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Adolescents’ Motivation and School-Related Stress: Influences from Parents

Wenzel-Theiler, Hannah Katharina LU and Backman, Emilia LU (2020) PSYP01 20201
Department of Psychology
Abstract
School-related stress is the most prominent form of stress among adolescents and the interplay between students and parents regarding students’ experience of stress has long been underexplored. Two studies were conducted with a sample of Swedish 8th graders in order to gain a better understanding of the links between school-related stress, factors related to the students’ parents, and factors related to the students themselves. Parents’ stress and attitudes toward their children’s school did not influence student academic stress. Contrary to previous findings, parental expectations did not increase student academic stress, instead they were associated with lower stress. For girls, perceived parental expectations mediated the relationship... (More)
School-related stress is the most prominent form of stress among adolescents and the interplay between students and parents regarding students’ experience of stress has long been underexplored. Two studies were conducted with a sample of Swedish 8th graders in order to gain a better understanding of the links between school-related stress, factors related to the students’ parents, and factors related to the students themselves. Parents’ stress and attitudes toward their children’s school did not influence student academic stress. Contrary to previous findings, parental expectations did not increase student academic stress, instead they were associated with lower stress. For girls, perceived parental expectations mediated the relationship between parent expectations and academic performance but not the relationship between parent expectations and academic stress. For boys, parent expectations had a direct effect on academic stress and academic performance. Generally, the results showed that students’ academic stress was influenced by perceived parental expectations, regardless of parents’ actual expectations. Specifically for girls, the link between perceived parental expectations and academic stress was mediated by academic performance and motivation. Thus, perceived high expectations were associated with better performance and more extrinsic motivation, and hence lower levels of academic stress. For boys, high perceived parental expectations were associated with reduced stress only because they were associated with better academic performance. Understanding how parental expectations influence students’ academic stress and motivation experience could help open a dialogue between educators, parents, and other professionals, and create effective interventions aimed at reducing stress among students. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wenzel-Theiler, Hannah Katharina LU and Backman, Emilia LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20201
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9019924
date added to LUP
2020-06-18 16:49:38
date last changed
2020-06-18 16:49:38
@misc{9019924,
  abstract     = {{School-related stress is the most prominent form of stress among adolescents and the interplay between students and parents regarding students’ experience of stress has long been underexplored. Two studies were conducted with a sample of Swedish 8th graders in order to gain a better understanding of the links between school-related stress, factors related to the students’ parents, and factors related to the students themselves. Parents’ stress and attitudes toward their children’s school did not influence student academic stress. Contrary to previous findings, parental expectations did not increase student academic stress, instead they were associated with lower stress. For girls, perceived parental expectations mediated the relationship between parent expectations and academic performance but not the relationship between parent expectations and academic stress. For boys, parent expectations had a direct effect on academic stress and academic performance. Generally, the results showed that students’ academic stress was influenced by perceived parental expectations, regardless of parents’ actual expectations. Specifically for girls, the link between perceived parental expectations and academic stress was mediated by academic performance and motivation. Thus, perceived high expectations were associated with better performance and more extrinsic motivation, and hence lower levels of academic stress. For boys, high perceived parental expectations were associated with reduced stress only because they were associated with better academic performance. Understanding how parental expectations influence students’ academic stress and motivation experience could help open a dialogue between educators, parents, and other professionals, and create effective interventions aimed at reducing stress among students.}},
  author       = {{Wenzel-Theiler, Hannah Katharina and Backman, Emilia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Adolescents’ Motivation and School-Related Stress: Influences from Parents}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}