The effect of cognitive-behavioral stress management on decreasing academic expectation stress of parents: A case of first grade high school students

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of cognitive-behavioral stress management on decreasing academic expectation stress in first grade high school students who suffered academic stress. Eighty five students were screened based on acquiring scores higher than mean (one standard deviation higher than the mean) from among 250 first grade high school girls who were found to be suffering from academic stress. Fifty four students were selected by simple random sampling and were assigned to the intervention and control groups. With a pre-test and post-test control group design, the participants in the experimental group undergone 10 sessions of cognitive-behavioral stress management training. Then, both groups were evaluated using Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI) in pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed by MANCOVA. The results showed that there were not significant differences between two the groups in pretest, but cognitive-behavioral stress management training significantly decreased the academic expectation stress scores in experimental group. The cognitive behavioral stress management training could be considered as an intervention program in target groups and general population in university counseling centers. By reducing academic stress of high school students, it can increase educational productivity of schools.