CHAPTER II

(RRL) REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Stress is the process by which an individual or a person react when opened

to external or internal problems and challenges. "the organism processes
numerous systems to coordinate such adaptive responses both at systematic and
cellular levels "by this, stress has direct effect on the brain and the whole anatomy
of the body as such failure to adapt to a stressful condition can result in brain
malfunction, physiological problem and also many areas of psychological
challenge's in the form of depression, anxiety, pain and burnout.

Physiologically, stress-related diseases in the form reproduction,

cardiovascular, metabolism and gastrointestinal diseases are determined by great
areas of genetic and developmental factors which are different from a person to a
person but also symptoms of this disease may be similar sometimes among
individuals (Hellhammer&Hellhammer 2008. vii).

Stress is also because of the pressure that comes from the people around
us. Parents, teachers, friends and people around our community are also the
source of the stress because of them we feel pressure.

According to (Wheeler 2007,2), stress is physics word which refers to the

amount of force used on an object and it relates in real life as to how certain issues
that carry force applied to human life. Examples financial difficulties, health
challenge issues, conflicts with friends, all carry force or pressure on person's body
-mind and spirit. Some of the pressure or force originate from the environment but
most often comes from within a person's head in the form of worry, anxiousness,
regret, discouragement and low confidence.

Therefore, stress is basically force applied to a person and may result in a

strain which is as a result of an unmanaged stress that is when a person is not
able to handle a challenge or problem encountered strain result. To some people,
the effect is minimal which means they are able to endure pressure whiles in others
the effect is enormous and have an adverse effect.

Stress is explained by (Pargman 2006, 5) as “An uncertain reaction to

external and internal factors” that means a negative or positive reaction to
environmental stimuli. In this regard, it is how the totality of your body relate to
changes and unfamiliar situations that present itself in the course of time.

In some cases, associating and unique in others. While one can say that
each stress factor has immediate effects, each can also have side effects. For
example, time pressure limits the time available for the success of a particular task.
This limit is a physical limit that does not require psychological explanation to
sympathize with its immediate effects on achieving performance. This limitation,
however, often causes an emotional reaction, for example nervousness that has
side effects or indirect effects on success.

Given the effort of unravelling these two extensions and scarcity in which
this was done in the main literature (Trockel et al., 2000). While Baumeister and
Exline (2000) description of stress provides a complex concept of stress, it says
little about how stress affects human academic and other performance. There is
important variation between researchers about the direct and indirect properties of
several suppose different factors which have to create stress in any situation.
Direct stress special effects are those experienced by the mission capacity alone
unrelatedly of any psychological International Journal of Learning and
Development ISSN, stress that may also be generated.

Stress is developed because of the overload task to do. In school like school
requirements, school assignments, school task, school responsibilities, extra-
curricular activities and so many more. In house also like house hold works, your
parents and more.

According to Rees and Redfern (2000) indirect stress effects are developed
from psychological stressors related to task load requirements. There is an
acceptable line that is mutual with these two, and they can sometimes not be
distinguished. This fact made their departure and measurement extremely difficult.
Ashcraft and Kirk (2001) shows that students with high stress tend to be slower
and more considerate in their action of various aspects of specialized purposes.
For example, these persons give the impression to have particular difficulty with
the carryover role. With the connection between this function and work memory,
scientists have imagined that the extra stress present in highly nervous subjects
probably withdraws resources that can then be used in work memory for activation
and rehearsal as needed for the carrying operation.

Although it has been challenged that high stress individuals may simply be
less qualified to be subject to inability and not stress different studies have given
an indication that professional competence is not satisfactory to explain the
phenomena. Instead, it has directed our sympathetic towards resource reduction
models. Specifically, it has been said that concern and disturbing thoughts
compete for the limited pool of resources.

Student in school faced what we call academic stress because of various

type of school stress. When a student faced academic stress they can’t perform
well in school, they can’t think well and act well in school because of stress. Some
student involves multiple systems, from breakdown to muscles to memory because
of stress.

According to Tepas and Price (2001), stress can be viewed as, an agent,
circumstance, situation, or variable that disturbs the normal functioning of the
individual. Many students show poor performance in school because of various
types of school stress e.g. academic stress, teachers, friends, time pressures,
parents’ expectations and bullies (Scott, 2011). Academic stress is a significant
source of stress for many students (Hashim, 2003),

Academic stress is the product of a combination of academic related

demands that exceed the adaptive resources available to an individual. If a student
is unable to cope effectively with academic stress, then serious psycho-social-
emotional health consequences may result (Scott, 2008).

Some academic stress is normal for students, new stressors may arise
because of exposure to new educational concepts for the first time on their life
(such as mass media, internet, computer and so on), adjusting to new social
setting (for example, change in medium of instruction, changing of residence,
migration, peers pressure and shifting from one school to another one) and taking
on a larger workload. Too much academic stress can contribute to depression,
anxiety and physical illness (including headache and stomach ulcer) which can in
turn negatively affect academic performance (Dedeyn, 2008). During this stage of
life, the young ones are under the influence of peers. This dependency and
belongingness to peer group can have negative effects on individual leading to
disturbed interpersonal relation with parents which may leads to disturbed
emotional relationships, increased aggression, depression, stress and anxiety
which in turn may affect their academic performance. Present study aims at
studying the high school children in Iran, because these adolescents are exposed
to new subjects for the first time, (e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Geometry, Algebraand
so on) and in the process of learning and mastering the subject contents may
create new set of stresses and anxieties. Further, type of school (school
environment), teacher’s factor, and changes in medium instruction, parental
pressures and expectations (to excel in the class) may result in academic stress
in the students.

