Academic Overload and Well-Being.

Too much load in terms of coursework, assignments, tests, and time

constraints has been identified as a stress factor for students undertaking different levels of learning.
Several theories of stress and definitions of guidelines used in this research include the World Health
Organization’s conceptualization of well-being by World Health Organization, Kühn, and Rieger in 2017;
Martin Seligman’s PERMA Theory of Well-being in 2018; and Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model
of Stress and Coping by Biggs et al. in 2017. Too much load for students in primary schools has been
seen to enhance learner accountability. Too much load has been seen to create stress and burnout for
students (Barbayannis et al., 2022). This has been seen to vary from individual to individual based on
learner capacity and relevance of tasks (Ugyen and Karma 2025; Fernández-Alonso et al., 2021).
Secondary school students have been seen to encounter stress and poor levels of performance owing to
an overloaded load (Rummell 2015; Smith 2021; Acosta-Gómez et al., 2018). This has been seen to
impact their sleeping patterns and interactions with fellow students. Information overload has been
seen to create stress for students across the world (Khalid et al. 2016; Ismail 2022).

Within institutions of higher learning, academic overload in terms of credit hours, research, and
academic timetables has been shown to have adverse effects on the wellness and mental health
conditions of students (Ban et al., 2022; Di Mario et al., 2024). These may be exacerbated by their
environments. For instance, competitive environments have been shown to result in mental exhaustion,
and the increasing trend in online learning has made it hard to distinguish between academic and
personal life, resulting in academic intensification in distress (Sy et al., 2021). Students within programs
that include academic overload have been shown to cope with stress and pressure (Gerrard et al., 2017).
Across the globe, it has been shown that academic-related stress is a global phenomenon that has
severe adverse effects on wellness within students. Research conducted within Bhutan has shown
alarming rates within institutions of higher learning regarding depression and suicide among students,
indicating a lack of relevant wellness programs (Sherab et al., 2017).

These findings are consistent with our study that targets freshmen education students of the Eastern
Samar State University (ESSU) Salcedo Campus, who have their own issues that they have to contend
with as they enter college and juggle basic professional subjects and practice field requirements. While it
has been shown worldwide that overload is related to well-being, certain vital gaps are filled by our
study. First, it has been shown that most studies have not specifically focused on freshmen education
students as a special category of students, where studies such as that of Licayan et al. (2021), who
studied the effect of the pandemic on college students, did not include first-year education students
who have special needs of their own due to their educational major. Second, it has been shown that
using the PERMA approach (Seligman, 2018), which investigates the effect of overload on future
teachers’ sense of purpose and relationship-building abilities, has never been done before and are very
vital for them. Third, it has been shown that studies have been conducted on universities located in
urban Philippines and that there have been no studies on regional universities such as ESSU Salcedo
where overload may be further aggravated due to constraints and expectations from society of
teachers. Moreover, it has been shown that gender and emotion regulation are predictors of stress as
shown worldwide by Iskandar et al. (2024), where there have been no studies on the effect of age and
other demographics on first-year education students.
Moreover, there is evidence available which supports the idea that the negative effects of academic
overload can be mitigated when students are able to utilize support and acquire awareness about how
they can manage their situation (Kim & Lee, 2020; Tran et al., 2022). This is because programs such as
guidance, group support, and counseling are effective for students to alleviate their stress issues and
also improve their participation and retain good social relationships despite their stress issues. On the
other hand, personal strategies such as time management, goal satisfaction, and mindfulness are
effective to improve autonomy, competence, and overall well-being of students despite academic
overload.

However, integrating the findings above confirms the validation of the fact that, despite the negative
effects of academic overload, findings remain relative and dependent upon context, personality, and the
availability of support. The significant findings include the effects of physical and psychological effects,
the role of cultural and institutional systems, and the role of specific interventions as buffers. However,
the significant knowledge gaps include the fact that the study overlooked the importance of specific
groups of students, such as freshmen education majors, the use of contextually specific variables in non-
Western settings, and the exploration of relationships between academic overload and other related
issues, such as academic integrity, as documented in the report from the findings in the country of
Bhutan. The need to address the mentioned knowledge gaps is indicated by the fact that recent
research, as documented by the findings of 2025 in Colombia, indicated that 55% of the students in the
institution of higher learning experienced the negative effects of academic overload in terms of the
effects of mental health problems (Rosero, 2025). This study will address the mentioned knowledge gaps
by focusing on freshmen education students of the ESSU Salcedo, by employing the PERMA measure to
assess the level of well-being, and by exploring the variations in terms of demographic variables,
ultimately offering valid support for holistic growth as mandated by CHED Memorandum Order No. 75
(2017), which integrates the role of academic excellence and holistic growth.

With all these findings taken into account, it has become apparent that academic

overload has a direct correlation to student well-being across all levels of education.

Models of PERMA, Ryff’s model of well-being, and the Transactional Model of Stress

and Coping all demonstrate that student experiences of stress and maintenance of well-

being are dependent upon individual personality, coping styles, and support. Academic

overload can have negative impacts upon student mental health, social, and

motivational aspects but these impacts can vary depending upon individual personality

aspects of resilience, time management, emotional regulation, and support. First-year

education students in ESSU Salcedo represent a population that has not yet been
explored in depth, but their experience is not like that of other college students, as they

have to deal with a different set of subjects that are both professional and practice-

related. It has been found that the relationship between academic overload and student

well-being is not similar in every individual and differs depending on personal

characteristics and various factors. This relationship is important to understand, as it

could help in identifying who is most affected by stress and how such effects could be

mitigated. The objective of this study, therefore, is to investigate the relationship

between academic overload and well-being in first-year education students at ESSU

Salcedo using the PERMA model. The study seeks to gain insights into this relationship

and provide information and knowledge that will enable education students at ESSU

Salcedo and other institutions to cope with stress and ensure their overall well-being.