Exploring the Impact of Perceived Academic Stress on Social Competence: The Moderating Role of Co-Curricular Activities

The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between Perceived Academic Stress (PAS) and Social Competence (SC) and the moderating role of Co-curricular activities between PAS and SC. The study was quantitative in nature, and the research design of this study was a purposive sampling technique. For this purpose, Perception of Academic Stress (PAS)(Bedewy & Gabriel, 2015) and Multidimensional Social Competence Scale (MSCS) (Trevisan et al., 2018) were used, whereas co-curricular activities were identified through a demographic form. A total of 300 participants were recruited based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. All these participants were university students residing in Karachi, Pakistan. The students were from both private and government universities, like the University of Karachi, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, ILMA University, and Bahria University. The hypothesis of this study was that there would be a relationship between PAS and SC. Another hypothesis of the study was that the co-curricular activities play a moderating role between PAS and SC. The results were analysed through SPSS 22 using regression and moderation analysis. Thus, the results clearly showed that the first hypothesis was accepted. This means the individuals who have elevated academic stress had greater social competence as they put effort into establishing peer networks or improving communication skills to successfully handle stress. However, the relationship between PAS and one of the subscales of SC, verbal communication, is negative. Another hypothesis was rejected, but the moderation on the context of verbal conversation skills was found to be significant. Academic stress impacts more than achievement; it fosters social-emotional growth and interpersonal development among students.