Associations among academic stress, anxiety, extracurricular participation, and aggression: An examination of the general strain theory in a sample of Chinese adolescents

Academic stress has been proven to have a negative correlation with students’ physical and psychological health. However, the specific mechanisms underlying this relationship among adolescents in mainland China have been rarely investigated. Using a multi-stage cluster random sampling, a total of 552 adolescents were recruited voluntarily to complete the questionnaire survey. Results demonstrated that high academic stress was associated with high level of anxiety, which mediated the relation between academic stress and aggression. Moreover, the mediating effect of anxiety was moderated by extracurricular participation. The specific association between academic stress and anxiety was weaker among adolescents with more extracurricular participation than those with less extracurricular participation. This study contributes to current knowledge by revealing the mechanisms among academic stress, anxiety, extracurricular participation, and adolescents’ aggression. Findings also highlight the importance of extracurricular participation in mitigating the negative effect of academic stress on anxiety.