Stress and Academic Self-Concept of SC/ST College Students

Going to college is important decision in most of student's life. They need to prepare themselves not only to work hard to alive their academic goals, but also to cope with the multitude of stresses in the personal, social, academic, and vocational domoins endemic to the college context. They need a positive concept of their ability to live a normal life given the various pressures/ stresses. Students having a negative perception of their abilities may find it difficult to soi through their social-educational environment and accomplish their goals. They may be at risk of losing academic interest, failing to acquire a sense of satisfaction with their academic work for go opportunities for initative and leadership role, and eventually develop feelings of alienation and rejection a companied by a monifestoation of less positive academic self-concept. The problem are likely to be even more serious for students coming from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds and struggling with the development of positive self-concept in the given institutional context of higher education, which present to them a replica of the outer social context, like the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in India. Many of the facilities have been cornered by the well-off among them, leading to elite formation among SC/ST. Translated in terms of the conjecture of stress and academic self-concept, it appears that a larger percentage of SC/ST students despite having access to college continue to experience higher stress and have less positive academic self-concept.