School stress in India: Effects on time and daily emotions

Abstract

Like adolescents in East Asia, Indian middle-class adolescents face a highly competitive examination system. This study examines the influence of school demands on the daily time use and subjective states of Indian young people. One hundred urban, middle-class, 8th-grade students carried alarm watches for 1 week and provided 4764 reports on their activities and subjective states at random times, following the procedures of the Experience Sampling Method. These adolescents were found to spend one third of their waking time in school-related activities, with girls spending more time than boys. Schoolwork generated negative subjective states as reflected in low affect state, below-average activation levels, lower feeling of choice, and higher social anxiety. These negative states were most frequent during homework. The trade-off faced by Indian adolescents were evident in the findings that those who spent more time doing homework experienced lower average emotional states and more internalising problems, while those who spent more time in leisure experienced more favourable states but also reported higher academic anxiety and lower scholastic achievement.