Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Student Incivility Among College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Student incivility has become an increasing concern in higher education because of its adverse effects on classroom climate, teaching effectiveness, and students' academic experiences. Psychological stress has been recognised as a potential factor influencing uncivil behaviour. This study evaluated the relationship between perceived stress and student incivility among college students and investigated whether perceived stress significantly predicts student incivility. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was followed, and data were collected from 219 college students using structured questionnaires measuring perceived stress and student incivility. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Pearson's correlation, and simple linear regression were performed using Jamovi. A statistically significant positive relationship was identified between perceived stress and student incivility. Regression analysis showed that perceived stress significantly predicted student incivility, although it explained only 4% of the variance in uncivil behaviour. Significant gender differences were observed in both perceived stress and student incivility. Rather than presuming an automatic, uniform progression from student stress to behavioural misconduct, this study provides a nuanced, methodologically transparent evaluation that underscores the sensitivity of stress–incivility dynamics to distributional assumptions in the data. Higher education administrators should avoid treating stress as the sole primary driver of student misconduct. Institutional interventions must couple stress-reduction programming with clear behavioral norms, emotional self-regulation training, and structured classroom management policies.

Keywords: Perceived stress, Student incivility, Higher education, College students, Classroom behaviour.