Stress and Anxiety in the United States vs. South Korea Education Systems

Abstract

This study investigates how differences in college processes affect the mental health of high school students in the United States versus South Korea. There were sixty participants involved, thirty participants being rising seniors in the United States and the other thirty being second or third-year high school students in South Korea. Participants in both countries were given the same surveys composed of three parts: The School Burnout Inventory, the Academic Anxiety Scale, and the Education Stress Scale for Adolescents. The analyses showed that students in South Korea and students in the U.S. didn’t statistically differ in terms of feeling more or less anxiety. However, it is important to note that South Korean students scored higher point averages on all three measures. Nevertheless, the sample size was not big enough to reveal a statistically significant difference. We conclude that while students in South Korea scored higher in all aspects of the survey, we are unable to conclusively state that South Korean high schoolers feel more stress or anxiety than high schoolers in the United States.