Academic stress and academic engagement among Peruvian university students during their first experience with online learning

IntroductionThe transition to fully online learning during the COVID-19 health emergency affected students’ academic experiences. This study aimed to examine academic stress and academic engagement in 527 Peruvian university students during their first experience with online learning.MethodsUsing a non-experimental, quantitative, cross-sectional, and correlational design, the study employed the adapted SISCO Inventory of Academic Stress and the Utrecht Engagement Scale for Students.ResultsThe results showed that 44.2% of students reported high levels of stress symptoms, 55.6% reported high levels of stressors, 65.5% reported high levels of coping strategies, and 42.3% reported high levels of academic engagement. Significant differences were found by sex, age, perceived learning achievement, and occupational status, but not by degree program or difficulties accessing virtual classes. Academic engagement and its dimensions were positively correlated with coping strategies and negatively correlated with stress symptoms but were not significantly correlated with stressors. Finally, the structural model showed that stressors, coping strategies, and academic engagement were jointly associated with 37.5% of the variance in stress symptoms.DiscussionIn addition, coping strategies were positively associated with academic engagement, and academic engagement showed a weak mediation effect, particularly in the association between coping strategies and stress symptoms.