Parents/teachers and self-expectations as sources of academic stress

Abstract

This study investigated expectations as sources of academic stress specifically among college freshmen. A total of 597 college freshmen enrolled in a state college in the Philippines during the First Semester of School Year 2011-2012 were asked to respond to the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI). AESI is a nine-item inventory with two domains: expectations of parents/teachers and expectations of self. This study specifically dealt on the responses to expectations as sources of academic stress and whether male and female college freshmen differed with reference to perceived parents/teachers' expectations, self-expectations, and academic expectations in general. Statistical analyses revealed that the means of responses of the college freshmen to the items in the AESI ranged from 3.091 to 3.746 with 1 as the minimum and 5 as the maximum response in every item. Also, male and female college freshmen significantly differed in perceived parents/teachers' expectations, self-expectations, and academic expectations in general.