Abstract:

In recent years, stress has become the subject of many studies. The degree of perceived stress significantly affects personal life but also functioning in the academic environment. Academic self-efficacy is a psychological construct that relates to an individual’s beliefs about one’s control over the circumstances and the ability to influence one’s life. In the academic environment, self-efficacy is an important element that greatly influences the students’ abilities to fulfil the requirements and tasks relating to the study. Therefore, a positive image of oneself may have an effect on the perception of stress as such.

The aim of the research study is to examine whether there is a correlation between perceived stress and academic self-efficacy. The research sample consisted of 207 university students (age range 19–50, mean age = 23.88, SD = 5.3) of whom 19 were male (mean age = 25.2, SD = 4.8) and 188 were female (mean age = 23.7, SD = 5.4). The research method was based on two questionnaires. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) measures the degree to which the situations in an individual’s life are stressful. The academic self-efficacy questionnaire has a total of 40 items and covers 12 dimensions that saturate the overall score. The reliability of the overall score achieves ω = 0.898. Statistical processing of the data was made using the SPSS 20 programme. The data were analysed using descriptive statistical methods and the Pearson correlation analysis. The study was conducted in compliance with applicable ethical principles. The Pearson correlation analysis suggested a correlation between perceived stress and academic self-efficacy. Perceived stress was positively correlated with almost all of the dimensions of academic self-efficacy, including total score (r = 0.430), learning process (r = 0.142), comprehension (r = 0.248), memory (r = 0.249), curricular activities (r = 0.243), time management (r = 0.337), teacher student relationship (r = 0.194), utilization of resources (r = 0.367), peer relationship (r = 0.225), goal orientation (r = 0.247), adjustment (r = 0.434), examination (r = 0.322). No correlations were observed in the reading scale (r = 0.120). An interesting finding is that in comparison with other studies all of the correlations are positive.

Keywords:

Academic self-efficacy, stress, students, university.