Causes Of Academic Anxiety Among Tertiary Institution Students
[A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN METROPOLIS OF KWARA STATE]

Thus, education is taken as the most important means of developing human resources for national development. This accounts for their reason why the Federal Government of Nigeria made it clear in the National Policy on Education, that education is an instrument per Excellence for effective development (FGN, 1988).
    Hilgard and Artikinson (1995) noted that people experiencing anxiety are strongly motivated to do something to alleviate discomfort through the various unconscious defence mechanisms which students or academicians resort to and other strategies use to get on in life. According to Hilgard, Arkinson and Artkinson (1995), anything that threatens the well-being of the organism is assumed to produce a state of conflicts and other type of frustrations that black the individual progress toward a goal provide are source of anxiety. Threat to physical harm, threats to one’s self-esteem and pressure to perform beyond one’s capabilities also produces anxiety. Ashaolu (2001) in his opinion believes that mild anger called hostility usually arouses anxiety because the expression of anger or hostile behaviour, which has in the past been punished. He opined that anxiety could also occur through the generalization of fear from one situation in which fear was learned to other similar situations like terminal examinations, class tests, study habits, taking of nites, truancy during lectures, inactive participation in the class or lecture, financial problems causing delay in getting handout at the appropriate time and for the students can copy by reading ahead of the terminal examinations and class test, taking correct nites from others, be active participated in the lectures an get handout at the appropriate time. While situations that are anxiety provoking in schools or colleges are when the teachers or lecturers entered into the class or lecture room and gives a quiz or unprepared test to the students, fix unpronounced lectures or unfixed lectures on the time table, psychological needs are anxiety provoking in schools or colleges.
    It is therefore, necessary to investigate the causes of academic anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State. Anxiety is a state of tension that motivates us to do something though the experience of anxiety cannot be traced to any cue yet, there are unconscious realities that causes anxiety (Ashaolu, 2001).

Statement of the Problem
    Abiri and Daramola (1991), said that there is no way a research can be carried out until a problem is recognized, deliberated upon and formulated in a useful way. Selecting and formulating a problem is one of the most important aspects of understanding research in any field.
Anxiety is a basic human emotion consisting of fear and uncertainly that typically appears when an individual perceives an event being a threat to his or she ego or self-esteem. An unhealthy or in unhapply students cannot performed excellently in his or her academic programme. Some of the most threatening events that could cause anxiety among students are examination, problems of academic pursuits, students and parents’ interest and eventually problems that would come up during the course of study.  Also, many students have the cognitive ability on academic pursuit but many not do so because of the high level of anxiety and the society emphasis placed or studies this could potentially limit their educational, economic and vocational opportunities (Zeidner, 1990).
Although different researches (Dusakin 2000, Ashaolu 2001, Osiki and Busari, Danike 2002, Ibrahim 2005, Dada 2005 and Ezenwa 2006) have been conducted an anxiety nothing has been done so far on the causes of academic related anxiety among the students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State as far as the knowledge of the researcher is concerned. So, also, it is the gaps left behind by the aforementioned researchers that the present study intends to bridge. However, the major problem in this research study is to find out the causes of academic related anxiety employed by students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State.

Research Questions
    This research work intends to find out the various causes of academic related anxiety employed by students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State. For the purpose of the study, the following questions have been raised to guide the conduct of the study.
1.    What are the causes of academic related anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State?
2.    Is there any difference in the causes of academic related anxiety among students of tertiary institution in Kwara State on the basis of types of institution?
3.    Is there any difference in the causes of academic anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State on the basis of gender?
4.    Is there any difference in the causes of academic related anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State on the basis of marital status?
5.    Is there any difference in the causes of academic related anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State on the basis of age?
6.    Is there any difference in the causes of academic related anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State on the basis of mode of residence?
7.    Is there any difference in the causes of academic related anxiety among students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State on the basis of religion?