Exploring the Interplay between Academic Stress and Mental Health in Undergraduate Students: A Case Study of Sindh University, Jamshoro, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59890/ijsr.v3i6.215Keywords:
Academic Stress, Mental Health, Undergraduate Students, DASS, PakistanAbstract
The global higher education landscape is marked by growing concerns regarding the mental well-being of undergraduate students, with academic stress identified as a critical determinant. While extensively documented in Western and East Asian contexts, the specific manifestations of this interplay in South Asian settings remain underexplored. This study employs a quantitative, cross-sectional design to investigate the relationships between academic stress, socio-contextual factors (financial pressure, familial expectations), and mental health among 400 undergraduate students from Sindh University, Pakistan. Data were collected using standardized scales, including an academic stress measure and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Results revealed alarmingly high rates of psychological distress, with 63%, 67%, and 60% of participants reporting at least mild symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. Correlation and multiple regression analyses identified academic stress as the strongest positive predictor of poorer mental health (β = .53, p < .001). Familial expectations (the highest-rated stressor) and financial pressure also emerged as significant unique predictors. Conversely, GPA was a significant negative predictor. The findings indicate that the Pakistani student experience constitutes a critical synthesis of global and local pressures, where intense familial obligations and socioeconomic vulnerabilities uniquely amplify academic stress, creating a potent risk profile for mental health. This underscores the necessity for culturally-sensitive, multi-level interventions tailored to this distinct socio-academic context.
References
Abbas, T. (2003). The impact of religio-cultural norms and values on the education of young South Asian women. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 24(4), 411-428.
Ali, R., & Bakar, A. (2019). The Probability to Memorize and Understand Textbook Information: Socioeconomic Class as the Predictor for Cognitive Processing Strategies in Pakistani Education System. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS), 39(1).
Bourgeois-Fortin, C. (2023). Understanding the Resilience of Educational Disparities for Migrant Children in Urban China, in the Context of Hukou Reform (Doctoral dissertation, Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa).
Chen, C., & Hong, R. (2024). Business of involution: self-study rooms and work culture in China. Journal of Cultural Economy, 17(3), 396-412.
Chen, Q., & Khoso, A. R. (2025). Evaluating the Effects of Ideological and Political Education on Civic Engagement and Social Behavior among University Students: A Case Study of Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Pakistan. Sage Open, 15(4), 21582440251365400.
Davies, S., & Hammack, F. M. (2005). The channeling of student competition in higher education: Comparing Canada and the US. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(1), 89-106.
Hamrick, J. F. (2007). The College Choice Experiences of Pakistani Undergraduates in the United States (Doctoral dissertation).
Heumann, E. M. (2025). Higher education students’ mental health: Depressive symptoms as a challenge for Public Health (Doctoral dissertation).
Hussain, S. (2024). The Multifaceted Impact of Academic Pressure on the Mental Health and Well-being of University Students in Pakistan: Exploring the Interplay of Systemic Factors, Individual Vulnerabilities, and Coping Mechanisms. International Research Journal of Education and Innovation, 5(2), 8-14.
Jiang, R. (2022, December). The psychological effects of involution on China’s rising generation. In 2022 5th international conference on humanities education and social sciences (ICHESS 2022) (pp. 639-645). Atlantis Press.
Johnson, A. P., & Lester, R. J. (2022). Mental health in academia: Hacks for cultivating and sustaining wellbeing. American Journal of Human Biology, 34, e23664.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1987). Transactional theory and research on emotions and coping. European Journal of personality, 1(3), 141-169.
Li, X., Hu, Y., Huang, C. Y. S., & Chuang, S. S. (2021). Beyond WEIRD (Western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic) ‐centric theories and perspectives: Masculinity and fathering in Chinese societies. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 13(3), 317-333.
Lipson, S. K., Lattie, E. G., & Eisenberg, D. (2019). Increased rates of mental health service utilization by US college students: 10-year population-level trends (2007–2017). Psychiatric services, 70(1), 60-63.
Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995). Manual for the depression anxiety stress scales. Sydney: Psychology Foundation.
Malik, N., Zafar, Z., Rizwan, M., & Bilal, A. (2025). Adaptation and Integration of Pakistani Students of Higher Education Institutions in China. The Critical Review of Social Sciences Studies, 3(1), 3034-3046.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111.
Müller, C., El-Ansari, K., & El Ansari, W. (2022). Cross-sectional analysis of mental health among university students: do sex and academic level matter? International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(19), 12670.
Newman, F., Couturier, L., & Scurry, J. (2010). The future of higher education: Rhetoric, reality, and the risks of the market. John Wiley & Sons.
Pattar, M., Hemashree, N., Abhyankar, S., & Kachhi, Z. (2025). The Fine-Line: Balancing Academic Pressure and Personal Development. In Nurturing Student Well-Being in the Modern World (pp. 307-324). IGI Global.
Pitesa, M., & Gelfand, M. J. (2023). Going beyond Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) samples and problems in organizational research.
Siddiqui, A. (2017). The Educational Perspective of Constructivist Learning Theories with their Implication to Teach English Language within Pakistani Context. dalam International Journal of Language and Linguistic, 4(4), 364.
Singh, P., Bhushan, S., & Shukla, A. (2023). A study on factors affecting academic stress amongst students of higher education–a system dynamic approach. International Journal of Business Excellence, 29(4), 504-517.
Smith, P. (2024). Navigating the Landscape of Anxiety and Stress: Embracing Personal Growth and Empowerment. Peercite J Ment Health, 2(S1), 560-567.
Somerville, K., & Robinson, O. (2016). Keeping up appearances within the ethnic community: A disconnect between first- and second-generation South Asians' educational aspirations. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 48(2), 99-117.
Talley, K. (2024). Understanding the Impact of Academic Pressure on Student Mental Health.
Ullah, S. (2022). The socio-economic effects of diaspora on the pakistani families left behind. Journal of Regional Studies Review, 1(1), 27-35.
Van Zanten, A., & Maxwell, C. (2019). Elite education and the State in France: Durable ties and new challenges. In New Sociologies of Elite Schooling (pp. 71-94). Routledge.
Versaevel, L. N. (2014). Canadian post-secondary students, stress, and academic performance–A socio-ecological approach. The University of Western Ontario (Canada).
Ying, H., Khoso, A. R., & Bhutto, S. (2024). A case study investigating the relational well-being of international students at Hohai University Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. Behavioral Sciences, 14(7), 544.
Zhang, G. (2024). The Negative Experience of Involution as Perceived by College Instructors in Inner Mongolia in China. University of Montana.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Haihua Ying, Abdul Rasool Khoso, Farhan Akhtar, Darya Khan Sanjrani, Sajjad Ali Mallah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
