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Abstract
How do adolescent students respond to academic pressure in high-stakes assessment contexts? Despite widespread media and anecdotal interest in student stress with major exams, there is a limited research that relates specifically to pressure, or that incorporates gifted learners. This research sought to explore, illustrate, and analyse the responses of students to academic pressure, with a comparison between gifted/non-gifted students. A theoretical framework proposed that learning responses (motivation/goals) and affective states (stress, anxiety, and depression) are responses by students to academic pressure, allowing for student self-efficacy. This study employed a cross-sectional mixed-methods design that incorporated both gifted and average-ability Australian high school final year students. The main phase included a concurrent mixed-methods questionnaire (N = 722) followed by post-hoc case study interviews (N = 17) with students post-HSC in order to elaborate and expand upon the findings of the main phase. The quantitative dataset was analysed through multiple regression analysis and multi-group structural equation modelling (SEM) in order to compare the predictors for gifted and average-ability students. The qualitative dataset was analysed through coded/thematic analysis with group-based comparisons. Results showed that all student groups experienced significantly-elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Academic pressure was found to be a significant predictor of affective and learning responses, with self-efficacy a moderator. A statistical model was constructed that represents the relationships between key variables with responses to academic pressure. Group-based SEM showed that gifted students reported different patterns of responses to academic pressure in the context, with pressure a stronger predictor and self-efficacy a weaker predictor of stress and anxiety for gifted students than for their average-ability peers. A higher proportion of gifted students described themselves, family, and peers as their strongest source of expectation and pressure. Maladaptive behaviours (procrastination, over-conscientiousness, perfectionism) were significantly more prevalent amongst gifted students. Gifted students reported difficulty in balancing the burden of ability with high performance, and faced the ‘forced-choice dilemma’ in choosing between excellence and a ‘normal’ life.