Middle School Students’ Sources of Learning Pressure Survey (SSS) – Chinese Version

Description

Stress, also known as “stress response”, has not yet reached a unified conceptual definition in the academic field. Based on a review of existing literature, this research outlines definitions from various scholars regarding “stress” and “academic stress”. Studies on “stress” began in the 1980s with foreign scholars: Lazarus and Folkman (1985) describe stress as a response of the body when an individual’s coping ability cannot handle current events and responsibilities. Gmelch (1993) views stress as the experience when individuals are overwhelmed in certain aspects. Philip (2000) summarized definitions of stress across different disciplines: from a behaviorist perspective, stress is an external, physical force; from psychology, it is an internal state of tension and emotions; from physiology, it is a physiological arousal or defense response of the body; from a cognitive perspective, stress is the interaction and influence between individuals and their environment.

Learning stress is defined as the manifestation of stress in academic contexts. Notably, Verma et al. (1990) describe academic stress as a psychologically distressing feeling related to the experience of academic failure or the anticipated frustration of potential failure (Liu Chunxia, 2018). Scholar Putwain (2007) defines academic stress as a worrying emotion connected to uncertain future outcomes of one’s academic performance, which students can perceive in advance (Liu Chunxia, 2018). Domestic scholars, such as Meng Yingfang (2001) and Lin Chongde et al. (2003), characterize academic stress as a negative emotional experience, especially when students encounter learning difficulties. Lin Chongde also noted that when learners feel external environmental demands and hold certain expectations for their academic futures, academic stress arises. Cui Weiguo (2003) found that the demands from the external environment and self-imposed expectations can create a burden, known as academic stress. Chen Xu (2004) discovered that when students feel incapable of meeting academic tasks and demands, they experience a sense of failure in their academic experiences and show maladaptive phenomena.

Authors and Contact Email

Chen Xu – email information not available

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to define academic stress as the uncomfortable experience resulting from the contradictions between the individual and the external environment during learning-related activities.

Test Year

2004

Administration Method and Scoring

The “Sources of Learning Stress Questionnaire for Middle School Students” was developed by Chen Xu in 2004. It includes items that ask students to indicate whether certain factors constitute stress in their learning experience (e.g., causing annoyance or discomfort). Respondents rate the level of stress using the following Likert scale:
1.没有压力 (No Stress)
2.压力小 (Low Stress)
3.压力中等 (Moderate Stress)
4.压力较大 (High Stress)
5.压力很大，几乎无法承受 (Very High Stress, Almost Unbearable)

Reliability and Validity

The internal consistency coefficient of the questionnaire was measured at 0.9041, with correlations between various factors and the total score ranging from 0.618 to 0.880, indicating a high correlation among the items and good reliability and validity for use as a research tool.

Factors and Subscales

The questionnaire includes various factors leading to academic stress.

Keywords

Academic stress, coping strategies, psychological mechanisms, high school students, stress questionnaire

