CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The importance of Non academic activities on college campuses is well established. The primary goals of Non academic activities focus on the individual student level, the institutional level, and the broader community level. These activities exist to complement the university's academic curriculum and to augment the student's educational experience. According to a 1993 article by Alexander Astin, almost any type of student involvement in college positively affects student learning and development. Non academic activities provide a setting to become involved and to interact with other students, thus leading to increased learning and enhanced development. Specifically, a student's peer group is the most important source of influence on a student's academic and personal development. By identifying with a peer group, that group may influence a student's affective and cognitive development as well as his or her behavior.
Research conducted by Kerssen-Griep, Hess, and Tree. (2003) on learning motivation and interaction in school shows that student perception of instructional behaviour sustains their involvement in classroom. Jackson, Weiss, Lundquist, and Hooper (2003) examine the degree to which cognitive motivation predicts academic performance. They point out that increased school activity may assist motivation. Paul and White (1990) examined Non academic activity participation and academic achievement in a senior high school setting. They found that Non academic activities and academic performance were highly correlated. They supported the hypothesis stated by Mynell (2004) more involvement in school activities means a better grade point average.
Stress is rapidly becoming a part of our daily lives. Historically speaking, the Latin word “stress” has been in household language since the seventeenth century and was used to address hardship, adversity, or affliction. However, stress is best described as a situation where environmental demands exceed the capacity for effective response by the individual and can potentially have physical and psychological consequences. Coping with stress, on the other hand, is important for human existence and can simply be defined as the process of managing external or internal demands that are perceived as taxing on personal capacities and resources. Stress, among Undergraduate students in particular, has been a topic of interest for many years. Indeed, there is evidence that Undergraduate students face unique academic challenges that render them more vulnerable to stress and anxiety. undergraduate students, especially freshmen, are particularly prone to stress due to the transitional nature of school life, where school life compels students to acquire entirely new social skills and also be responsible for their own personal needs.
On top of all, more strain comes from social adjustment, particularly adjusting to non academic and university life while separating one’s self from family and friends. In addition, tests, grades, competition, time demands, a host of non academic activities, professional class environment, and concern about future careers were found to be major source of academic stress.
A different study on stress management suggested that monitoring student-stress and the methods utilized to deal with it could have valuable implications for higher education administrators. With all the evidence presented above on how the undergraduate student life is burdened with stress, failure to resolve student stress in the long-term could have serious professional and personal consequences.
Coping has been viewed as a stabilizing factor that may assist an individual in psychosocial adaptation during stressful events. Coping techniques often used by students, to reduce level of stress include, effective time management, social support, positive reappraisal, and engagement in leisurely pursuits. There is also emotion-based coping that involves accepting responsibility and self-blame, and this type of coping is more useful in the first year of study, while in later years the trend shifted towards confronting, cognitive, and planned problem solving. It has also been found that students with engagement strategy of coping are able to modify situations, resulting in a more adaptive outcome, and also have reported fewer symptoms of depression.
Coping strategies can be defined as the person’s constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage a particular external or internal demand that are required as taxing or exceeding the persons resources. Previously, research showed that a number of students with an active coping style experience lower levels of psychological distress. In view of this potential long term benefits in managing stress in a more reliable way, it can be of importance for students to develop these skills early enough in their medical career/choices. Stress does not only happen at workplaces but students are also subjected to different kinds of stressors, which include the presence of the academics with a responsibility to succeed, a future that is uncertain and challenges of fitting into the system. The students also face social, emotional, physical and family problems which also affect their learning abilities and general academic performance. As a result of this, it is important that individual involve should develop different strategies and methods in order to manage and cope with stressful situations. In terms of stress management, Lazarus and Folkman defined eight separate coping strategies that they believed individuals employed in stressful situations. These are challenges, seeking social support, planned problem-solving, self-control, taking responsibility, distancing, positive reappraisal, and escape/avoidance of stress.
In recent times the involvement of Nigerian students most especially our undergraduates of various high institutions have geometrically increased in recent time but what continues to be a problem is that despite their involvement in several non academic activities their ability to cope have been seriously questioned as it has resulted to poor grades and below par academic performances which has resulted to the production of half baked graduates in our higher institutions.
The major aim of the study is to examine students’ involvement in non academic activities and the coping techniques among undergraduates in Nigeria. Other specific objectives of the study are to;
The study would be of immense importance to undergraduates, tertiary schools and relevant stakeholders as it would reveal students coping techniques and their involvement in non academic activities. The study would also benefit researchers and scholars who are interested in developing further studies on the subject matter.
The study is restricted to students’ involvement in non academic activities and their coping techniques.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The limitation of the work is quite enormous, since there is no availability of financial support to aid enough material for this study and the short time given for the study also made it difficult to accumulate enough information as possible for the study.
STRESS: A physical factor, such as injury, or mental state, such as anxiety, that disturbs the body's normal state of functioning.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: is the outcome of education — the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals.
NON ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES: not falling within the scope of a regular curriculum; specifically: of or relating to officially or semiofficially approved and usually organized student activities (as athletics) connected with school and usually carrying no academic credit
Accounting/ Audit/ Finance Jobs
Administration/ Office/ Operations Jobs
Advertising/ Social Media Jobs
Copyright © 2024 All Right Reserved CVClue
A Subsidiary of EMINENT INFO TECH VENTURES