ACADEMIC STRESS ON COLLEGE STUDENTS:

THE ROLE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Wahyu Rahardjo

Faculty of Psychology, Gunadarma University

Jl. Margonda Raya No. 100, Depok, 16424, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Academic stress is psychological condition often experienced by college students as, to

some extent, being multidimensional variables. Among others are self-esteem and
psychological well-being which are considered to have influences in explaining why
college students experience academic stress. This study aims at identifying the
influences of self-esteem and psychological well-being towards academic stress on
college students. Participants of this study are 153 students of Gunadarma University in
Jakarta. Results of the study seem to indicate that self-esteem and psychological well-
being have influences towards academic stress on the students. Results are indicated
by reconstructed model of study which corresponded to data. Also, results explain that
self-esteem has direct and indirect influences towards academic stress through
psychological well-being. The results also indicate that male students tend to have
higher self-esteem, higher psychological well-being and even higher academic stress
than female students. In addition, academic stress also correlates negatively with
students’ academic achievements.

Keywords: Academic stress, Self-esteem, Psychological well-being, College students

INTRODUCTION
Academic stress is commonly experienced by college students. There are many
stressors within academic life such as academic demands and achievements from parents,
personal inclination for academic self-actualization, amount of assignments, conflicts with
classmate(s), final writing assignment (thesis), and so on. Since not all students have the ability
to cope with the above-mentioned stressors, consequently they experience academic stress.
There are numerous factors influencing academic stress on college students. One of
them is self-esteem. Students with positive self-esteem are considered capable of coping with
many academic stressors. When students are capable of handling academic problems, then
they tend to be at low level of academic stress. Erturgut’s and Erturgut’s study (2010) supported
this statement by arguing that self-esteem relates to students’ academic stress. Students with
higher self-esteem are at lower level of academic stress.
Psychological well-being is also a factor that influences academic stress on college
students. When one, psychologically, is in state of well-being then s/he will not be thinking too

Presented in International Seminar on Global Education II,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 24-25 February 2014
much of demands of life, including academic demands which is one of the stressors of
academic stress. Rogers’, Creed’s, and Searle’s study (2012) argued that psychological well-
being influences academic stress negatively on college students.
On the other hand, self-esteem has influence towards psychological well-being.
Someone with positive self-esteem is more capable of accepting his/her conditions and remains
positive in running his/her life. Also, someone with positive self-esteem is easier to attain
psychological well-being than someone with negative self-esteem. Isiklar’s study (2012)
supported this statement by arguing that self-esteem relates positively to psychological well-
being on students.
Based on the above theoretical reviews, the aim of this study is to identify the influence
of self-esteem and psychological well-being towards academic stress on college students. Other
points that can be revealed from this study are differences of self-esteem, psychological well-
being and academic stress between male and female students.

METHOD
The number of participants in this study is 153 students of Gunadarma University in
Jakarta, consisting of 75 male students and 78 female students. The participants’ ages ranged
from 18 to 22 years old (M = 20.08; SD = 0.85).
Overall GPA of the participants ranged from 2.10 to 3.72 (M = 2.84; SD = 0.27). Mean of
female students is slightly higher (M = 2.87; SD = 0.24) than male students (M = 2.81; SD =
0.29).
Self-esteem. Self-esteem is positive self-image or self-evaluation felt or perceived by
someone about himself/herself (Mruk, 2006; Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2004). Scale of self-
esteem was adapted from Rosenberg’s scale (1965). The scale consists of 10 items with
Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.926.
Psychological well-being. Psychological well-being is positive attitude toward oneself so
that s/he is able to develop his/her potential (Ryff, 1989). To measure psychological well-being,
Flourishing Scale, developed by Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi, and Biswas-
Diener( 2010), was used. This scale consists of 8 items with Cronbach 's Alpha of 0.952 .
Academic stress. Academic stress is one’s perception towards parents’ and lecturers’
expectations regarding high academic achievements which tends to be negative (Ang, Huan, &
Braman, 2007). To measure academic stress, Ang’s, Klas Sen’s, Chong’s, Huan’s, Wong’s,
Yeo’s, and Krawchuk’s (2009) was used. This scale has two aspects, namely (1) inability to

Presented in International Seminar on Global Education II,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 24-25 February 2014
meet parents’ and lecturers’ academic expectations, and (2) inability to meet self academic
expectations. This scale consists of 9 items with Cronbach 's Alpha of 0.948.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the results of this study, the constructed model has adequate goodness of fit
in explaining the direct and indirect influence of self-esteem towards academic stress through
psychological well-being (Chi-Square=0.402, p > .05; RMSEA <.05). The direct influence of self-
esteem towards academic stress is 0.45 (p < .00). Meanwhile, the direct influence of self-
esteem towards academic stress through psychological well-being is only -0.03 (p > .05). At this
point, it appears that self-esteem, in fact, has positive influence towards academic stress. It
means that the higher the self-esteem, the level of students’ academic stress is also higher.
Figure 1 shows this.

