A study of the effects of Stress on the performance of Texas A&M University at Qatar students

Saly Matta

April 25, 2015

Chemical Engineering
University of Texas A&M at Qatar

Introduction
One important factor that can have a huge impact on the performance of students is stress.
Stress is the way our body responds when we place a certain demand on it. In most cases, the
body responds to stress by activating a fight-or-flight response which prepares the body to react
quickly if necessary. Unfortunately, a lot of people think of stress as a negative factor that is
there to hold us back from being successful and achieving our goals. On the other hand,
research has shown that stress does not always have a negative effect on the performance of
students and might in fact have a positive impact on their performance. In fact, some people
think that stress has two forms a good one and a bad one. Unfortunately, a lot of universities
do not implement information about stress management in the orientations done for new
students and in my opinion every university should make their students aware of how important
it is to control ones level of stress. Moreover, these universities should advise their students on
how to use stress to their own advantage and how to avoid its harmful effects on both their
physical and their mental state. Steadman who researched stress mentioned how stress that
lasts for weeks or months can result in health problems such as high blood pressure,heart
problems,tension, sadness and nervousness. (Steadman) Crum, who is a researcher at
Columbia University, broke down stress into three main categories and those are
conflict,pressure and uncertainty. (qtd. in Donatelli) In this report, I will discuss the results of a
survey that I conducted in order to study the effects of stress on the performance of Texas A&M
University at Qatar students.

What is stress?
Stress is the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change. (Defining Stress)

Question 1- The time period of the semester that students consider the most
stressful
I have conducted a survey regarding the effects of stress on the performance of students at
Texas A&M University at Qatar. One of the questions asked the students about when they feel
the most stressed during the semester. 43 students responded with 13.16% of the students
replied saying that they feel the most stressed at the start of the semester, 47.37% replied
saying that they feel the most stressed at the middle of the semester and 81.58% replied that
they are the most stressed at the end of the semester.

Figure 1- Percentage of students that experience stress at different times of the semester
Percentage of students experiencing stress during the different times of the
semester
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Start of the semester

Middle of the semester At the end of the semester

Percentage of students experiencing stress during the different times of the semester
Not surprisingly, these results show that students feel more stressed when they have more
assignments to do and exams to study for since the workload increases immensely during the
middle and end of the semester. This shows how stress can result from a mental demand
placed on our bodies and how academic demands participate greatly in the level of stress that
students at Texas A&M University at Qatar endure.

Question 2- The major stressor that Texas A&M University at Qatar students
encounter in college life
One of the questions in the survey aimed to find out the major stressor that Texas A&M
University at Qatar endure and 84.21% of the students replied saying that academic demands
was the major stressor that they encounter in college life. Academic demands such as essays,
projects, exams and assignments add a lot of pressure on students which as a result increases
their stress level immensely and makes them under a lot of tension.

Figure 2- The major stressor that students experience in college life

Stressors that students at Texas A&M University encounter

in college life
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Academic
demands

Being away from Making important Being on ones Exposure to new

decisions
ones home and
own in a whole people and a new
culture
family
new society and
environment

Stressors that students at Texas A&M University encounter in college life

The reason I believe academic demands is the major stressor students at Texas A&M University
at Qatar is due to the fact that students have a huge workload to do and a lot of deadlines and
having to complete all the necessary work before the deadlines in addition to wanting to do
well on all the assignments can be very stressful and adds a lot of pressure on the students. Due
to high level of stress students endure, it is crucial for students to know how to manage their
stress level. Future research should be conducted to find out the percentage of stress that each
of daily assignments, exams, projects and presentations place on students.

Question 3- The method students at Texas A&M University at Qatar use the
most in order to manage their level of stress

Figure 3- Methods that students use to manage their stress level

Methods students at Texas A&M University at Qatar use to
manage their stress level
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Remaining organized Talking to someone
and planning ahead
when necessary
of time

Avoiding
procrastination

Physical exercises

Body relaxation
exercises

Methods students at Texas A&M University at Qatar use to manage their stress level

40.00% of the students replied saying that they manage their level of stress by remaining
organized and planning ahead of time which is a great method of dealing with stress since it
avoids last minute confusion. 33.33% of the students said that they talk to someone when
necessary which is very useful since it can help students greatly in getting advice and releasing
tension. A couple of students replied saying that they eat or smoke to manage their stress level
and this shows how stress has a direct relation to the health of students.