Increased interest and excessive use of computer, internet, mobile, mass

media, spending more time for these and less time for academic activity may play
an important role in increasing stress and depression. Adolescence is also the age
of schooling. In this period (special between 15-17) students think more about the
college, they have to move based on their parent’s expectations, because most of
the parents tend their children enter to the medical science, law and engineering
colleges.

Therefore, it needs hard efforts from the students to meet the parent’s
expectations and this may lead to stress in the students. The above factors
cumulatively may result in severe stress, depression, poor coping strategies and
low self-efficacy in these students, leading to neglect of academics, poor academic
performance and sometimes resulting in school dropout.
 Academic performance is the educational aim that is achieved by a student,
teacher or institution achieves over a specific time. The academic performance of
students heavily depends upon the parental involvement in their academic
activities to attain the higher level of quality in academic success. The students are
quite emotional especially females. They are take stress in everything at school
level.

A lot of factor that influence in their study like present pressure, teacher’s
attitude towards their study, home strictness, future and job tensions (Hussain et
al., 2012). Arnett (1999) pointed out that adolescent’s experience stress and
disturbance more than any other age group. Many different things can cause
physical stress, such as fear of something dangerous or emotional, such as
concern about your family or work and a poor outcome in the study. This is a
reaction to things around you that cause stress (Manuel et al., 2003). It is important
to note that stress can have both negative and positive impact on students. Most
psychologists assert that moderate stress motives individuals to achieve and fuels
creativity, although stress may hinder individuals from performance on the difficult
task. (Nelson & Simmons, 2003). Stress impact on the emotional and physical
behavior of persons. It is perceived as events or situations that reason individuals
to feel tension, pressure, or negative emotions (Bernstein et al., 2008).

According to Bandura (2001) it is possible to learn an assignment and yet

perform poorly in it. Academic success impact on the students because when you
get success in their academic achievements then students feel relax and full
confidence in their study. Other factors, other than the learning process and
suffering have the potential of influencing academic performance on tasks.
According to Tepas and Price (2001), stress can be viewed as, an agent,
circumstance, situation, or variable that disturbs the normal functioning of the
individual.

Stress is also understood as an effect that is the troubled state itself. This
branching of meaning is doubtfully the most fundamental source of the confusion
surrounding the stress concept. The stress reaction can only arise if the person
perceives the circumstance or assignments as a stressor. Various demands or
stimuli may be referred to as a stressor and may be emotionally or psychological
in nature. Individuals perceive events differently, and the same event may cause
different stress responses from different people.

Academic performance is the educational aim that is achieved by a student,

teacher or institution achieves over a specific time. Academic performance
depends on the school, teacher and staff management. This is measured either
by examinations or continuous assessments and the goal may differ from an
individual or institution to another. Especially teachers play the main role in the
academic achievement.

Academic achievement is a period used in school when a student does well

in academic’s performance. Academic performance is the successes which
demand from parent’s family and friends. They achieve or do well in an area of the
school and do well in their studies. Academic performance is not only degree it is
the identification of any students. All the successes in every field of life depend on
the academic achievement.

The academic performance of students seriously depends upon the

parental involvement in their academic activities and to achieving the advanced
level of excellence in academic success (Barnard, 2004). Learning process
depends on the learning and experiencing for academic achievement (McKenzie
et al., 2004).

Stress, on the other hand, is described as a stress that a person suffers for
a long time due to a situation that has not been resolved. This is sometimes seen
in students, but not as often as acute stress.

Stress experienced over a long term can effect human health and create
conditions such as heart disease or stomach ulcers (Dahlin et al., 2005). Stress
effects on the different situation to the students in their study. Because students
have different capacity to face the tough situation in their study. The environmental
conditions, one’s reaction to the event, and the emotional response to the demand
are the major components of stress (Fliege et al., 2005).

Literature has shown that there is a strong relationship between stress and
high school students’ performance (Ross, Neibling, Heckert, 1999). Normally,
Stress is caused by environmental and internal demands that need to be managed
in order to cope with the situation. These environmental and internal demands may
be unique to each individual.

Academic workload or workload of school works is the most common things

source of stress and one of the most powerful sources of stress because it brings
pressure to the student.
 “The academic workload requires that students face a series of peak
periods such as finals, there is a relatively constant underlying pressure to
complete an upcoming assignment” (Hudd, Dumlao, Erdmann, Murray, Phan,
Soukas, & Yokozuka, 2000). “Woking hours and workload were identified to be
the powerful source of stress” (Tiwali and Balani 2013,p.29).

Stress effects so many things on us especially on students its makes them

pressured. Stress damages their body not only their body but also their brain.
Stress experienced over a long term can effect human health and create conditions
such as heart disease or stomach and ulcers (Dahlin et al., 2005). That’s why we
need to go out sometimes, hangout with friends or family and exercise our body to
reduce stress, manage stress and to overcome stress. Managing stress is
important to stay healthy because by managing stress like calming yourself or
taking a deep breath it reduce the stress inside our body. “Breathing from your
diaphragm oxygenates your blood, which helps you relax almost instantly,” says
Robert Cooper, PhD,