The Effects of Stress on the Academic Performance of First-Generation Students

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Abstract

College students are widely recognized as a vulnerable population suffering from higher stress levels, with First-Generation College Students (FGCS) experiencing higher stress levels compared to Non-First-Generation College Students (NFGCS). The reason why FGCS earn lower grades compared to their NFGCS counterparts remains unclear. The proposed study seeks to determine if perceived stress levels lead to lower academic performance among first-generation college students. The study will adopt a quasi-experimental research design. A sample of 200 participants will be purposively selected from Lehman College and Hunter College to take part in the study. Participants will be administered a Likert scale measure (Perceived Stress Scale-10) in order to assess their levels of stress. Academic performance will be measured using GPA results at the end of the semester. The study’s findings will be of significant value for policymakers, educators, and students. All potential limitations of the study will also be addressed.

The Effects of Stress on the Academic Performance of First-Generation Students

Introduction

Stress is an inevitable part of life that affects a wider range of populations regardless of their gender, age, and socio-economic status (Yikealo et al., 2018). By definition, stress refers to individuals’ beliefs that they lack the resources to adjust to past, current, or future circumstances. Stress is as a result of fear, and the body’s automatic response to that fear is the reflex preparation to flight or fight (Becerra, 2017). Although stress affects a wide range of populations, researchers emphasize that stress is on the rise among college students (Helmbrecht & Ayars, 2021). According to Yikealo et al. (2018), college students face multiple educational, environmental, social, and psychological adjustment issues that may impair their psychological well-being and academic achievements as they acclimate to their new campus setting. There is a strongly held consensus in the previous research that financial difficulties, dealing with intimate relationships, and increased roles and responsibilities are the main stressors among college students (Helmbrecht & Ayars, 2021; Karyotaki et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2021; Yikealo et al., 2018). Depending on their source of stress, college students have different stress levels. According to the American College Health Association (ACHA) 2018 report, 44.6% of the college students in the US rated their levels of stress as above average, 34% rated it as average, while 12.4% of the college students in the US reported that they experienced tremendous stress (ACHA, 2018). In 2019, 48.8% of college students surveyed reported that they experience moderate stress levels, 22.3%% low-stress levels, and 27.1% high-stress levels (ACHA, 2019). In Fall 2020, 49.1% of college students surveyed reported that they experienced moderate stress levels, 17.8% low-stress levels, and 31.8% high-stress levels (ACHA, 2020). Following these trends, it is evident that college students are experiencing increased stress levels.

First-Generation College Students (FGCS) experience higher stress levels compared to Non-First-Generation College Students (NFGCS). Supporting this statement, House et al. (2020) urge that FGCS experience similar challenges as NFGCS but also face their unique stressors, including lack of family support, lack of academic preparation, and challenging cultural transitions. FGCS refers to college-going students whose parents did not finish a four-year baccalaureate degree (Helmbrecht & Ayars, 2021). It also refers to college-going students who are the first ones in their families to join college. Lee et al. (2016) undertook a study to examine the factors associated with stress among FGCS. The authors established that being in a relationship, engaging in an unhealthy dietary pattern, being physically inactive, and sharing accommodation are associated with moderate to severe stress levels. Helmbrecht and Ayars (2021) also conducted a study to determine the stress predictors among FGCS. Findings revealed that psychological characteristics such as self-esteem, locus of control, and coping strategies affect the level of perceived stress among FGCS. The findings of these studies provide sufficient evidence that FGCS experience higher levels of stress. Although these scholars have explored the predictors of stress among FGCS, research concerning how these stress levels impact the academic performance of FGCS is limited in scope. Thus, the current study seeks to fill this research gap by exploring the effects of stress on the academic performance of FGCS.

In a different study, Upah (2017) compared academic performance, self-efficacy, and campus engagement of FGCS and NFGCS. The study findings established that FGCS earn lower grades compared to their NFGCS counterparts. Supporting these findings, Ives and Castillo-Montoya (2020) revealed that although FGCS form a substantial one-third of the U.S. college-going student population, only 56 percent receive a bachelor’s degree within 6 years compared with 74 percent of students having a parent who graduated from college. According to Becerra (2017), the reason why FGCS earn lower grades compared to their NFGCS counterparts remains unclear because there are various reasons that may contribute to the lower academic performance of the FGCS. This study seeks to determine the effects of stress on academic performance of FGCS. The study findings will help determine whether stress is among the factors that have contributed to the gap between the academic performance of FGCS and NFGCS.

