are usually distinguished: (1) behavioural (e.g. a desire to do anything but study for the exam; deterioration of sleep, decreased appetite; avoidance of even the slightest reminder of studying); (2) cognitive (e.g. decreased memory, absent-mindedness); (3) emotional (e.g. feeling of general malaise, fear, uncertainty, anxiety, irritability); (4) physiological (e.g. headaches, nausea, muscle tension, deepened and rapid breathing). This set of symptoms can be observed in both acute and chronic forms (Leonova, 2007).

Thus, there are objective factors in learning activities that are correlated with academic stress in learners, especially where there exists a lack of psychological resources to manage these demands. These are factors that are primarily associated with the preparation for and completion of examinations, the pressure to achieve educational goals, difficulty coping with large academic workloads, and time constraints. Most pupils and students report experiencing the greatest stress loads during routine tests, as well as current and interim assessments. Research concerning psychological resources for overcoming academic stress is undoubtedly important, given the potential risk of somatisation and diminished educational performance.

Peculiarities of Stress Influence on Academic Performance of Pupils and Students

Stress has a multifaceted impact on the academic success of both high school pupils and university students. Researchers point to stress as the most significant barrier to academic achievement in young people (American College Health Association, 2018; Konrad et al., 2023). However, academic stress can elicit both these negative effects but also positive, mobilising effects that lead to academic success. This discrepancy arises from various factors, such as the sources of stress, individual coping resources, and gender characteristics. For example, compared to young men, female students typically exhibit higher levels of evaluative and personality anxiety, despite showing no significant differences in academic performance (e.g., Núñez-Peña et al., 2016). Gender differences have also been observed in relation to coping styles and strategies utilized to reduce stress (Graves et al., 2021). These findings emphasise the importance of developing strategies in educational institutions to help learners cope with stress and harness it to enhance academic achievement.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that elevated stress levels are significantly associated with lower academic performance, positioning stress as key predictor of academic failure among learners across various ages (Pascoe et al., 2020). Learners who report that stress affected their academic performance were found to have lower grade point averages (GPA), as well as reduced levels of self-efficacy, resilience and perceived social support. Systematic reviews have further emphasised the effects of increased learner stress and elevated levels of perceived stress with lower GPA (Konrad et al., 2021). Samples of Russian pupils show different trends. For example, Russian pupils with higher levels of learning stress have higher academic performance, but higher suicide risk scores (Symanyuk et al., 2019).

Recent domestic studies have demonstrated the stressogenic effects of final state examinations on pupils (Kostromina, Pisarev, 2017; Letfullina, Lukovtseva, 2016; Pavlenko, Bochaver, 2020). Notably, elevated levels of exam related anxiety are observed in high school pupils not only immediately prior to exams, but also throughout the entire final academic year. Worries associated with the preparation for state exams provoke significant stress and hinder students’ ability to successful pass these exams. It is important to distinguish between the concepts of exam stress and exam anxiety. Exam stress is a generalised response to situations involving knowledge testing and assessment, whereas exam anxiety is a more prolonged reaction over time and encompasses various testing situations and the preparatory period leading up to them. If stress is primarily associated with physiological reactions (such as increased heart rate, dizziness, increased sweating), then anxiety is characterized by unstable emotional states, heightened excitability and expectations of negative outcomes and evaluations (Kostromina, Pisarev, 2017). The negative impact of evaluation anxiety on the reliability of learning actions and the result of the final exam is demonstrated in the studies by Morosanova and Filippova (2019).

Peculiarities of Stress Influence on Psychological Well-being of Pupils and Students

Within contemporary frameworks for studying stress in pupils and students, researchers highlight the challenge of maintaining psychological well-being. It has been observed that during the student years, processes such as professional self-determination, and the construction of a future self- image, crucial for personality development, often coincide with increased anxiety and decreased life satisfaction (e.g., Wunsch et al., 2017; Wuthrich et al., 2020).

Systematic reviews examining the relationship between quality of life and student stress consistently report a negative association between these phenomena, highlighting the impact of stress on both physical health and psychological well-being on student samples (Ribeiro et al., 2017). These effects are found to occur independent of age, gender or socio-economic status.

Definitions of well-being in psychology are broad and relatively unclear, so its conceptualization in the context of various educational environments is therefore diverse (Bailey, Phillips, 2016; Joing et al., 2020; Denovan, Macaskill, 2017; Soykan et al., 2019). Given the diverse perspectives and multifaceted nature of psychological well-being and its definitions, researchers have tended to focus on different aspects of this phenomenon, resulting in a diminishment of unity and clarity in the examination of learner well-being. (Amholt et al., 2020). According to the theory of well-being proposed by Dodge et al. (2012), well-being is defined as the point of balance between an individual's stock of resources and the challenges they face. This conceptualization of well-being leads to viewing the presence of sufficient psychological resources in pupils and students as a necessary condition for resolving problematic academic situations, thereby, preserving well-being and preventing the negative impact of academic stress.

