Academic Stress in the Final Years of School: A Systematic Literature Review
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Academic Stress in the Final Years of School: A Systematic Literature Review Viviana M. Wuthrich1 · Tess Jagiello1 · Vanessa Azzi1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Heightened academic stress in the final years of schooling is a common concern, yet little is known about how stress changes over time and what individual, school and family factors are associated with distress. We conducted a systematic review to examine the nature of distress in students in their final two years of secondary school. Sixty studies were eligible for inclusion. The main findings indicated severity of distress differed across the 17 countries sampled and measures used. There was some consistencies suggesting about 1 in 6 students experienced excessive distress. Female gender and anxiety proneness were consistently associated with increased distress, and freedom from negative cognitions with reduced distress. There was some evidence that individual characteristics (perfectionism, avoidance, coping, self-efficacy, resilience), lifestyle (sleep, homework), school, family and peer connectedness were associated with distress. Overall at-risk students can be predicted by theoretical models of anxiety and distress targeted with psychological interventions. Keywords Academic stress · Examinations · Senior school · Test anxiety · High stakes testing Academic stress is a common concern for youth; with tests, homework and grades being the biggest stressors reported by secondary school students [1, 2]. Academic stress in the final years of high school has received particular attention and has been found to be associated with very high levels of distress in large samples in Australia [e.g. 3], the Netherlands [4], the United Kingdom [e.g. 5], and the United States of America [6]. In these countries and others (e.g. broader Europe, East and South Asia, Canada) the final year or two years of school involves a series of examinations and the performance on these examinations forms the basis for an educational certificate, pre-university program, or university entrance scores. Due to the large contribution of examination performance on the overall mark (for example over 50% in Australia), these examinations are often referred to as high stakes tests, and these examinations seem to be particularly relevant to increased levels of stress reported by students [7–9]. Although there are many reports of heightened levels of distress in students in the final years of secondary school, little is known about the nature of this distress, whether it is * Viviana M. Wuthrich [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
excessive and what individual, school-based or family factors exacerbate or lessen this distress. This is an important issue for educators who are responsible for the wellbeing of students, but also because research indicates that heightened distress can impede academic performance [10]. It is also unclear whether th
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