Academic Stress in Adolescent Students of an Islamic-Based School: The Correlation with Parenting Style and Spirituality

BACKGROUND: Adolescents are vulnerable to experiencing academic stress because of exams and their expectations about their careers. Proper parenting styles from parents can reduce students’ academic stress. Also, Islamic-based schools develop youth spirituality so it can reduce academic stress. This study aimed to identify the correlation of parenting styles and spirituality with academic stress in adolescent students of an Islamic-based school. DESIGN AND METHODS: The study was used descriptive correlative with a cross-sectional approach. Data was collected online started from April 3(rd) to May 10(th), 2020, with 109 respondents of the 12(th)-grade senior student at Islamic-based high school MAN Jakarta Timur. Respondents were selected by simple random sampling. This study used the Parental Care Style Questionnaire, the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale, and the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents. Data were analysed using the Pearson correlation analysis (CI 95%). RESULTS: There was a significant negative correlation between the democratic parenting style and academic stress level (p=0.000). There was a negative correlation between spirituality level and academic stress level (p=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests the parents use the democratic parenting style by encouraging and giving comfort to their children to be open to their parents about academic problems. Islamic-based schools should carry out routine religious programs, such as reading the Qur'an every day before classes start.