This research looks into how stress and certain negative behaviours affect the academic performance of secondary school students in Cross River State, Nigeria. It shows that students often face challenges such as heavy academic demands, bullying, punishment, and family or financial pressures, which create high levels of stress. Many of them respond in unhelpful ways, like skipping classes, lying, getting aggressive, or isolating themselves. These behaviours usually make their school performance worse and lower their motivation to learn. The study points out that stress affects students on different levels - mentally, physically, and emotionally - and when not properly managed, it can lead to even more damaging behaviours. To deal with this, the work suggests a combined effort from schools, parents, government, and health experts. Some of the key solutions include providing better counselling in schools, getting parents more involved in their children’s education, creating peer mentoring systems, training teachers to quickly spot signs of stress, and encouraging students to join clubs, sports, or arts as a positive outlet. The overall idea is that if students are given healthier ways to cope, they can perform better in school and also grow personally