Regarding the relevance of age specific-factors and the impact of stress and well-being on academic success, researchers identify the most sensitive period for such stress impact as being from 16 to 23 years old (Linden, Stuart, 2020). Indeed, high school pupils and university students are more likely to experience excessive stress due to the competitive environment of higher education, academic demands, financial concerns, worries about future careers and close relationships (MacKean et al., 2011). Academic stress among students has been linked, by researchers, to increased symptoms of somatic diseases (Miczo et al., 2006); poorer mental health (Eisenberg et al., 2007), diminished sleep quality, (Taylor et al., 2013); alcohol, nicotine and drug abuse (Kingsbury et al., 2015); and decreased life satisfaction scores (Holinka, 2015; Klainin-Yobas et al., 2021).

Recent studies have found that students represent a very high-risk group for the onset of mental disorders (Alharbi, Smith, 2018). The impact of perceived stress on psychological well-being is complex and dependant on internal and external personality resources including coping skills and social support. Moreover, psychological well-being is an important personal resource that contributes to the development of adaptive coping strategies for academic stress (Freire et al., 2016; Barbayannis et al., 2022; Slimmen et al., 2022).

Personality traits also influence the relationship between an individual’s perception of stress and their psychological well-being. A significant positive relationship was found between self-critical perfectionism, depression and stress symptoms (Huang, Mussap, 2018). Students who are open to new experiences and environments have been observed to experience significantly less stress and better adapt to new learning environments (Hirai et al., 2015).

The challenge of maintaining psychological well-being while coping with stress in educational settings received pronounced academic attention during the coronavirus pandemic. At this time, studies of domestic sample groups allowed researchers to document changes in the structure of relationships between meaning categories in the consciousness of students, which serves as an indicator of social confusion, identity diffusion, disorientation in the perception of time. These changes often lead to problems with goal setting, defining meaning and self-vision (Tikhomirova, Samokhvalova, 2021). Studies conducted within the social context of pandemic-imposed self-isolation, restricted mobility, changes in interpersonal communication and the shift to online education demonstrated that uncertainty, with respect to either distant or near future concerns, emerged as a significant stressor under these conditions. Numerous studies indicate that stress from uncertainty can contribute more to the development of mental disorders and dysfunctional states in the student age group than stressors directly related to academic demands or immediate life circumstances. High uncertainty, frustrates efforts to establish security and stability which risks reducing an individual’s psychological well-being, increasing their social vulnerability, and may contribute to a decrease in self-efficacy and self-regulation (Zinchenko et al., 2021).

Various resources, ranging from physical activity to social support, are suggested as strategies to help pupils and students cope with academic stress. Regular physical activity has been shown to have a preventive effect and help reduce the negative health effects of academic stress by improving sleep quality, well-being and emotional resilience (Wunsch, 2017). Furthermore, social activity, group projects, team sports and participation in student associations are found to have a positive effect on psychological well-being and help to reduce academic stress (Altaher, Runnerstrom, 2018). Training programmes designed to build stress management skills have been shown to be effective for students with existing stress symptoms over the short-term (Alborzkouh et al., 2015).

Psychological Resources for Coping with Academic Stress and Maintaining Well-being

Broadly speaking, psychological resources are those individual psychological characteristics that can be consciously used by an individual to achieve certain goals. In the context of stress, resources help individuals resist various stressful influences, support well-being, and provide support for goal achievement (Hobfoll, 2011). There are various classifications of resources, but in the context of this study, the most relevant are internal (cognitive, personal, regulatory) resources that contribute to coping with stressful situations. These resources focus on a relatively wide range of characteristics including resilience, self-efficiency, psychological capital, optimism, tolerance to uncertainty and so on. Recent studies increasingly highlight that conscious self-regulation is a significant factor in overcoming academic stress (Morosanova, 2021; de la Fuente et al., 2020).

Conscious self-regulation is a reflexive psychological tool that includes a system of regulatory competences that operate at both the operational-cognitive (planning, modelling, programming, evaluation of results) and the regulatory-personal (flexibility, autonomy, responsibility and reliability) levels (Morosanova, 2021). These competences, in turn, mobilise primary mental processes and states (cognitive, personal, emotional) and can act as means of integrating other types of educational resources designed to overcome academic stress. In this sense, conscious self-regulation is a controlling meta-resource that mediates the influence of external and internal resources on the achievement of various learning goals.

Thus, it has been shown that self-regulation is positively associated with greater resilience, the adoption of problem-solving and stress-oriented strategies, and that a high level of self-regulation development reduces the perception of stressors (de la Fuente et al., 2020). Therefore, higher levels of self-regulation act as a protective factor while lower levels are a risk factor for stress. Additionally, it has been found that student self-regulation, in conjunction with external emotional support by an instructor, has a direct impact on effectively coping with stress factors in university students (de la Fuente et al., 2020). Moreover, a significant number of studies have documented a negative relationship between self-regulation of learning activities and academic stress. These effects were particularly evident in studies conducted during the pandemic among students from various countries (Harahap et al., 2022).

