School-related stress among sixth-grade students – Associations with academic buoyancy and temperament

Publication date: February 2019Source: Learning and Individual Differences, Volume 70Author(s): Riikka Hirvonen, Laura Yli-Kivistö, David W. Putwain, Timo Ahonen, Noona KiuruAbstractThe present study examined to what extent sixth-grade students' academic buoyancy and temperament contributed to their school-related stress. A total of 845 students rated their school-related stress at the beginning and end of the school year and their academic buoyancy at the beginning of the year. Parents rated students' effortful control and negative affectivity. The results showed that high academic buoyancy, high effortful control, and low negative affectivity at the beginning of the school year were related to lower school-related stress at the end of the school year, after controlling for gender, GPA, and previous level of stress. Effortful control and negative affectivity had no significant interaction effect with academic buoyancy on students' school-related stress. The findings of the study suggest that interventions aiming at supporting students' academic buoyancy may also decrease their feelings of school stress. In particular, students with high negative affectivity or low effortful control may need training in stress management skills.
Source: Learning and Individual Differences - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research