From Leaving CertiFiCate to Leaving SChooL a Longitudinal Study ...

Academic Stress and the Leaving Certificate 77
If I went home I’d be watching TV for an hour eating my dinner or
whatever, whereas when you come into supervised study straight after
school, you have to do it like, you’ve nothing else to do like. And
you get it all done then or whatever, it’s grand. (Argyle Street, coed
school, mixed intake)
I think it’s good in the study hall because they’re supervising us. So
you’re not actually able to do anything else so you kind of have to
get it done. Like I can’t study at home, there’s so much things to do
at home, I get distracted so easily. (Fig Lane, coed school, middleclass
intake)
Other students, however, recognised that it was important to take a break
after school and relax before starting to study again in the evening:
I just find sometimes if you are in school you prefer just to go home
and just relax for a while rather than going to it straight away. (Wattle
Street, boys’ school, mixed intake)
3.3 Stress Among Sixth Year Students
In the questionnaire, sixth year students were presented with a set of
statements and asked whether they experienced these feelings of stress
more or less than usual in the few weeks prior to the survey. These items
are based on a modified version of the General Health Questionnaire
(Goldberg, 1978), designed to reflect current stress. This scale was previously
used in relation to sixth year students in 1994. Hannan et al.’s
(1996) study indicated that exam pressure played an important role in
student stress levels, with particularly high levels found among academically
engaged female students. Further analysis (Smyth, 1999) indicated
that certain aspects of school climate could influence student stress levels.
Among both Junior and Leaving Certificate students, those experiencing
greater levels of negative interaction with teachers and with peers
(in the form of bullying) reported significantly higher stress levels as did
those in schools with a strong academic orientation.
Figure 3.4 shows the profile of sixth year student responses to these
statements. The levels of stress found are comparable to those found
among Leaving Certificate students in 1994 and markedly higher than