Research reveals that stress cannot always be assumed to be negative (Becerra, 2017). The author further explains that there is positive stress (eustress) and stress that could possibly result in negative consequences for some people. By examining the effects of stress on the academic performance of FGCS, this study will help teachers, scholars, students, and any other interested parties in determining whether or not stress positively or negatively impacts the performance of FGCS. If the results show that stress perceived stress leads to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA, strategies to help FGCS to cope with stress will be suggested to help lower these effects. During the study, the perceived levels of stress will be measured as either high, moderate, or low. Also, participant counselling will be introduced as a confounding variable to determine if it affects the relationship between the level of perceived stress and academic performance of FGCS. The following hypotheses will guide the study.

H1: Higher levels of perceived stress lead to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.H2: Moderate levels of perceived stress lead to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

H3: Lower levels of perceived stress lead to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

H4: Providing Counselling to FGCS reduces the students’ stress level, thus, increasing their academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

To test the hypothesis, the study will adopt a quasi-experimental research design. Participants will be recruited from Hunter College and Lehman College to take part in the study. Participants will take the Perceived Stress Scale-10 at one point in the Spring Semester. They will be given 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire before their class begins. Participants from the Lehman College students will be offered four free group counseling sessions at the Lehman Counseling Center throughout the semester. At the end of the semester, the researcher will observe whether those who had high levels of perceived stress at the beginning of the semester obtained lower levels of GPA and whether the Lehman College students who received counseling services fared better than the students at Hunter College who did not receive counseling services.

Method

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses will guide the proposed study.

H1: Higher levels of perceived stress lead to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

H2: Moderate levels of perceived stress lead to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

H3: Lower levels of perceived stress lead to lower academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

H4: Providing Counselling to FGCS reduces the students’ stress level, thus, increasing their academic performance as measured by academic GPA at the end of the semester.

Participants

The target population includes events, people, or objects of different types that the researcher is interested in studying to draw conclusions. The scope for a target population might either be narrow or broad. However, whether broad or narrow, it is impracticable to collect data from all members of the target group. As such, a subgroup of the population, commonly known as the sample, is chosen for the purpose of data collection.

The target population for the proposed study will be young adults (ranging from 18 to 20 years old) enrolled in an Introduction to Psychology class at Lehman College and Hunter College in New York. Both Lehman college and Hunter college are public schools in New York City, where there is a large concentration of immigrants and college-bound first-generation students. The process of choosing a sample from a target population is known as sampling. Research reveals that sampling allows scholars to reduce study errors (Sharma, 2017). Asiamah et al. (2017) reveal that researchers who undertake qualitative research can easily complete a sampling procedure by specifying the target and accessible populations in a hierarchical order to make sure that the chosen participants provide relevant data to address the research questions. The time taken to collect data, the quality of data collected, and the cost of data collection all depend on the chosen participants. Also, inappropriate choice of participants can result in delays, extra costs, and data quality issues.

The proposed study will employ a purposive sampling technique to ensure appropriate participants are chosen. Purposive sampling will be ideal for the proposed research since it will allow the researcher to choose respondents who will be available, willing, and knowledgeable enough to contribute to the study (Palinkas et al., 2016). A total of 100 students will be purposively chosen from each school to take part in the study (N=200). Since most college classes do not divide students by their class standing, the participants from each class will be made up of 50 freshmen and 50 sophomores. Flyers will be posted in the Psychology department elevators and outside of the Introduction to Psychology classroom.

Procedure

All participants will be administered a Likert scale measure in order to assess their levels of stress. The participants will complete the Perceived Stress Scale in the same classroom before their Introduction to Psychology class starts. Students who will choose to participate in the study and open up about how stressed they are will receive two extra credit points for their final grade.

Scale Measures

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)-10

The researcher will use the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)- 10 to measure perceived stress. PSS-10 is a 10-item scale in which participants are requested to rate how often they have experienced stressful emotions and experiences in the past month. For example, “Have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?”, “Have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?” and “Have you been angered because of things that were outside your control”? Participants will rate their answers on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very often). Once completed, the questionnaires will be scored by adding up the points according to the ratings of the participants. It is important to note that negative items such as questions 4,5,7, and 8 will be scored in reverse, with an answer of “never” being given 4 points and an answer of “very often” 0 points. Those with a total score of 0-13 will be considered to have low perceived stress, and those with scores of 27-40 will be considered to have higher levels of perceived stress.

