Korean J Fam Pract.  2021 Feb;11(1):46-51. 10.21215/kjfp.2021.11.1.46.

Relationship between Mental Health Status of Teenagers and Academic Achievement: Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey, 2018

• Cho JH
• Cho SJ
• Kwon MH

• KMID: 2513127
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2021.11.1.46

Abstract

Background
The developmental stage of adolescence contains many tasks assisting in the ability to grow into a healthy adult; however, numerous studies have reported that a majority of teenagers today have emotional, behavioral, and social problems. Many scholars argue these stem from an emphasis on academic achievement. Therefore, this study examines the impact of academic performance on adolescents’ mental health.
Methods
This study used the date of “2018 Korea Youth’s Risk Behavior Web-Based Study “conducted by the KCDC. It included 60,040 students’ data. Mental health evaluation criteria included level of stress, sleep satisfaction over the past seven days, the experience of being sad enough to stop daily life activity over the past 12 months, and the experience of seriously considering suicide over the past 12 months. A logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratio of having mental health problems after adjusting sex, middle & high school factors.
Results
In the “low academic performing group”, a great number of mental health problems were identified and a high level of stress was found than in “high academic performing group”. All students with poor academic performance reported poor sleep satisfaction and experiencing severe depression. Further, they showed a high correlation with the experience of thinking about suicide. From these findings, it can be inferred that low academic performance impacts the mental health of students.
Conclusion
The study depicts the relationship between academic performance and the following variables: level of stress, satisfaction with sleep, the experience of severe depression, and suicidal thoughts.

Keyword

Academic Performance; Mental Status; Adolescent; Academic Stress