Elhag H, Hassan AA, Alharbi HY, Adam I. Correlation between anxiety scores and academic performance among adolescent schoolchildren in Northern Sudan: A cross-sectional study. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(7): 107446 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i7.107446]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hatim Y Alharbi, MD, Affiliate Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Qassim University, 3320 Abu Baker as Siddiq Road, Buraydah 52389, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. hy.alharbi@qu.edu.sa
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Jul 19, 2025; 15(7): 107446 Published online Jul 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i7.107446
Correlation between anxiety scores and academic performance among adolescent schoolchildren in Northern Sudan: A cross-sectional study
Hiba Elhag, Ahmed A Hassan, Hatim Y Alharbi, Ishag Adam
Hiba Elhag, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
Ahmed A Hassan, Department of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
Hatim Y Alharbi, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 52389, Qassim, Saudi Arabia
Ishag Adam, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 52389, Qassim, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Elhag H and Hassan AA performed the data analysis; Elhag H and Adam I conceived the study; Hassan AA, Alharbi HY and Adam I supervised the clinical work; all authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This work was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study received approval from the ethical board of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Sudan.
Informed consent statement: All students and their guardians signed an informed consent form. The authors ensured that protocols protecting all students’ privacy, safety, and confidentiality were strictly followed and that personal identifiers during data collection were excluded.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hatim Y Alharbi, MD, Affiliate Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Qassim University, 3320 Abu Baker as Siddiq Road, Buraydah 52389, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. hy.alharbi@qu.edu.sa
Received: March 25, 2025 Revised: April 15, 2025 Accepted: May 13, 2025 Published online: July 19, 2025 Processing time: 108 Days and 3.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The impact of mental health, including anxiety, on academic performance has been studied in several countries, but few data exist for Sudan.
AIM
To investigate the correlation between anxiety scores and academic performance among adolescent schoolchildren in Northern Sudan.
METHODS
This cross-sectional study was carried out during the 2021–2022 academic year among schoolchildren from randomly selected schools in Almatamah locality, River Nile State, Northern Sudan. A questionnaire was used to collect the participants’ sociodemographic data. Anxiety levels were assessed using the questionnaire tools of the General Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. Students’ academic performance scores were obtained from school records. Multivariate linear regression was performed.
RESULTS
A total of 328 students participated in this study, comprising 156 boys (47.6%) and 172 girls (52.4%). The median [interquartile range (IQR)] age of the students was 14.9 years (13.9–15.6 years). The median (IQR) of the students’ academic scores was 27.6% (22.2%–48.1%). The median (IQR) of the students’ anxiety scores was 0 (0–3). In univariate linear analysis, anxiety scores were positively associated with academic performance scores (coefficient = 1.19, P value < 0.001). In multivariate linear analysis, after controlling for age, sex, parental education, occupation, and body mass index-Z-score, anxiety scores were positively associated with academic performance scores (coefficient = 0.60, P value < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
The current study revealed a positive correlation between anxiety scores and students’ academic performance scores. However, the association between mental health disorders, including anxiety, and academic performance is a complex issue. Therefore, further studies are recommended.
Core Tip: This cross-sectional study was carried out during the 2021/2022 academic year among schoolchildren in River Nile State, Northern Sudan. A questionnaire was used to collect the participants’ sociodemographic data. Anxiety levels were assessed using the questionnaire tools of the General Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. Students’ academic performance scores were obtained from school records. In multivariate linear analysis, after controlling for age, sex, parental education, occupation, and body mass index-Z-score, anxiety scores were positively associated with academic performance scores (coefficient = 0.60, P value < 0.001).