Experimental Design

The proposed study will be conducted as a quasi-experimental study. More specifically, it will be a non-equivalent group design. The participants from both Lehman College and Hunter College will take the Perceived Stress Scale-10 at one point in Spring Semester. They will be given 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire before their class begins. However, the Lehman College students will be offered four free group counseling sessions at the Lehman Counseling Center throughout the semester. At the end of the semester, the researcher will observe whether those who had high levels of perceived stress at the beginning of the semester obtained lower levels of GPA and whether the Lehman College students who received counseling services fared better than the students at Hunter College who did not receive counseling services. Here, received counselling services will serve as a confounding variable for the proposed study.

Discussion

Potential Limitations of the Study

The proposed study has several potential limitations. Some of these limitations relate to the construct validity. Firstly, there will be a threat of participants guessing the intent of the study and consciously or subconsciously altering their behavior. For instance, since students know the goal of the study is to examine the impacts of perceived stress on the academic performance of FGCS, students who feel like they are not well prepared for their exams may indicate higher stress levels so that their lack of preparation for exams may be associated with the increased stress even when they are not experiencing high levels of stress. To deal with this limitation, participants will be requested to be honest when indicating their perceived stress levels on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)- 10.

Secondly, there is a risk of defining the term stress in too broad terms that may invalidate the findings of the study. Stress, depression, and anxiety mental health issues share some similar symptoms. Therefore, if the term stress is broadly defined during the study, students suffering from anxiety and depression may end up considering themselves stressed, which may compromise the study findings. To deal with this limitation, a more specific definition of the term stress will be provided to participants, and participants will also be distinctive characteristics of stress will be provided.

Furthermore, there will be a risk of the effect of received counselling masking the effects of perceived stress on the academic performance of the FGCS. To deal with this limitation, received counselling will be considered as a confounding variable in the study, and its effects on stress level and academic performance of FGCS will be examined during the study.

Also, the proposed study will have potential limitations relating to internal validity. There will be a risk of whether the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)- 10 will measure what it is supposed to measure. If the students rate their depression or anxiety levels instead of their stress levels, this will compromise the study findings. To address this limitation, the researcher will provide a specific and clear definition of the term stress to ensure that students rate only their stress levels using the PSS-10 scale.

Furthermore, the participants for the proposed study will be recruited from two public universities in New York, US. This will limit the generalizability of the study findings to other populations in different geographical regions. The proposed study will also be based on students’ responses. Usually, mental health issues and acknowledging mental health illnesses are associated with stigma (Wyatt et al., 2017). As such, some students may fail to provide correct information about their perceived stress levels, thus compromising the study findings.

Importance of the Study

The findings of the proposed study will be of significant value for policymakers, educators, and students. This is because examining how stress impacts the academic performance of FGCS will provide empirical evidence on why there is a need to formulate effective strategies for helping FGCS to cope with stress in an effort to minimize the adverse negative academic impact associated with stress.

The findings of this study will also form a strong basis for promoting strategies such as

raising awareness of mental health issues and resources, reducing stigma, encouraging compassionate goal-setting, strengthening connections to the university community, and developing stress coping strategies in colleges since the findings will provide reliable evidence of the greater impact of stress on the academic success of FGCS.

The existing literature on the impact of perceived stress on the academic performance of FGCS is limited in scope. The findings of this study will be important since they will add to this scope of literature, thus providing future scholars conducting their studies in the same field with rich literature to support their study.

References

American College Health Association National College Health Assessment. (2020). Fall 2020 reference group executive summary. American College Health Association. Retrieved 6 May 2022, from https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-III_Spring_2020_Reference_Group_Executive_Summary.pdf.

American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA) (2019). Fall 2019 reference group executive summary. American College Health Association. Retrieved 6 May 2022, from https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-III_Fall_2019_Reference_Group_Executive_Summary.pdfAmerican College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA). (2018). Undergraduate student reference group executive summary fall 2018. American College Health Association. Retrieved 6 May 2022, from https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-II_Fall_2018_Undergraduate_Reference_Group_Executive_Summary.pdf.

Asiamah, N., Mensah, H. K., & Oteng-Abayie, E. F. (2017). General, target, and accessible population: Demystifying the concepts for effective sampling. The Qualitative Report, 22, 1607-1621.

Becerra, M. (2017). Mental health and academic performance of first-generation college students and continuing-generation college students.

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