Academic Stress among Chinese Adolescents: Can Psychological Stress Theory Explain This Tragedy?

Mental health problem and maladaptive behavior, such as suicidal behavior, are prevalent among Chinese students, which can be significantly triggered by their high levels of academic stress. Underutilization of mental health services among Chinese adolescents have also been identified by researchers. In this paper, an attempt has been made to utilize Psychological Stress Theory (PST) to help explain the culture-specific phenomenon of academic stress associated with poor mental health and related suicidal behavior. This paper is a first step to increasing awareness of the mental health needs of adolescent students and greater understanding of preventable deaths by suicide among Chinese students affected by academic stress. This paper also proposes the further development of macro, mezzo and micro level changes as a culturally suitable approach to preventing additional loss of lives to suicide behavior.