A psychological study of factors causing mental stress in school students

Abstract

Background: School education systematically shapes the infant character created at home, preschool, or in the social environment, imparts basic skills to the child, and prepares them for the future. Through school education, the child gets a basic education about knowledge, training, feelings, thoughts, activities, etc. Although there are many reasons for the need for the child to be physically and mentally healthy, it can be seen that many school students today are mentally stressed. However, when reviewing the existing literature, it appears that although research is being conducted on this, there is no study primarily on the context of factors that cause mental stress in school students. The main problem of this research is to confirm what are the factors that cause mental stress in school students. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that cause mental stress in school students, analyze those factors psychologically, and provide guidelines for reducing stress. Method: Accordingly, a sample of 150 students in the 11th grade of Siddhartha Central College, belonging to the Wellampitiya education zone in the Colombo district, was selected under the random sampling method. The mixed method was used as the study methodology, and formal data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Secondary data were collected from score reports obtained from the school, magazines, research papers, and attendance reports. Results: As the results of this research, a large number of students, i.e., about 70% (n=47) of students, wake up at 4:00 a.m., and about 40% (n=27) of them go to bed after 11:00 p.m.. Thus, looking at the time between waking up and going to bed, it was emphasized that students become mentally stressed due to lack of sufficient sleep. Another result of this research is that when considering the hobbies of these students, the hobby of a large number of students, i.e., about 60% (n=40), is reading books. Accordingly, it was identified that students become stressed due to not having time for hobbies. Moreover, it became clear that students become stressed based on classroom activities. That is, factors such as the noisiness of the classroom and students not being appreciated were revealed as factors that cause stress to students in the classroom. Conclusion: The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that multiple factors affect students' mental stress. That is, factors related to home and school, and factors related to the teacher can be identified. Suggestions: Accordingly, the suggestions presented through this study to the decision-making parties to relieve children from mental stress are that parents and teachers, as well as everyone who works with the child, should show more love and interest towards children, encourage students, give students proper freedom, improve the teacher-student relationship, and make the home a happy place for students. In this way, suggestions can be presented regarding minimizing the factors that cause mental stress in school student