Question 4- One factor that students at Texas A&M University at Qatar would
remove from their lives that would have a huge impact on their stress level
A wide variety of responses was received for the question that asked students what factor they
would remove from their lives that can make a huge impact on their stress level. However,
there was a general pattern noticeable where most of the responses had something to do with
procrastination. Most of the responses were along the lines of I wish I can remove my
tendency to procrastinate. Procrastination is one of the largest factors that causes college
students to endure stress since they leave everything till the last minute and face the issue of
completing all these tasks within a limited time. Some of the other responses had to do with
family problems where some students replied that they are facing a lot of stress mainly because
they have to maintain a high academic performance in order to receive or maintain
scholarships due to the poor monetary state of the family. Other responses included more
personal problems such as a bad relationship amongst the family or that the parents are

divorced. This shows that a person can experience stressors outside university as well. Stress is
caused by a combination of factors and it is not necessary that all these factors are related to
academics. There are outside stressors as well and one of the most important ones include
family.

Question 5- Positive effects that stress has on the academic performance of

students at Texas A&M University at Qatar
As expected, students responded saying that stress is one of the factors that actually makes
them aware of how much work they have and how much effort they have to put in. One of the
students responded saying When I am not stressed, I am not motivated to do anything and I
become lazy but when I am stressed it encourages me to not slack off since I feel the need to
get up and do something. This was an expected response since stress is one of the factors that
pushes and motivates us to study for exams and get assignments done before their deadlines
since it gives us the urge of having to complete work before the time is up. Another students
response was Stress makes me receive that adrenaline rush that makes me energetic and
excited to do work and it reminds me that there is work to be done. Most of the remaining
responses from students mentioned how they are not productive when they are not stressed
because they dont feel the urge of having to get work completed and they get the feeling that
there is plenty of time left but stress motivates them to finish tasks quickly before time is up.

Question 6-Negative effects that stress has on the academic performance of

students at Texas A&M University at Qatar
A huge similarity in responses was received for this question. As expected, most of the students
replied saying that they cannot concentrate when they are feeling stressed during exams and
this is because they worry that they wont be able to perform well in their exams. In addition to
this, the majority mentioned that during exams they forget what they have studied even
though they had it in mind before the exam which is one of the harmful effects stress has on
students. All of these are harmful effects that stress can have on students that result in a
decrease in their productivity and efficiency. One of the students mentioned: During an exam,
the stress of not being fully prepared creates mind barriers to thinking about the problems
properly. The main reason most of these harmful effects happen is because our body informs
our brain that this is it and that the time has come to do our best but we start to worry that we
wont do as well as we want to which is what increases our stress level . Other students replied
saying that stress makes them unable to sleep properly because they get nervous and anxious
and start overthinking. These harmful of effects of stress are directly related to the health of
students since a lack of sleep can in turn lead to a lack of productivity during exams.

Question 7- Some of the opportunities that Texas A&M University at Qatar

offers that students use to help them with their stress level
Some students said that when they are stressed they go to the lounge which is an area where
students can find free drinks, a foosball table and a PlayStation as forms of entertainment
whereas other students responded saying that they participate in physical exercises such as
joining sport clubs that Texas A&M University at Qatar offers. The last group of students
mentioned going to events that the university holds including a De-Stress event which offers
the students free drinks and ice-creams in hope of increasing their level of satisfaction and aims
to help students reduce their level of stress by giving them useful information on how to
prepare for their exams.

Figure 4- Wordle from the responses received for Question 7

able accepting activities advisers antagonist area arts asc bathroom couches councelling cry

event
lounge

deal departmentdestress environment

s help idea increase instead liberal

fifa floor

friendly

friend

main needed

people plus professors smoking socialize sofassomeone spacious sports stalls

stress

student talking therapist things third

This wordle shows the results obtained for the last question with most of the responses
mentioning the lounge and destress events. Stress is a wide topic and its effect requires further
research to be conducted. Since the number of respondents was high (43 students), this shows
that a high number of students are interested in learning about stress and therefore further
research would be useful and beneficial to conduct in order to improve the knowledge of
students about stress.

Works Cited Page

1. "Defining Stress - Explore Integrative Medicine." Explore Integrative Medicine. Web. 25
Apr. 2015. <http://exploreim.ucla.edu/mind-body/defining-stress/>.
2. Dr. Wilson, Steve, personal interview, 23 April 2015.
3. Steadman, Ethan. "Good Stress vs. Bad Stress How Stress Affects the
Mind."HowToLearncom. <http://www.howtolearn.com/2011/09/good-stress-vs-badstress-how-stress-affects-the-mind/>.
4. 5. Donatelli, Joe. "The Positive Effects of Stress."Shape Magazine.
<http://www.shape.com/blogs/shape-your-life/positive-effects-stress>.