THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATES: A CASE STUDY OF FACULTY OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN.

Academic performance of students in universities has been associated with underlying problems, one of which is that of students’ stress. This study therefore aims to determine the influence of stress on the academic performance of undergraduates in University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. In order to carry out the task, four research questions were raised and one hypothesis formulated which was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 6576 undergraduates. The data was collected using simple random technique and a sample size of 380 undergraduate students from the eight (8) departments in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin city, was used for the study. The research instrument used for the study was a self-structured questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was subjected to scrutiny and the test-retest reliability technique was used to ascertain its reliability. The correlation coefficient computed was 0.82 indicating that the instrument was reliable. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages and means, while chi-square statistics was used to test the hypothesis. Results revealed that undergraduate students of University of Benin were having stressed times in certain areas of their academic life such as: overall study habits, organizing time, listening and taking notes, writing test/examinations, financial concerns/hardships, campus environment, and course requirements. Majority (66.6%) of the respondents reported to have high stress levels while, the stress level for 18.9% of the respondents is moderate and for 14.5% of the respondents, it is low. The chi-square test carried out confirmed that there is a significant relationship between students’ stress levels and their academic performance in the University of Benin. In conclusion, students have to set priorities in light of their resources to avoid stressful situations. Recommendations were made that stress intervention programs be designed to address stress of University students. Coping strategies that deals with one's own thoughts and feelings can be facilitated by accessible professional and peer counselling, student support groups, and adequate course advising. Also, students themselves must develop effective study habits by giving appropriate time that must fulfil the demand of their course.