Academic Stress

Purpose: Covid-19 pandemic increased the use of e-learning and the ensuing academic stress. This research aims to study the relationship between e-learning induced academic stress and academic self-efficacy in the Yazd branch of Payame Noor University in Iran. Methodology: This is a descriptive-correlational study. The study population was the Yazd branch of Payme Noore University students in the 2020-21 academic year. Cochran’s formula gave us a sample size of 319 people. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the unavailability of some of the sample members, we used voluntary sampling. Our research tools were the academic stress scale (Pooladi Reyshahri, 1995) and the academic self-efficacy scale (Owen and Froman, 1988). We sent the scale to the subjects electronically. The scales’ alpha Cronbach reliabilities were 0.90 and 0.84, respectively. We analyzed the data using the T-test, correlation, and regression in SPSS version 21. Findings: Our findings showed that e-learning induced academic stress, and its subscales (academic conditions and economic environment stresses) were significantly below average in the students. Students’ academic stress and academic self-efficacy were significantly and inversely related. Academic stress could significantly explain self-efficacy (P < .001). Conclusion: Our results showed the negative role of academic stress in explaining students’ academic self-efficacy. Reducing students' academic stressors through academic workshops can significantly increase academic self-efficacy.

Purpose: The present research was done to determine the effectiveness of training process mental stimulation on academic procrastination and academic stress of gifted students. Methodology: The present quasi-experimental study was done with a pretest posttest design and follow-up along with a control group. The research population consisted of high school gifted students in academic year 2019-2020. The research sample included 30 students, who were chosen through multistage cluster sampling method, and assigned into two equal groups as treatment and control via randomization. The treatment group was trained for nine sessions of 90 min (one session per week) through process mental simulation training method, while the control group did not receive such training during this time. The data were collected through academic procrastination scale (Solomon and Rothblum, 1984) and academic stress (Zajacova and et al., 2005), and then analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS-19 software. Findings: The results revealed that the treatment and control group differed significantly with each other in the posttest and follow-up stages. In other words, the process mental simulation training resulted in diminished academic procrastination and academic stress of gifted students, and the results were also preserved in the follow-up stage (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results indicated the effectiveness of process mental simulation training on academic procrastination and academic stress of gifted students in post-test and follow-up stages. Thus, the education experts can use the mentioned method alongside other effective methods for reducing the academic procrastination and academic stress of students.