2002 Impediments to Academic Performance

Provided below are results from Michigan State University's 2002 National Collegiate Health Assessment relating to impediments to academic performance.

• Reports of Impediments to Academic Performance
• Impediments by Background

Reports of Impediments to Academic Performance

Another section of the questionnaire asked respondents if they had had each of 27 different kinds of problems -- some disease, some substance abuse, some victimization, some emotional, and some other behavioral -- during the last school year and, if so, the extent to which the experience affected their academic performance. The table on the right shows the percentage of all respondents who reported not having had each of the various problems, the percentage who said they had the problem but that it did not affect their academic performance, and the percentage who said they had the problem and that it either caused them to get a lower grade on an exam or important project, to get a lower grade in a course, or to take an incomplete or drop a course. The table indicates that:

• Nearly eight out of ten respondents reported having had a cold, flu, or sore throat or experiencing stress during the last school year.

• 27.0% said they experienced stress to the point that their academic performance was impaired, while nearly a fifth of respondents (19.4%) said their academic performance was impaired as a result of a cold, flu or sore throat.

• Nearly a quarter (23.2%) said their academic performance was impaired by sleep difficulties, 15.7% by relationship difficulties, 14.6% by concerns for a troubled friend or family member.

• 9.1% of respondents said their academic performance was impaired by alcohol use; 10.9% by depression, an anxiety disorder or seasonal affective disorder; and 7.7% by a sinus/ear infection, bronchitis, or strep throat.

• 12.9% said their academic performance had been impaired as a result of problems they experienced because of internet use or computer games.

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Impediments by Background

The above table also compares the percentages who reported impaired performance between males and females, white and other racial/ethnic group respondents, those living on-campus and those living off-campus, and those who reported a cumulative GPA’s of “A,” “B,” and “C” or lower. The results indicate that:

• Males were more than twice as likely as females to report impairment as a result of internet use or computer games and drug use.

• Females were more likely than males to report academic impairment due to cold/flu/sore throat, chronic illness, death of a friend or family member, sleep difficulties, and stress.

• Non-White respondents were more likely than white respondents to report academic impairment as a result of sleep difficulties and white respondents were more likely to report impairment due to alcohol use.

• Off-campus respondents were more likely than their on-campus counterparts to report academic impairment as a result of mononucleosis, while those on-campus were more likely than those off-campus to report impairment as a result of internet use or computer games.

• There were statistically significant differences in the percentages who reported academic impairment on 17 out of 27 problem types among respondents with different grade point averages. In all of these cases, respondents with lower grade point averages were more likely than their counterparts to report having been academically impaired as a result of the problem. For virtually all of the problems where the differences were not statistically significant, this same pattern was observed but, in nearly all these cases, the numbers of individuals experiencing the problem was so few that the magnitude of the differences among percentages did not achieve a conventional level of significance to rule out sampling error as an alternative explanation.

The consistency of the latter set of comparisons suggests that the academic performance of students could be improved by reducing the transmission of some communicable diseases, by moderating some excessive behaviors, by reducing victimization, and by helping students cope with stress and relationships more effectively.

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