PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS OF ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG STUDENTS: REVIEW STUDIES

Stress is a normal phenomenon in everyone’s life. It is a state of an individual under exhausting circumstances in different areas of life, i.e. family, school, health, business organization etc. Students specially of senior secondary classes have to undergo the experiences of stress due to the pressure of studies, expectations of parents, teachers, and self, peer pressure, career demands resulting a lot of burden on delicate minds. Therefore it is necessary to understand the causes of academic stress among students; to point out their resources to combat it and thereby enhance their well- being. Numerous variables have been identified to be positively or negatively associated with academic stress of students by empirical researches. Present paper is an attempt to review the studies from 1991 to 2014 related to psychosocial factors of academic stress among students specially the adolescents. From positive psychological perspective, self-efficacy, hope and perceived parenting were considered most relevant variables among others to influence academic stress of students. The review process included research journals, articles, books, dissertations, abstracts, encyclopedia, theses and internet surfing.