Academic-related demands that exceed students’ adaptive capabilities are collectively known as academic stress. High levels of academic stress are associated with an increased likelihood of depression, insomnia, substance addiction, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and subsequently, quitting education. Globally, academic stress is now a common phenomenon due to COVID-19-induced changes in the education system. Knowledge of the magnitude of academic stress and its factors can enable early recognition, intervention, and alleviation of the problem. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of perceived academic stress and identify the main stressors through a cross-sectional survey using the Manipal Inventory of Academic Stress scale. The study participants involved 2152 Grade 11 and 12 Commerce students enrolled in 34 pre-university colleges in coastal Karnataka. A stratified cluster sampling method was used in the study. Statistical methods, namely descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression analysis, two-sample independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA tests, were used in the study. The study observed that one in every four pre-university students experienced high levels of perceived academic stress. Parent expectations, academic queries from neighbours and relatives, and lack of time for revision were identified as the top three stressors. Gender, grade, and mother’s education were associated with academic stress. Interventions at the individual, family, institutional, and community levels are the need of the hour to safeguard adolescents from negative experiences that might deprive them of wellness in their future.

• Abd-El-Fattah, S. M. (2006). Effects of family background and parental involvement on Egyptian adolescents’ academic achievement and school disengagement: A structural equation modelling analysis. Social Psychology of Education, 9(2), 139-157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-006-0009-1

• Agolla, J., & Ongori, H. (2009). An assessment of academic stress among undergraduate students: The case of the University of Botswana. Educational Research and Reviews, 4, 063-070.

• Alsulami, S., Al Omar, Z., Binnwejim, M. S., Alhamdan, F., Aldrees, A., Al-Bawardi, Alsohim, M., & Alhabeeb, M. (2018). Perception of academic stress among health science preparatory program students in two Saudi universities. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 9, 159-164. https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S143151

• Ang, R. P., & Huan, V. S. (2006). Relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation: Testing for depression as a mediator using multiple regression. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 37(2), 133-143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-006-0023-8

• Ayre, C., & Scally, A. J. (2014). Critical values for Lawshe’s content validity ratio: Revisiting the original methods of calculation. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 47(1), 79-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748175613513808

• Basu, S., Zuo, X., Lou, C., Acharya, R., & Lundgren, R. (2017). Learning to be gendered: Gender socialization in early adolescence among urban poor in Delhi, India, and Shanghai, China. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(4), S24-S29.

• Bernstein, D., Penner, L. A., Clarke-Stewart, A., & Roy, E. (2012). Psychology. Cengage Learning.

• Bhat, U. S., Amaresha, A. C., Kodancha, P., John, S., Kumar, S., Aiman, A., Jain, P. A., & Cherian, A. V. (2018). Psychological distress among college students of coastal district of Karnataka: A community-based cross-sectional survey. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 20-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2018.10.006

• Chandan, K. P., & Shivappa, R. (2020). Academic stress among higher secondary school students: An overview. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 8(10), 3858-3862.

• Chellamuthu, S., & Venkatachalam, J. (2019). Parental expectations and their relation to academic stress among school students. International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 6(2), 95-99. http://www.ijrar.org/IJRAR19L1016.pdf

• Davis-Kean, P. E. (2005). The influence of parent education and family income on child achievement: The indirect role of parental expectations and the home environment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19(2), 294-304. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.19.2.294

• Deb, S., Strodl, E., & Sun, J. (2014). Academic-related stress among private secondary school students in India. Asian Education and Development Studies, 3(2), 118-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-02-2013-0007

• Deb, S., Strodl, E., & Sun, J. (2015). Academic stress, parental pressure, anxiety and mental health among Indian high school students. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, 5(1), 26-34. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijpbs.20150501.04

• Gupta, N., & Sharma, A. K. (2002). Women academic scientists in India. Social Studies of Science, 32(5/6), 901-905. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631270203200505

• Huan, V. S., See, Y. L., Ang, R. P., & Har, C. W. (2008). The impact of adolescent concerns on their academic stress. Educational Review, 60(2), 169-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131910801934045

• Kar, S. K., Arafat, S. M. Y., Sharma, P., Dixit, A., Marthoenis, M., & Kabir, R. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and addiction: Current problems and future concerns. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51, 102064-102064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102064

• Kingdon, G. G. (2007). The progress of school education in India. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 23(2), 168-195. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/grm015

• Leeshma, K., & Colaco, G. (2019). A study to assess the psycho-social problems among adolescent students of selected pre-university colleges. Pearl, 5(2), 97-108.

