College academic stress tracks lower mental well-being
Higher perceived academic stress correlates with worse well-being in 843 US undergraduates; non-binary and second-year students report the highest burden, and 80% said COVID-19 increased stress.
Source
Academic Stress and Mental Well-Being in College Students: Correlations, Affected Groups, and COVID-19
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Online Prolific survey of PAS and SWEMWBS plus COVID-19 stress items (October 2021)
- N
- N=843 · Full-time US college students ages 18–30; 78.5% women
- Population
- US college students
- Outcome
- Association of academic stress (PAS) with mental wellbeing (SWEMWBS)
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What they did
843 full-time US college students (ages 18–30) completed online PAS and SWEMWBS scales plus COVID-19 impact items via Prolific in October 2021. The authors tested correlations and ran MANOVA/chi-square analyses by gender, race/ethnicity, year of study, and pandemic stress response.
What they found
PAS and SWEMWBS correlated significantly (r = 0.53, p < 0.001). Non-binary students reported the lowest well-being and highest academic stress; men showed the opposite pattern. Women and non-binary students reported higher COVID-19-related stress than men (80.4% overall reported increased stress). Second-year students had the lowest PAS scores among year groups.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Cross-sectional Prolific sampling cannot establish causality or rule out shared-method bias. The sample was ~78.5% women with limited representation of non-binary and minority groups, so subgroup estimates may be underpowered. Academic stress was measured by perception only, not coping or non-academic stressors.
Key terms
- PAS
- Perception of Academic Stress Scale (18 items; higher score = lower stress, range 18–90).
- SWEMWBS
- Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (7 items; higher = better well-being, range 7–35).
- MANOVA
- Multivariate analysis testing group differences on PAS and SWEMWBS simultaneously.
- Prolific
- Online participant recruitment platform used for the October 2021 survey.
- Non-binary students
- Gender group reporting highest academic stress and lowest well-being in this sample.
- COVID-19 stress response
- Self-reported increased vs. neutral/decreased stress due to the pandemic.
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Quiz yourself
How many full-time college students were in the final sample?
Common questions
How big was the sample?
843 full-time US college students ages 18–30 completed the online survey via Prolific in October 2021.
What did PAS correlate with?
Perceived Academic Stress scores correlated with worse mental well-being on SWEMWBS (r = 0.53, p < 0.001).
Who reported the highest stress burden?
Non-binary and second-year students reported the highest academic stress and lowest well-being; men reported the opposite pattern.
What share said COVID-19 raised stress?
About 80.4% of respondents said the pandemic increased their stress; women and non-binary students reported higher COVID-related stress than men.
What can this study not show?
It is cross-sectional Prolific sampling, so it cannot prove that academic stress causes lower well-being or rule out shared-method bias.
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