Silent Pressure: A Phenomenological Study of the Mental-Health Impact of Student Political Groups on Non-Political University Students in Pakistan

Abstract

This study explored how non-political university students experience and relate to the presence of student political groups on their campus, with particular attention to their mental health and well-being. While scholarship on campus politics in Pakistan is extensive, it has concentrated on political activists, leaving the large, largely silent non-political majority under-examined. This study, which took an interpretivist-phenomenological approach, interviewed 16 purposefully sampled, non-political university students from a public-sector university in Lahore by means of semi-structured interviews that were subsequently analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). It was underpinned by the spirality of silence, social identity theory, and the transactional model of stress and coping. A six theme set was generated, which reflected on implicit monitoring, self-censorship, compromised routines, stress and emotional suffering, diversified responses, and the need for neutral and safe environments. The researchers concluded that rather than explicit intimidation, perceived political threat materialises in self-imposed silent vigilance at the cost of self-expression, sense of belonging and university life. Neutrality needed to be safeguarded and confidential, depoliticized support service needs to be instituted.