Items in Chinese

1. 老师要求过高。
2. 学习内容难度太大。
3. 需要掌握的内容太多。
4. 基础差，跟不上其他同学。
5. 学习方法欠缺。
6. 父母管教太严。
7. 作业太多，无法按时完成。
8. 考试太多。
9. 家长或老师认为成绩好才是好学生。
10. 老师严厉处罚或侮辱。
11. 希望进入班上或年级前几名。
12. 考试成绩不理想。
13. 总想超过某个同学的成绩。
14. 自己成绩不如他人。
15. 未来的前途。
16. 怕考不上自己理想的大学。
17. 以自己的学习赢得别人的尊重。
18. 没有机会展示自己的才能。
19. 自己的兴趣没有得到满足。
20. 自己掌握的东西太少了。
21. 父母的期望。
22. 老师的期望。
23. 同学的期望。
24. 亲友的期望。
25. 班级的希望。
26. 社会的要求。
27. 学习时间太少，不够用。
28. 自己时间的分配不合理。
29. 学习时间太长。
30. 社会活动或工作占用时间过多。
31. 余暇时间利用不好。
32. 时间投入与学习效果不成比例。
33. 自由支配的时间太少。
34. 自己曾经有过惨痛的失败。
35. 害怕考差了。
36. 失败后别人冷嘲热讽。
37. 学习上总是落后于其他同学。
38. 没有分到理想的班级。
39. 学习上收到老师的冷遇。
40. 竞赛失败。
41. 受到老师的批评。
42. 受到父母的指责。
43. 学习上总是达不到自己的目标。
44. 我绝不能比某某同学学习差。
45. 保住现在的名次。
46. 排名靠后太不光彩。
47. 稍一放松，就会被别人超过。
48. 老师总是把我与其他同学相比，没有优势。
49. 我与班上其他同学相比，没有优势。
50. 每次考试都要排名次、公布名次。
51. 周围的竞争对手太强。
52. 别人都在进步，而自己没有进步。
53. 父母总是把我与别人比较。
54. 别人都在拼命加油学习。
55. 考试的恐怖情境。
56. 别人经常议论学习或考试。
57. 外借舆论过分渲染。
58. 自己周围的朋友成绩都很好。
59. 自己周围的朋友成绩都不好。
60. 没有安静的学习环境。
61. 学习或班上学习气氛太差。
62. 别人学得好玩得好，而自己学不好也玩不好。

Items in English

1. Teachers have excessively high expectations.
2. Learning content is too difficult.
3. There is too much content to master.
4. Weak foundation, unable to keep up with other classmates.
5. Lack of effective learning methods.
6. Parents are overly strict.
7. Too much homework, unable to complete on time.
8. Too many exams.
9. Parents or teachers believe good grades define a good student.
10. Harsh punishment or ridicule from teachers.
11. Aspiration to be among the top students in the class or grade.
12. Poor exam performance.
13. Always wanting to surpass the grades of a specific classmate.
14. Feeling one’s grades are inferior to others.
15. Concerns about future prospects.
16. Fear of not getting into an ideal university.
17. Seeking respect through personal academic performance.
18. No opportunity to showcase personal abilities.
19. Personal interests are not being met.
20. Feeling inadequate in knowledge acquisition.
21. Expectations from parents.
22. Expectations from teachers.
23. Expectations from classmates.
24. Expectations from friends and relatives.
25. Aspirations of the class.
26. Societal demands.
27. Insufficient study time.
28. Unreasonable allocation of personal time.
29. Excessive study time.
30. Too much time consumed by social activities or work.
31. Poor utilization of leisure time.
32. Discrepancy between time invested and learning outcomes.
33. Limited discretionary time.
34. Previous painful failures.
35. Fear of failing in exams.
36. Derision from others after failure.
37. Always lagging behind classmates in studies.
38. Not assigned to an ideal class.
39. Neglect from teachers in terms of studies.
40. Failing in competitions.
41. Receiving criticism from teachers.
42. Being reprimanded by parents.
43. Continuously failing to reach personal academic goals.
44. Absolutely cannot perform worse than a specific classmate.
45. Maintaining the current ranking is crucial.
46. Low ranking is embarrassing.
47. A slight relaxation leads to being surpassed.
48. Teachers often compare me unfavorably to other classmates.
49. I have no advantages compared to other classmates.
50. Every exam must have rankings published.
51. Surrounding competition is too strong.
52. Others are progressing while I am stagnant.
53. Parents always compare me with others.
54. Everyone is working hard to study.
55. The terrifying examination situation.
56. Others frequently discuss learning or exams.
57. Over-exaggeration by external opinions.
58. Friends around me perform very well.
59. Friends around me perform poorly.
60. No quiet study environment.
61. Poor learning atmosphere in class or school.
62. Others do well academically and socially, while I struggle in both.

References

何怡晓. 高中生学习压力,自我控制与学业拖延的相关研究. 2020.天津师范大学.
陈旭. (2004). 中学生学习压力、应对策略及应对的心理机制研究. 博士学位论文. 西南师范大学.