Poor performance in sciences especially in chemistry has continued to be a major concern for educational stakeholders in Cameroon. These poor performance scores have led to low mean grades for most students thus jeopardizing their chances for upward educational mobility. Academic performance may be impeded by academic related stress and its attendant indicators such as anxiety, depression, financial stress and loneliness which could in turn lead to inadequate coverage of subject syllabus, non-familiarity with examination format, lack of strong reading habit by students preparing for examinations amongst other challenges faced by chemistry students. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of academic-related stress on the performance scores of students in Ordinary Level Chemistry in Secondary Schools in Bamenda III. More specifically, the study sought to ascertain the extent to which anxiety and depression affect the performance scores of students in Ordinary Level Chemistry. The study employed the survey research design with a mix of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire while a semi-structured interview guide were used to collect qualitative data from a sample of 120 respondents. Questionnaires were completed by 100 Chemistry students while 20 Chemistry teachers were interviewed. The purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the sample of the study. Data were analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 for Windows. Descriptive statistics such as simple percentages, mean scores and standard deviation, and inferential statistics notably the Pearson Correlation test was used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis with the support of ATLAS.ti software version 8.0. The findings revealed that anxiety (r=0.863, p<0.05) and depression (r=0.811, p<0.05) have a positive correlation with workers’ performance. These findings are in consonance with the postulates of scholars such as Mayya (2004), Sideridis (2005), Trombitas (2012), Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2003) who have theorized anxiety and depression as having the ability to determine students’ performance scores. The findings were discussed within the framework of the Lazarus & Folkman’s Cognitive relational theory (1984), Albert Bandura’s theory on self-efficacy (1997) and Urie Bonfenbrenner’s Ecological systems theory (1979). Based on the findings, recommendations were made to students, teachers, school authorities and to integrate stress coping strategies in their teaching methods and follow up at home so as to assuage the devastating effects of academic related stress on the performances scores of their students (children) in Ordinary Level Chemistry. Suggestions for further studies were made.
academic-related stress, anxiety, depression, academic performance
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