Figure 1. Influence of Self-esteem and Psychological Well-being towards Academic Stess on

College Students

On the other hand, it also appears that the influence of self-esteem towards
psychological well-being is 0.16 (p < .05) and the influence of psychological well-being towards
academic stress is -0.23 (p < .01). This indicates that the higher the self-esteem, students’
psychological well-being is also higher. In addition, it also appears that the higher the
psychological well-being of students, the level of students’ academic stress is lower.
Some previous studies have findings that there is negative correlation between self-
esteem and academic stress on students. Self-esteem can help students avoid academic stress
and even self esteem is able to reduce negative symptoms of students’ academic stress (Isiklar,

Presented in International Seminar on Global Education II,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 24-25 February 2014
2012; Castaneda-Sound & Wang, 2008). However, the results of this study indicate that self-
esteem has positive influence on academic stress. That is, the more positive students’ self-
esteem, then the academic stress of the students is higher. This finding is clearly interesting to
be investigated further as there could be a missing link between self-esteem and academic
stress. That is, maybe there should be another variable between self-esteem and academic
stress.
High self-esteem may encourage students to have high standard of academic
achievements. At this point, academic achievements become source of success and bring pride
to the students. Of course then it must be understood that as internal factor, self-esteem does
not necessarily influence academic stress. Desire to have high academic achiements from
students with high self-esteem may become backfire if not proportionally supported by the ability
to compete and sufficient academic competence. Many students with high academic
expectations experience academic stress when in fact they realize that they are not able to
handle pressure of competition in the class, as well as unable to meet academic achievements
as expected. Ang’s, Huan’s, and Braman’s study (2007) and Tan’s and Yates’ study (2011)
argued that personal expectations for high academic achievements influence students’
academic stress. In addition, Tan and Yates (2011) also stated about roles and supports from
parents and teachers to accommodate students’ expectations for attaining expected academic
achievement. If parents or teachers are not fully supportive then it becomes one of the stressors
of students’ academic stress.
This study also finds that psychological well-being has negative influence towards
academic stress. Students who, psychologically, consider themselves in the state of well-being
tend not to think too much of stressors of academic stress. This leads students with high
psychological well-being feel less academic stress. Rogers’, Creed’s, and Searle’s study (2012)
has the same finding. Their study found that psychological well-being has negative influence
towards academic stress on students.
Meanwhile, based on other statistical analyses, there are differences between male and
female students regarding self-esteem, psychological well-being and academic stress. Male
students and female students have different self-esteem (F(1,151) = 16.764, p < .00; r = 0.31, p
< .00) in which male students’ self-esteem is higher (M = 39.76; SD = 5.55) than female
students’ self-esteem (M = 35.80; SD = 6.33). Similar results were also found by Bordbar,
Nikkar, Yazdani, and Alipoor (2011) that stated differences of self-esteem between male and
female students. Male and female students also have different psychological well-being
(F(1,151) = 5.200, p < .05; r = 0.18, p < .05) in which male students have higher psychological

Presented in International Seminar on Global Education II,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 24-25 February 2014
well-being (M = 41.50; SD = 6.61) than psychological well-being of female students (M = 39.07;
SD = 6.56). Although there is no clear indication to which group that psychological well-being
has higher mean, but Lindfors’, Berntsson’s, and Lundberg’s study (2006) found that based on
sex, there are differences of psychological well-being. Within broader context, Nilsson’s,
Ohrvik’s, Lonnberg’s, and Hedberg’s finding (2011) on cohort study with participants of elderly
men and women indicated that in general men have higher psychological well-being than
women.
There are also diffeences in terms of academic stress between male and female
students. They are identified on aspect of inability to meet parents’ and lecturers’ academic
expectations (F(1,151) = 14.972, p < .00; r = 0.30, p < .00) in which male students’ mean score
is higher (M = 19.02; SD = 3.38) than female students’ mean score (M = 16.87; SD = 3.49).
Similar results are also identified on aspect of inability to meet self academic expectations
(F(1,151) = 16.362, p < .00; r = 0.31, p < .00) in which male students’ mean score is also higher
(M = 14.82; SD = 2.63) than female students mean score (M = 12.97; SD = 3.00). Although has
not specifically discussed academic stress, Pathmanathan’s and Husada’s study (2013) found
that male medical students have higher level of stress than female medical students. However,
it can be understood that perception on responsibility makes the male students feel that they
have to succeed academically and be the pride of their family. It is likely that such burden
makes male students experience higher academic stress than female students.
Grade point average (GPA) itself correlates with academic stress through two aspects,
namely the inability to meet parents’ and lecturers’ academic expectations (r = -0.26, p < .01)
and the inability to meet self academic expectations (r = -0.28, p < .00). This means that the
higher the academic stress, the lower the GPA. Academic stress is one of the problems that
must be addressed by students. This is important given the fact that academic stress can
influence students’ academic achievements, or even leads to another psychological problem
such as depression (Ang & Huan, 2006; Struthers, Perry, & Menec, 2000)

