International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) Vol. 12, No. 2, 2022 21 DOI: 10.30495/IJSS.2022.20076 Exploring Students' Perspectives of Social factors in Academic Stress Experience Ali Shakoori 1 Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Development & Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Zahra Raji Ph.D. Student, Department of Development & Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Seyed Mehdi Sarkeshishiyan Ph.D. Student, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Received 29 April 2022 ||| Accepted 16 June 2022 Abstract: This study examines the impact of effective social factors on students' academic stress. An attempt has been made to focus on the sources of social stress in education from the perspective of students. For this purpose, inspired by Brown and Clark (2006), a thematic analysis method to analyze the research data. The study's statistical population consists of male and female students of Qom Technical and Vocational University in the 2020-2021 academic year. A purposive sampling method has been adopted to collect the data, using the semi- structured individual interview. Based on the theoretical saturation, twenty-one students were interviewed. According to the findings of the present study there are some serious concerns about the verbal violence, psychosocial environment of classrooms, unfair comparison of students with each other, procrastination, social anxiety, family tensions, multiplicity, expectations, and lack of a sense of self-efficacy as sources of academic stress in the social environment of the classroom that can considerably intensify academic stress. Keywords: Academic stress, social dimensions, academic expectations, perceived stress. ||| Introduction Unpleasant life situations that disrupt a person's physical health and psychological stability, causing him/her to use methods to deal with or get rid of, are known as stressful situations (Pickle, 1987: 17). The stress symptoms are usually determined through the individuals’ reactions to different situations. These reactions are classified into cognitive, psychological, behavioral, and physical dimensions: blood pressure, stress, depression, and sleep-related disorders (Saliyeh, 1950: 150). Given the correlation between the stress and social stimuli, some theorists believe that one of the most important areas of research is goal-oriented studies on academic stress (Lohas et al, 2004: 39). In this respect, improving the education system is considered the most effective component in the development of countries (Zang & Rosson, 2015). Of note, a majority of individuals may experience difficulty succeeding in educational atmospheres in most countries and with the transformation of nations and increasing competition in all aspects, personal goals may become even harder to achieve. Excessive stimulation of the growth stimuli of the ODs can undermine individuals' psychological and social well-being (Dan et al, 2010: 20). Halinka (2015) defined stress as a maladaptive feeling associated with suspicion of confrontation. This description seems to be synonymous with that of stress in the field of education where learners are usually assigned multi tasks and are expected to successfully undertake them. In this regard, educational stress can sometimes turn into a psychological obstacle that is caused by a large number of academic tasks and high expectations from different groups of people from teachers and parents to classmates. For instance, they may experience high degrees of stress caused by the expectations and demands of some of the influential people in their lives such as their teachers, parents, etc. Great deal of effort has been made so far to identify such learning-related obstacles as the most significant sources of stress. Youth and adolescents worldwide face it (Ang et al, 2007: 136). Accordingly, it can be concluded that academic stress is one of the most significant education-related factors and for this reason, the need for addressing the influential parameters has gained significance over time. Evidently, identification of such 1 Email: shakoori@ut.ac.ir (Corresponding Author)