Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Academic stress from the viewpoint of Iranian adolescents: A qualitative study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Zahra Hosseinkhani
. Saharnaz Nedjat
. Hamid Reza Hassanabadi
. Mahboubeh Parsaeian

Department of Educational Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Academic stress is one of the major affecting factors on adolescent health.
This study investigates adolescents’ view about the sources of academic stress, with which their
identification could be used for the reduction of adolescent academic stress.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted with Directional Content Analysis
methodology. Semi‑structured interview methods were used for data collection. Participants were
students aged 12–18 years old. Purposeful sampling with Opportunistic Maximum Variation Method
was performed in terms of type of schools, socioeconomic classes, and gender of students. A total
of 43 interviews and were conducted by two interviewers.
RESULTS: A total of 173 codes, 11 subcategories, and 5 categories were extracted as academic
stressors. The categories included family factors (32 codes); peers (18 codes); teachers, school
supervisors, and educational system (72 codes); homework and test scores (32 codes); and
educational assistance classes (19 codes).
CONCLUSION: This study showed that students have different sources of academic stress. Awareness
of their source of stress can help parents and teachers to revise their treat about students’ function
and policymaker to provide better planning and management for students.


Keywords

Academic stress
adolescents
content analysis
Iran
qualitative study
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 9, Issue 1
January 2019
Pages 1-7

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