• Liu, Y., & Lu, Z. (2012). Chinese high school students’ academic stress and depressive symptoms: Gender and school climate as moderators. Stress and Health, 28(4), 340-346. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2418

• Mahapatra, A., & Sharma, P. (2020). Education in times of COVID-19 pandemic: Academic stress and its psycho-social impact on children and adolescents in India. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 67(4), 397-399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020961801

• Mathew, N., Khakha, D. C., Qureshi, A., Sagar, R., & Khakha, C. C. (2015). Stress and coping among adolescents in selected schools in the Capital City of India. Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 82(9), 809-816. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-015-1710-x

• Moon, S. S., & Lee, J. (2009). Multiple predictors of Asian American children’s school achievement. Early Education and Development, 20(1), 129-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409280802206635

• Nikitha, S., Jose, T. T., & Valsaraj, B. P. (2014). A correlational study on academic stress and self-esteem among higher secondary students in selected schools of Udupi district. Nitte University Journal of Health Science, 4(1), 106-108.

• Pascoe, M., Hetrick, S., & Parker, A. (2019). The impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823

• Pituch, K. A., & Stevens, J. P. (2015). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences: Analyses with SAS and IBM’s SPSS. Routledge.

• Putwain, D. (2007). Researching academic stress and anxiety in students: Some methodological considerations. British Educational Research Journal, 33(2), 207-219. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701208258

• Rapheal, J., & Paul, V. (2018). Parental educational involvement and educational stress among adolescents of Kerala: Mediational effect of psychological control. Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry, 34(3), 231-238. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijsp.ijsp_121_17

• Reddy, K., Rajan Menon, K., & Thattil, A. (2018). Academic stress and its sources among university students. Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal, 11, 531-537. https://doi.org/10.13005/bpj/1404

• Rentala, S., Lau, B. H. P., Aladakatti, R., & Thimmajja, S. G. (2019). Effectiveness of holistic group health promotion program on educational stress, anxiety, and depression among adolescent girls - A pilot study. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 8(3), 1082-1089. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_378_18

• Rentala, S., Nayak, R. B., Patil, S. D., Hegde, G. S., & Aladakatti, R. (2019). Academic stress among Indian adolescent girls. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 8, 158-158. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_116_19

• Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R. and Wrightsman, L. S. (1991). Criteria for scale selection and evaluation. In Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R. & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 1-16). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-590241-0.50005-8

• Roy, K., Kamath, V., Kamath, A., Alex, J., & Hegde, A. (2015). Prevalence of stress and stress tolerance levels among adolescent boys - A district level cross sectional study in South India. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 29(4), Article 20150054. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2015-0054

• Singh, S., Roy, D., Sinha, K., Parveen, S., Sharma, G., & Joshi, G. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations. Psychiatry Research, 293, Article 113429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113429

• Sivagurunathan, C., Umadevi, R., Rama, R., & Gopalakrishnan, S. (2015). Adolescent health: Present status and its related programmes in India. Are we in the right direction? Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 9(3), LE01-LE06. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2015/11199.5649

• Tang, N. Y. Y., & Westwood, P. (2007). Worry, general self-efficacy and school achievement: An exploratory study with Chinese adolescents. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 17(1), 68-80. https://doi.org/10.1375/ajgc.17.1.68

• Tomar, S., Verma, G., David, A., Thakur, M., Judith, M., Parmar, P., Shriyan, P., & Jaswal, R. (2014). Study on stress and coping strategies among private and government high school children in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka-A cross sectional study. IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.9790/1959-03242730

• United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. (2019). Adolescent development and participation. https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/adolescent-development-participation

• Venkatachalam, J., & Chellamuthu, S. (2019). Sources of academic stress among higher secondary school students. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 9(7), 488-492.

• Verma, A. (2019). Assessment of coping strategies for stress and depression among adolescents in Udupi taluk, Karnataka. Indian Journal of Community Health, 31(3), 407-412.

• World Health Organization. (2020, November 17). Adolescent mental health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health

• Yusoff, M. S. B., Abdul Rahim, A. F., & Yaacob, M. J. (2010). Prevalence and sources of stress among Universiti Sains Malaysia medical students. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 17(1), 30-37.