Identifying and Examining Stressors in the Secondary and Post-Secondary Classroom

<p>Students in secondary and post-secondary classrooms are openly exposed to stressors that can be considered impactful in their day-to-day lives.These stressors can be categorized as either “positive,” which serve as motivators, or “negative,” which often cause anxiety. In order to understand the stressors that students experience, students in a rural teacher education program at Northern Michigan University were asked to respond anonymously to a survey asking about stressors at the secondary and post-secondary levels. The survey was given to students enrolled in the Winter & Fall semesters of 2023, and the Winter semester of 2024. Students identified stressors from their secondary setting retrospectively and their current stressors during their post-secondary setting.</p> <p>In conducting a qualitative analysis of the responses from the survey, patterns and themes emerged from the data of reported stressors. These stressors came from a variety of different areas, but they could be grouped into one of nine categories: Academic Performance, Social Standing, Abuse, Family Related, Extra Curricular, Identity, Responsibility, Wellbeing, and Other. This paper serves as an in-depth look at self-reported stress in the secondary and post-secondary classroom.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education, Leadership and Public Service

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Alter, Benjamin S

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Sharon Bohjanen

• education
• stress
• secondary
• post-secondary
• thesis
• Curriculum and Instruction

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/900

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.nmu.edu:theses-1954