High school student ill-being and physiological stress in class predict academic achievement: evidence from real school contexts.

Psychological ill-being, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, is consistently linked with poor academic outcomes in children. An important factor may be students' state of arousal, with higher arousal reflecting periods of increased stress or cognitive demand. This relationship is evident in test and exam settings, however, there is limited research investigating how ill-being relates to arousal in the classroom and whether a student's state in class helps to explain their academic outcomes. To address that, this study investigated student's classroom arousal in relation to ill-being and academic achievement in maths. Ill-being was measured from fifty-nine high school students (Mage = 14.01, SD = 0.30) using the revised children's anxiety and depression scale. Arousal was then recorded during three maths lessons using wrist-based electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV). Student ill-being was related to lower HRV and higher EDA during class, although these associations were non-significant using rank-based tests. Ill-being and EDA were also negatively correlated with academic achievement, and a combination of these data predicted achievement more effectively than either measure alone. Arousal was not found to mediate or moderate ill-being and achievement despite a trend towards moderation. These findings suggest that students reporting greater symptoms of emotional distress may be more likely to experience elevated arousal during typical maths lessons, potentially reflecting increased stress or cognitive demand while learning in the classroom. In this context, higher states of arousal may represent transient expressions of ill-being or stress that could influence learning and academic achievement.