CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

This chapter presents the related literature and studies relevant to academic stress, coping
strategies, shared humor, and the theoretical framework that supports the study.

Academic stress is widely recognized as a common experience among students in

academic institutions. It arises from increasing academic demands, performance expectations,
examinations, and responsibilities that students are required to manage simultaneously. Research
has shown that academic stress is not only influenced by academic workload but also by external
factors such as family pressure and expectations, which further intensify students’ emotional and
psychological burden. Deng et al. (2022) emphasized that academic stress, when combined with
familial stress, significantly affects students’ mental health, often leading to depressive
symptoms and a decline in academic performance. Their findings suggest that prolonged
exposure to stressors can negatively influence students’ overall well-being. Similarly, Pascoe et
al. (2020) noted that sustained academic stress is associated with anxiety, burnout, and reduced
academic engagement among students, highlighting the seriousness of unmanaged stress in
educational settings.

Similarly, Reddy, Menon, and Thattil (2018) identified multiple sources of academic
stress among university students, including examinations, time constraints, academic
competition, and pressure to meet academic standards. The study highlighted that unmanaged
academic stress can result in emotional exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, and reduced
motivation. These findings confirm that academic stress is a prevalent issue that affects students’
academic functioning and mental health, underscoring the need to explore effective coping
mechanisms that can help students manage stress within academic environments.

Students employ various coping strategies to manage academic stress and its associated
challenges. Coping strategies refer to the cognitive and behavioral efforts individuals use to
handle stressful situations and emotional pressure. Stroud, Mohler, and Carpenter (2025)
explored coping strategies among students and found that learners often rely on a combination of
problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and social support to manage stress. These
strategies help students adapt to academic demands by addressing stressors directly or regulating
emotional responses. Supporting this, Sajid et al. (2024) found that students frequently rely on
emotional and social coping mechanisms, including humor and peer support, to manage
academic stress, particularly in high-pressure academic environments.

In addition, Ustun and Erkal (2025) examined stress coping strategies among university
students and found that students utilize diverse approaches such as physical activity, emotional
regulation, and social interaction to cope with academic stress. The study emphasized that
effective coping strategies can reduce psychological strain and enhance resilience. These
findings suggest that while students use multiple coping methods, the effectiveness of these
strategies varies depending on personal, social, and contextual factors. This highlights the
importance of identifying coping strategies that are not only effective but also socially
supportive, such as shared humor among peers.

Humor has been increasingly recognized as a positive coping strategy that helps
individuals manage stress and psychological distress. Humor coping allows individuals to
reinterpret stressful situations in a less threatening manner, thereby reducing emotional tension.
Simione et al. (2023) found that humor coping plays a significant role in reducing psychological
distress, particularly by weakening the negative effects of avoidance coping. Their findings
suggest that humor serves as an adaptive coping mechanism that promotes emotional regulation
and psychological resilience. Additional studies have shown that students with a higher sense of
humor tend to report lower levels of perceived academic stress, indicating that humor can
function as a protective psychological resource (Sinergi Psychology Journal, 2023).

Furthermore, Zhou and Lee (2025) reviewed decades of research on humor in educational
contexts and highlighted that humor contributes to emotional relief, positive learning
environments, and reduced stress levels. Although their study focused on instructional humor,
the findings support the idea that humor can alleviate tension and promote positive emotional
responses in academic settings. Baysac (2017) found that humorous linguistic memes helped
students relieve academic stress by offering emotional distraction and a sense of shared
experience. This indicates that humor not only alleviates stress at an individual level but also
facilitates emotional connection among peers. Additionally, Berk (2015) emphasized that humor
functions as a coping mechanism across various life challenges by providing emotional relief and
stress reduction. While Berk’s study focused on aging populations, it reinforces the broader
psychological role of humor as a coping tool applicable to stressful situations, including
academic stress among students.

Shared humor refers to humor that is experienced collectively through social interaction,
such as laughing together, joking, or sharing humorous content. It plays a significant role in
strengthening peer relationships and fostering emotional support among students. Yuliawati
(2025) emphasized the importance of peer social support in academic settings, noting that
positive peer interactions contribute to students’ emotional well-being and academic adjustment.
Although the study did not focus solely on humor, it highlights how shared social experiences,
including humor, help students feel understood and supported during academically stressful
situations, reinforcing the role of shared humor as a socially grounded coping strategy.

In many academic settings, students do not openly discuss their stress due to fear of
judgment, academic competition, or social expectations. In such situations, shared humor
becomes an indirect yet effective way of expressing and managing stress. Through joking,
playful teasing, or humorous exchanges, students are able to acknowledge academic pressure
without explicitly verbalizing their struggles, allowing emotional relief while maintaining social
comfort.

Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on the Relief Theory of Humor, which explains that laughter
serves as a mechanism for releasing accumulated emotional tension and stress. According to
Sigmund Freud, humor allows individuals to express suppressed emotions in a socially
acceptable manner, thereby providing emotional relief and reducing psychological strain.
Through laughter, individuals are able to momentarily release anxiety, fear, and nervous energy,
resulting in a sense of emotional balance.
In the academic context, students experience stress due to academic demands,
performance expectations, and pressure to succeed. Shared humor enables students to cope with
these stressors by easing tension and creating moments of emotional relief during stressful
academic situations. By laughing together, students are able to temporarily distance themselves
from academic pressure, making stressful tasks feel less overwhelming and more manageable.
In addition, the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions supports this framework
by explaining how positive emotions such as humor broaden individuals’ thinking and build
long-term emotional and psychological resources (Fredrickson, 2018). When students experience
humor in academic settings, they develop improved emotional regulation, resilience, and social
connection. Together, these theories explain how shared humor helps students manage academic
stress by reducing immediate tension while also strengthening emotional coping abilities over
time.