Exploring the relationship between academic anxiety and psychological well-being in 12th grade students

Abstract

Introduction. Graduates experience a lot of stress, which can also worsen their psychological well-being. Aim of this study was to determine the relationship between academic anxiety and psychological well-being of 12th grade students. Methods. Participants were 12th grade students of Alytus, Kaunas and Taurage participated in the study (n = 262). The research used an anonymous questionnaire survey. To determine the psychological well-being, Lithuanian Psychological Well-Being Scale for Youth (LPGS-J) was used. Cassady Academic anxiety scale was used to determine the academic anxiety. Socio-demographic indicators were also evaluated. Statistical data analysis was performed using the SPSS for Windows 29.0 statistical package, univariate and bivariate analyses were performed. Results. A third (31%) 12th grade students felt average or above average (34%) academic anxiety. Girls had statistically significantly higher academic anxiety than boys (mean ranks 145.5 and 99.7, p < 0.001). Students living in urban area (big or average city) were found to experience higher academic anxiety than students living in a rural area (small town or village) (mean ranks 139.2 and 119.3, p = 0.031). Level of psychological well-being of the graduates was higher than average (3.5 ± 0.64 out of a possible 5 points). The expression of psychological well-being in certain aspects of it differs between gender (p < 0.05). Moreover, as the academic anxiety of 12th grade students increases, the psychological well-being in the analyzed aspects decreases (p < 0.05). In the sample of girls, the relationships between these two analyzed constructs were more pronounced than in the sample of boys (ρ = –0.67; ρ = –0.54, p < 0.05). Conclusions. The findings indicate that a significant proportion of 12th grade students experience average to above average levels of academic anxiety, with notable differences between genders and living environments. Moreover, as academic anxiety increases, elements of psychological well-being tend to diminish, particularly in female students.