Academic Stress as a Correlate of Academic Achievement Among Undergraduates in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

This study investigated academic stress as a correlate of academic achievement among undergraduates in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Three research questions guided the study, and one null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Correlation research design was adopted for the study. The population for this study consisted of 11,039 second year undergraduates from all the 16 faculties in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The sample of the study consisted of 1,076 undergraduates drawn through multi-stage sampling procedure. The instruments used for the study was Academic Stress Scale (ASS) with a reliability coefficient alpha of 0.72. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used for data analysis. Results obtained from the study showed that majority of the undergraduates in Nnamdi Azikiwe University have high academic stress. The results also revealed that majority of the university undergraduates have average academic achievement in Communication in English. Finally, the result showed academic stress is a high negative significant correlate of the university undergraduates’ academic achievement in Communication in English. The study concluded, among others that university undergraduates’ level of academic stress is a high negative significant correlate of their academic achievement. It was recommended, among others that since many of the university undergraduates are experiencing high academic stress which could be the reason for their poor academic achievement, university counsellors should design effective stress management intervention strategies to help undergraduates adequately cope with stressors in the universities