中華心理衛生協會

Purpose: High stress damages individuals' physical health, mental health, and behavior. According to the relational definition of stress, the influence of stress varies with individual differences such as personality. We divided the school-related stress perceived by junior high school students into stress from school learning, parents, teachers, and peers, and described each type. In addition, we examined the negative effects of school-related stress on academic achievement and investigated whether internal locus of control has a moderating effect on the relationship between school-related stress and academic achievement. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study with data from 372 8(superscript th) grade students from a junior high school in Taipei. We invited these students to self-report their perceptions of school-related stress and degree of internal locus of control, and gathered exam scores from their teachers. We conducted an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hierarchical regression analysis on the data. Results: The level of school-related stress differed by gender, number of siblings, and the financial status of the family. Stress from school learning and teachers had a negative effect on academic achievement, while stress from parents and peers did not have a significant effect on academic achievement. Although greater internal locus of control did strengthen the negative effect of stress from teachers on academic achievement, it may have decreased the negative influence of stress from school learning on academic achievement. Conclusions: Practical implications are discussed and suggestions for further research are proposed. Teachers and parents are advised to understand the individual differences among students, such as the level of internal locus of control, and adopt appropriate policies to decrease the negative impact of school-related stress on junior high school students.