CONCLUSION
Positive self-esteem can be a double-edged sword in relation to academic stress.
College students should get good support from parents, lecturers, as well as from other parties
so that expectations of attaining high academic achievements generated from positive self-
esteem do not trigger academic stress. However, it is also important to have positive self-
esteem, considering that it can help students feel, psychologically, in the state of well-being so
students will not experience academic stress.

Presented in International Seminar on Global Education II,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 24-25 February 2014
REFERENCES
Ang, R.P., & Huan, V.S. (2006). Relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation:
Testing for depression as a mediator using multiple regression. Child Psychiatry and
Human Development, 37, 133-143.
Ang, R.P., Huan, V.S., & Braman, O.R. (2007). Factorial structure and invariance of the
Academic stress inventory across Hispanic and Chinese adolescent samples. Child
Psychiatry & Human Development, 38, 73-87.
Ang, R.P., Klassen, R.M., Chong, W.H., Huan, V.S., Wong, I.Y.F., Yeo, L.S., & Krawchuk, L.L.
(2009). Cross-cultural invariance of the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory:
Adolescent samples from Canada and Singapore. Journal of Adolescence, 32, 1225-1237.
Bordbar, F.T., Nikkar, M., Yazdani, F., & Alipoor, A. (2011). Comparing the psychological well-
being level of the students of Shiraz Payame Noor University in view of demographic and
academic performance variables. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 663-669.
Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, DW., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010).
New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative
feelings. Social Indicator Research, 97, 143-156.
Erturgut, P., & Erturgut, R. (2010). Stress and academic self-esteem in primary school children
who applied to the hospital: A research in pediatric hospitals in Turkey. Procedia Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 2, 1200-1204.
Isiklar, A. (2012). Examining psychological well-being and self-esteem levels of Turkish students
in gaining identity against role during conflict period. Journal of Instructional Psychology,
39, 41-50.
Lindfors, P., Berntsson, L., & Lundberg, U. (2006). Factor structure of Ryff’s psychological well-
being scales in Swedish female and male white-collar workers. Personality and Individual
Differences, 40, 1213-1222.
Mruk, C.J. (2006). Self-esteem research, theory, and practice: Toward a positive psychology of
self-esteem (3rd edition). New York: Springer Publising Company.
Nilsson, G., Ohrvik, J., Lonnberg, I., & Hedberg, P. (2011). Low psychological general well-
being (PGWB) is associated with deteriorated 10-year survival in men but not in women
among the elderly. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 52, 167-171.
Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W. & Feldman, R.D. (2004). Human development (ninth edition). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Pathmanathan, V.V., & Husada, M.S. (2013). Gambaran tingkat stres pada mahasiswa fakultas
kedokteran Universitas Sumatera Utara semester ganjil tahun akademik 2012/2013. e-
Journal FK USU, 1, 1-4.
Rogers, M.E., Creed, P.A., & Searle, J. (2012). Person and environmental factors associated
with well-being in medical students. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 472-477.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Socienty and the adolescent self-image. New Jersey: Princenton
University Press.
Ryff, C.D. (1989). Happiness is everything or it? Exploration on the meaning of psychological
well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069-1081.
Struthers, C.W., Perry, R.P., & Menec, V.H. (2000). An examination of the relationship among
academic stress, coping, motivation, and performance in college. Research in Higher
Education, 41, 581-592.
Wang, C.C.D.C., & Castaneda-Sound, C. (2008). The role of generational status, self-esteem,
academic self-efficacy, and perceived social support in college students’ psychological
well-being. Journal of College Counseling, 11, 101-118.

Presented in International Seminar on Global Education II,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 24-25 February 2014