Without tools for academic stress management, young adults suffer. A 2019 review study found that academic pressure is associated with the following mental health symptoms:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Increased substance use
- Impaired overall health and well-being
- Poor sleep quality, leading to problematic coping strategies such as taking sleeping pills, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol to help them sleep
- High levels of stress and burnout, which ironically result in lower academic achievement
- Depersonalization (feeling disconnected from one’s body and/or thoughts)
- Poorer quality of life.
- In addition, the study found the following data regarding academic pressure:
- Two-thirds of students reported feeling stressed about poor grades
- 59 percent said they often worry about taking tests
- More than half of students reported academic anxiety regarding test taking, even when they felt prepared
- 37 percent of students said they feel very tense when studying
- 35 percent of college students reported having anxiety symptoms and 30 percent reported suffering from depression.
Know the Facts
87 percent of students surveyed in 2019 by the American College Health Association said they had felt overwhelmed at some point during the school year by everything they had to do, and 85 percent reported feeling mentally exhausted.
3 Keys to Managing Academic Anxiety
For high school seniors navigating the college admissions process and for college students making decisions about their education and career, it’s essential to find positive approaches to academic stress management. Here are three ways families can support young adults in creating a healthier relationship with academics.
Remember what matters. To ensure that young people aren’t receiving detrimental messages, parents may need to examine their own priorities and talk about them with their children. In one study, adolescents who believed that their parents valued character traits as much or more than achievement showed better mental health and less risk-taking behavior. Hence, adults can lead by example and demonstrate for young people the importance of using their time and energy for activities that enhance well-being rather than goal achievement.
Maintain balance. Valuing mental health over academic achievement involves a commitment to creating a balanced lifestyle. Young adults—and particularly college students—are notoriously poor at self-care, but even a little is better than none. Making time regularly to spend an hour in the gym, take a walk with a good friend, write in a journal, or lie on the grass with a book (even if it’s a textbook) can help counteract the stress of academic pressure, and also helps establish healthy habits for life after college.
Choose the right college, not the “best” college. In terms of the college admissions process, experts say that the most prestigious college isn’t always the smartest choice. Students who are able to engage more deeply in subjects or experiences that most interest them, within the environments where they are most comfortable, do better in school and are more likely to find work they enjoy once they graduate. Research analysis by Challenge Success found “no significant relationship between a school’s selectivity and student learning, future job satisfaction, or well-being.”
How a Strengths-Based Approach Eases Academic Pressure
At Newport Institute, our Learning Lab mentors and specialized tutors support young adults to make academic progress and build life skills without the stress of academic pressure. Our strengths-based approach guides young people to focus on what’s going right in their life, and encourages them to explore their unique gifts and talents rather than their perceived shortcomings.
This approach permeates all aspects of Newport Institute’s clinical model. Our expert clinicians and teachers help young adults find sustainable healing by learning to nurture their mental, emotional, physical, relational, and spiritual needs—rather than pursuing predetermined goals that don’t reflect their true interests. During their time with us, young adults process past trauma, develop healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with stressors, and plant seeds for a meaningful life full of passion and purpose.