Academic stress and coping strategies of NEET aspirants: A study in Kamrup District

Childhood is the period of visualizing dreams and building aspirations, while adolescence is the period of conceptualizing those dreams and stepping up to make them a reality. India’s youth population is large and growing, around 367 million in 2026, and they are potential sources of innovation and creativity and contributors to the economy and nation-building. But what strikes here is that with increasing academic and career pressure, expectations, and fierce competition, the overall well-being of the students, especially the ones preparing for competitive examinations such as JEE and NEET, is at stake. The present study aims to study two such psychological variables, i.e., academic stress level and level of stress coping strategies among the higher secondary science students preparing for NEET examinations. For this, the investigators have employed descriptive survey method on 100 NEET aspirants studying in five coaching institutions of Kamrup District (Metro) of Assam. A questionnaire consisting of 50 items, i.e., 30 closed-ended items measuring the level of academic stress and 20 closed-ended items measuring the level of stress coping strategies, is used, which are adapted from two standardized psychological scales-- Academic Stress Scale (ASS-KKSSN) developed by Satish Kumar Kalhotra and Narendra Singh and the Stress Coping Strategies (SCSS-SKMSS) developed by Manish Kumar Sharma and Dr. Surabhi Sharma. The study shows an average to high level of academic stress among the aspirants, while, also seeing average to above-average level of stress coping, mostly inclined towards healthy coping mechanisms, while a few also exhibiting unhealthy coping strategies.