AN ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

The study was designed to assess the influence of stress on academic achievement among undergraduate students in the university of Benin Edo state. In order to achieve the purpose intended for the study, three research questions were raised to guide the study. This study adopts a quantitative approach using a survey research design. The population of the study encompassed all undergraduate students currently enrolled at the University of Benin (UNIBEN). A total sample size of 120 respondents were randomly selected from the undergraduate students in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin. The stratified random sampling technique was employed. The research instrument used was a questionnaire titled the “Stress and Academic Achievement Scale (SAAS)”. The content of the instrument (questionnaire) was validated by the project supervisor and three other experts in the department of Educational Evaluation and Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education University of Benin. The Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which yielded a coefficient of 0.939. Questionnaires were used to collect data on students' perceived stress levels and academic achievement, The questionnaires were printed and administered physically by the researcher. The data collected were organized. Research question one and two were answered using basic statistic of simple percentage, mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses was tested using one sample t-test. This finding revealed that the prevalence of stress among undergraduate students in the University of Benin is on the high side. Factors such as that the number of courses they take every semester, use of different lecture halls, overcrowded nature of their class, number of students assigned to a room in the university hostel accommodation, insufficient seats in lecture halls, insufficient finance they receive from parents, lack of learning material and compression of semesters/sessions each time lecturers go on strike are the major sources of stress among undergraduate students in the University of Benin. It was recommended among others that Implementing stress management programs and workshops, improving the learning environment, provision of adequate learning materials and avoidance of reoccurring strike actions to help students cope with academic stress.