COPING WITH STRESS

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CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION

The main purpose of this study is to generate ways and strategies to cope
with stress. This study also intent to disseminate knowledge about the causes of
stress and to understand the effects of stress to students.

Here is the detailed discussion of the important points gathered and analyzed
from the findings of the study and the incorporation of various inputs from student
participants and other related studies.

The first question asked about the varying understanding of students of the
word “stress”. A participant stated that stress is a psychological thing that is related
to depression and anxiety. It can be inferred that stress affects the mental health of a
student. Also, stress makes people scared of the things which they find hard to solve
thus, inducing students’ fear of challenging circumstances which are often faced by
most of them. Other participants described the word “stress” as a normal response
of people facing challenges in life, a natural thing or reaction when a person has
problems that does not convey to their interest. It can be concluded that stress is a
natural phenomenon that triggers someone’s emotion. Stress can also be
associated with struggles a person is going through. One of the participants stated
that pressure leads to stress. Stress is also an indicator that there’s something
wrong in the body. It is revealed that stress is a response of the body in a sudden
situation. Moreover, according to Campbell (2006) stress is the reaction of people
whenever they are acting upon pressure and challenging circumstances. It happens
when an individual faces a situation that is too much for him/her to handle and that
are left unmanaged. This is consistent with the results stated above and proves that
stress is inevitable and is a part of every student’s life. It is also evident that students
have enough knowledge of what stress is since they have already experienced it.
The students’ knowledge when it comes to stress serves as an advantage for it
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could help them further understand and handle situation when it comes to facing
stress. Through these, it can be humbly recommended that there should be an
awareness spread to each of every student for stress greatly affects the emotion and
mental health.

For question number two, the students were asked when they usually
experience stress. Most of the students experience stress when asked to do loads of
work such as school works, different activities and household chores. This is in line
with the study of Kouzma and Kennedy (2001) indicating school related factors such
as projects, time for study and assignments as the the major sources of stress for
senior high school students. From these, it can be inferred that most students have
hard time doing different tasks at the same time leading to unmanaged time and
causing their stress. One of the respondents also stated that internet generates
stress. It caused the delay of important things and leads to unfinished tasks thus
generating stress. In addition, one of the respondents said that they experience
stress when exposed to unexpected things. It can be concluded that when students
are exposed to situations that are new to them, they experience a tough time
adjusting and it causes them stress. This finding is consisitent to ealier findings of
Essel and Owusu (2017) indicating unfamiliar situations such as working with new
people as one of the causes of stress that overwhelm students. However, this result
is contrary to the study of Tung and Chahal (2005) which have reported finding no
signficant causal relationship between stress and adjustment. Furthermore, some of
the reasons of stress are caused by family problems, work, studies, and even
relationships with friends and significant other. There is a recent report that the main
causes of stress to students are the tons of homework, the never-ending projects,
and the peer-pressure. It is said that the average homework of the students have
doubled over the past two decades (CQ Research, Volume 17, Number 25, Page
577-600, July 13, 2017). Students in the higher education or higher year are stated
to experience a lot of stress than those who are on the lower years. Not being able
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to determine when students are stressed reduces the chance of awareness for
parents and school authorities to take actions. Furthermore, Lashway (2002) stated
school administrators must accept the ultimate responsibility for district, school, and
student achievement. Standards-based accountability has become a trademark for
the superintendent and a minimum expectation of the job. Due to this, a
recommendation for students to be able to further learn the times or situations that
causes them stress should be consider in order for authorities to acknowledge it and
take actions regarding this.

For question number three in the interview guide, the student participants
stated the usual causes of their stress. Most of the participants included school
works as one of the usual causes of their stress. This is in line with the study of
Agolla and Ongori(2009) reporting that majority of students agreed that academic
workload generates their stress. It can be assumed that the students’ main reason
are school works that is usual for the students to experience. Other causes of the
students’ stress are built up anxiety because of low grades, pressure and
overthinking. It causes them stress because of the negative thoughts and worries
that consumes most of their time instead of doing what needs to be done. Studies,
tasks and household chores are one of the causes of stress of students. Thus, the
study concludes that tons of work that are allotted to students causes them stress.
One of the participants also included relationships as one of the causes of their
stress. Furthermore, Greenberg, 1996, stated that developing relationships,
forsaking old friends and and making new ones is a tough activity related to high
school life. These are considered stressful for high school students. This just proves
that students’ stress is not just caused by school but also relationships to family,
friends, and other people. It is recommended for students to avoid engaging in
relationships that are too much for them to handle. It is advisable for them to focus
on their studies as maintaining relationships can be distracting and stressful. The
results stated above are supported by the study of Essel and Owusu (2017)
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indicating relationship, academic, environmental and other personal factors as the
main factors causing stress. Moreover, years during senior high school were
described to be the most demanding and toughest years of schooling for students. It
is with regards to decisions about the students’ educational and occupational goals
and aspirations that are undertake during this period of time. It is also observed that
during these years of schooling, students are pressured to study hard in order to
meet the qualifications on college universities (Kouzma and Kennedy,2002) . This
explains why senior high school years are stressful for many and also supports the
causes of stress that were stated above. For these causes of stress, it could be
recommended that the students should refrain from doing bad habits that leads to
their stress.

