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.
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.
","abstract_html":"<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>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Alter, Benjamin S"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Education","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Education, Leadership and Public Service","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Sharon Bohjanen"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z","subjects":["education","stress","secondary","post-secondary","thesis","Curriculum and Instruction"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/900","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Sharon Bohjanen"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Alter, Benjamin S"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-07-09T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education, Leadership and Public Service"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Education"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["education","stress","secondary","post-secondary","thesis","Curriculum and Instruction"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/900"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["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.
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.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Identifying and Examining Stressors in the Secondary and Post-Secondary Classroom"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Sharon Bohjanen"],"dc:creator":["Alter, Benjamin S"],"dc:date.available":["2025-07-09T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["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.
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.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/900"],"dc:subject":["education","stress","secondary","post-secondary","thesis","Curriculum and Instruction"],"dc:title":["Identifying and Examining Stressors in the Secondary and Post-Secondary Classroom"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education, Leadership and Public Service"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Education"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z"}