It has also been found in domestic studies that the higher the conscious self-regulation, the easier it is for students to cope with anxiety and self-organisation difficulties associated with uncertainty (Morosanova et al., 2021). Empirical data indicates that the higher the level emotional regulation competences in students, the greater their educational opportunities (Morosanova, 2021). Furthermore, a higher level of self-regulation in high school pupils is found to fulfil a compensatory function in the presence of diminished academic motivation. Both specific and universal regulatory resources among learners are found to support the achievement of academic goals in conditions of exam stress (Morosanova, Phillipova, 2019). Remote predictive effects of conscious self-regulation on exam results in secondary school have also been established (Fomina et al., 2022). Findings confirming that conscious self-regulation acts as a meta-resource in the system of significant non-cognitive predictors of learners' success and reliability in exam testing situations have been substantiated. Emotional regulation skills also provide support in overcoming some of the limitations attributed to personality-temperamental characteristics, mediating the influence of assessment anxiety on exam results (Fomina et al., 2020).

Within the resource-based approach, it has been found that conscious self-regulation not only contributes directly to academic achievement but also mediates the influence of cognitive and personality predictors on academic achievement (Morosanova et al., 2023). Longitudinal studies have found that the higher the level of pupils' perceived self-regulation in elementary and middle school, the more likely they are to be successful in in high school both in terms of academic achievement and wellbeing. Furthermore, studies of self-regulation, within the broader system of key predictors of academic achievement and well-being, have substantiated its role as a meta-resource. The development of psychological resources that enable learners to successfully pass exams is also closely related to the development of conscious self-regulation of learning activity, defined as the ability to independently and responsibly set learning goals and manage their achievement. It is shown that the reliability of conscious self-regulation acts as a psychological basis for the reliability of learners' actions in situations of knowledge testing under stress and serves as a universal regulatory resource that ensures the reliability of learners’ during exams (Morosanova, Filippova, 2019). The level conscious self-regulation development is a long-term predictor of academic performance and a significant resource for exam success among pupils in secondary school (Fomina et al., 2022; Morosanova et al., 2023).

Analysis of academic stress factors and their influence on the well-being and academic success of learners supports the proposition that applying the theory of conscious self-regulation as a meta-resource for achieving learning goals is a productive framework for understanding academic stress. This approach allows for the consideration of not only individual external and internal resources, but also their synergistic interaction in coping with academic stress.

Conclusion

This study provides the basis for the following conclusions and research recommendations concerning the challenges of stress in educational settings.

1. The broad prevalence of stress in the educational environment has led to the identification of a special kind of stress - academic stress - defined as a psychological reaction and state of tension experienced by learners, caused by various factors associated with the learning process. This reaction is accompanied by biochemical, physiological, cognitive and behavioural changes.

2. The emergence of stress in the educational environment is associated with specific factors that relate to a broad range of situations and conditions of both an objective and subjective nature. Today there is no exhaustive systematisation of stress factors within the educational environment. Researchers highlight that the primary stressors for learners include factors associated with examinations, excessive learning loads, diminished time management skills, poor social relations and adverse competition among peers. Understanding stress factors and the mechanisms that influence learners will allow for the development of effective psychological support strategies for learners.

3. A relevant direction of modern theoretical and applied research is the study of stress within the academic environment, and its impact on the psychological well-being and academic success of modern learners. Stress exerts a multifaceted impact on various indicators of academic performance such as grade point averages and exam results. At the same time, stress can have both a negative and a mobilising effect on academic achievement, depending on various factors. One of the conditions for mobilising a learner in a stressful situation is the availability of resources to overcome it, along with the ability to manage the short-term impact of stress.

4. It has been found that stress not only has a negative impact on the most important indicators concerning the quality of learning, but its manifestation also significantly reduces quality of life, increases the risk of mental and somatic diseases and may lead to maladaptive interpersonal interaction. These effects have been established among pupils and students at varying levels of education. To reduce stress and improve psychological well-being, it is important to understand how different sources of stress are related to psychological well-being and what factors can mitigate their effects.

5. The study of psychological resources that provide stability and reliability in life activities under stressful conditions is a highly relevant area of research in modern educational psychology. Of relevance is the study of meta-resources, which integrates resources from different levels to resist various stressors. One of the most important areas of focus is examining the meta-resource role of conscious self-regulation in achieving educational goals, particularly in coping with stress and maintaining psychological well-being within the educational environment.

Author Contributions

F.T. designed and directed the project; V.M. developed the theoretical framework; F.T. and F.E. drafted the manuscript and further developed the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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