SOCIAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO FRUSTRATION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

University students often experience high levels of frustration when social pressures impede their academic and personal goals. This article reviews how key social factors – including intense academic pressure, peer competition, family expectations, financial stress, and social comparison (especially via social media) – contribute to student frustration. Drawing on recent theoretical and empirical studies, we show that these pressures create obstacles to goal achievement and violate students’ psychological needs, leading to feelings of frustration, anxiety, and demotivation. For example, excessive academic workload and fear of failure undermine students’ sense of competence. Fierce peer competition fosters a performance-oriented culture, weakening motivation and elevating stress. Similarly, overly high parental expectations can inflate students’ stress levels by increasing control and fear of letting the family down. Financial difficulties impede academic success and isolate students socially, further fueling frustration. Moreover, constant social comparison – especially upward comparisons on social media – makes students feel inferior and career-frustrated when peers’ successes seem to outpace their own. Together, these social stressors thwart students’ basic needs (competence, relatedness) and exacerbate negative emotions, suggesting that universities should address them to support student well-being.