• Dr. Krishan Kumar

Mental health is a state of mental well-being that helps student cope with life's challenges, understand their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their communities. It is an essential part of health and well-being that supports our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships, and shape the world we live in. Emotional health is a basic human right. Mental health has become an important topic in today's time as many students are facing difficulties in real life situations. Even before the pandemic, schools and other institutions had to deal with increased demand for care. Stress has become a significant part of human life. Anything that disrupts our comfort or poses a threat constitutes stress. It is difficult for students to avoid academic stress, and it impacts their performance across all study-related activities. Academic stress plays a major role in determining students' mental health. This study was conducted to find out the relationship between study-related stress and mental health among school students. 250 high school students were selected through 'Stratified Random Sampling' from government and private schools in and around Palwal city of Haryana. The results showed that private school students experienced more academic stress than public school students, and private school students had better mental health than other students. It was also found that there was a significant relationship between the mental health of high school students and academic stress. Its results are described in this article. The number of youth experiencing sadness or despair has been continuously increasing since 2013. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 40% of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, nearly a third of students had poor mental health, and 20% had seriously considered suicide. It was found that female and LGBTQ students were more likely to experience these mental health problems than their peers. Even though there has been a lot of conversation about it, there is still a lot of need to understand how we look at mental health issues in students. In addition to students developing mental health issues during higher education, there are also a growing number of students who arrive on campus with pre-existing mental health or substance use issues, or who have experienced major trauma in their lives, making them more likely to react to stress. Managing that stress reaction can consume attention al energy—the “bandwidth” needed for academic success—which can harm their physical, emotional, and mental health. Today's millennial are intelligent, hardworking and capable in terms of studies or work. Yet, despite much strength, there are many reasons why Millennial face mental health issues in higher education institutions. This may be especially true for students from historically underrepresented groups—such as first-generation college students, students from underfunded high schools whose first language is not English, students with disabilities, and sexual and gender minorities—when experiencing mental health issues. Mental health is a state of mental well-being that helps people cope with life's challenges, understand their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their communities. It is an essential part of health and well-being that supports our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships, and improve the world we live in. Emotional health is a basic human right. On almost every scale, the mental health of students is declining. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is "complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Mental health has become an important role in today's time as many students are facing difficulties in real life situations. Going through college can be a very difficult experience for young people. Due to the heavy burden and expense of studying, many college students struggle with mental health issues such as anxiety, mood problems, and substance abuse problems. According to several studies (Brown, 2016; Mojtabai et al., 2015; Richardson, 2015), students who experience mental health issues are less likely to complete or pass a course or module, are more likely to drop out of college, and are less likely to get good grades (Eisenberg et al., 2009). Even before the pandemic, schools and other institutions were facing increasing demand for care that far exceeded their capacity. At the same time, it has also become clear that the traditional model of counseling centers is not sufficient to deal with this problem. The demand for counseling services has grown rapidly over the past ten years, and for good reason. Higher education has now become an option for a large section of the society; Evidence of this is that more students are seeking mental health treatment on campus today than in previous generations. When a person comes to university, there are major changes in his social, family and personal life, which increases the risk of mental problems. For this reason, during this time, the student's mental health—which is an important part of overall health—becomes even more important (Anbari. Z, 2013). According to Kaplan, mental health is a continuous effort to manage one's needs and the needs of a constantly changing environment, as well as to adapt to changing circumstances (F. Ghamari, 2010). A person with poor mental health is unable to move ahead and perform his responsibilities properly. This has a negative impact on the progress, health and development of the society etc. Mentally ill people express their condition in different ways. Their problems include low self-confidence, poor grades, being socially rejected, difficulty forming relationships with others, and lack of awareness of social norms. All these psychological problems hinder the student's ability to learn. Additionally, the new environment at university, being away from family, lack of interest in the subject of study and lack of access to resources such as financial aid and facilities can also cause psychological distress and poor academic performance. Today the whole world is witnessing stress and its adverse effects. Bernstein (2008) defines stress as "a negative emotional, cognitive, behavioral and physical process that occurs as a result of a person's efforts.Richlin-Klonsky (2003) reported that "academic performance hinders a student's ability to engage. "Many students reported experiencing high academic stress at predictable times that resulted from preparing for and taking tests, class ranking competitions, and mastering large amounts of curriculum in a relatively short amount of time." Fairbrother (2003) posited that "academic stress." forms of stress which arose due to various reasons such as too many assignments, competition with other students, failures and poor Erkutlu (2006) expressed the view that “the pressure of performing well in an examination or examination and the time allotment makes the academic environment very stressful. The major effect of stress is that it significantly affects the psychological functioning of people's mental health”. According to the World Health Organization (2014), mental health is seen as "a state of well-being" in which individuals feel themselves capable, regardless of the normal stresses of life. Galderisi, et al (2015) defined "mental health" as a dynamic state of internal balance that enables individuals to use their abilities in a manner consistent with the universal values of society.

Academic Stress, Mental health, impacts, students

"A STUDY OF ACADEMIC STRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AMONG STUDENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON SOCIETY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no.a218-a222, September-2026, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609025.pdf

"A STUDY OF ACADEMIC STRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AMONG STUDENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON SOCIETY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no. ppa218-a222, September-2026, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609025.pdf