Impact of Chronic Conditions on Academic Pressure: Examining the Buffering Role of Social Support

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the percentage of students experiencing schoolwork pressure in the Netherlands has more than doubled, rising from 15.9% to 35.4% between 2001 and 2017 (Stevens et al., 2018). This substantial rise highlights an increasing concern regarding school pressure among students in the Netherlands. As a result of schoolwork pressure students can experience different negative outcomes on their mental and psychological wellbeing (Cosma et al., 2020; Hiern et al., 2008). Moreover, individuals with chronic illnesses, an often-overlooked group, face further difficulties as they juggle the demands of their health conditions alongside school pressures (Sentenac et al., 2022). Despite being a high-risk group, not much is known about students with CC. In this study we investigate if students with chronic condition (CC) experience more schoolwork pressure than students without a CC and if social support provided by family, teachers and peers serve as a protective factor in this relationship. For our analysis, we utilized data obtained from self-reported surveys completed by students in schools in 2017, as part of the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. In total, a sample of 7265 was used to conduct the analysis of which a total of 387 (5.3%) of students have a CC (51.5% girls, Mage = 14.20, SD= .50). A multiple linear regression (MLR) was applied to test whether students with a CC were found to experience more schoolwork pressure than their peers without a CC. Moreover, a moderation analysis was performed using multiple linear regression, to examine whether family, teacher, and peer support mitigate the perception of schoolwork pressure among students with a CC. This study shows that social support, while being helpful, was not sufficient to fully mitigate the pressure experienced by these students. Therefore, we suggest that future research explores additional protective factors and adopts a broader scope to enhance understanding of this interplay.