For question number four, the participants were asked what they feel
physically, emotionally and socially whenever they’re stressed. Physically, students
stated different things they experienced. Most of the participants stated that they are
physically weak when stressed. It could be assumed that stress causes students’
weakness. From here, it can be recommended for students to get enough rest and
sleep whenever they are stress to regain energy required for their body and avoid
feeling weak. Furthermore, others stated that they experience headache, exhaustion
and irritability. The results stated above were quite consistent with the study of
Buksha et al. (2011) stating that majority of students feel fatigue, irritable, anxiety,
headache and get angry quickly when stressed. On the other hand, some of them
feel sleepy and lazy which is a negative effect to them. Emotionally, the participants
feel anxiety, irritation and feeling down when stressed. Other participants tend to
overthink and cause them confusion. In contrary, others feel happiness and think
positively when they experience stress. This only proves that every student has
different views and ways to adapt when it comes to stress. Socially, students feel
lonely and not socializing when they are stressed. The participants do not like talking
to others that leads to isolating themselves. Isolation is one of the major effects of
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stress to the students’ social life (Essel and Owusu,2017). It can be concluded that
when students experience stress most of them do not want to be with other people.
In contrary, others ought to socialize and talk when stressed. It helps them to
express the feelings they have been carrying through themselves. According to
Cohen (2018), feelings of stress and anxiety are part of life. Some levels of stress
can be good for us, as the right kind of stress encourages us toward change and
growth. However, when stress and anxiety exist for an extended period, they can
become a burden or even a health risk. In addition to this, one of the study’s related
research from Harvard has found that reframing stress as helpful rather than harmful
can reverse the physiological changes brought about by stress. This supports the
feelings of people that are stressed can be bad but can also be right kind of stress
that can encourage people to be motivated. Therefore, this study recommends that
students should sort their emotions between negative and positive in order to find
out the best thing to do on how to diminish negativity.

For question number five, the students stated how to deal or cope with stress.
One of the participants stated that watching movies and YouTube videos are one of
the effective ways on coping with stress. It can be assumed that entertainment
reduces stress. Other participants stated that through listening to music and sleeping
the whole day eases the stress felt. It proves that through enough rest a person as
well as the students can alleviate the stress since resting is one of the best way for
the body to feel relaxed. These results are quite consistent with the findings of the
study of Buksh et al.(2011). Lastly, other respondents stated that one of effective
ways to deal with stress is praying. Getting guidance and advice from God makes
them feel at ease. According to Anspaugh et al. (2003), all events in life brought
about a reaction, but there were varied ways through which people reacted or
responded to them. To them, coping with stress is the attempt to manage or deal
with stress. Moreover, Lazarus (1997) emphasized the key role of cognitive process
in coping activities and the importance of coping in determination of quality and
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intensity of emotional reactions to stress. According to him the people are constantly
self-regulating their emotional reaction in various ways. They either postpone
unpleasant situation or change the threatening conditions or simply detach
themselves from unpleasant situations. Therefore, Lazarus emphasizes that the
individual actively considers the situation and the unforeseen environmental
conditions which manipulate the individual’s behavior. The same study stated that
coping strategy refers to a technique of coping adopted in a specific context. Over a
period of time the individual develops a specific coping style. This refers to the
manner in which an individual respond to any stressful event. All of these supports
the reason why most of the student asked have different ways to deal with stress.
From these, it can be recommended that every student must know their ways to deal
with stress that corresponds to what a student wants and what their body needs.

For the last question, the students were asked to state the coping tips or
strategies that they wanted to share to their fellow students when it comes to coping
with stress. Other participants stated that managing time is the key. They
particularized time management as to plan and structure everything that they need
to accomplish in time and as a self-discipline to help themselves to become more
productive without worrying of time. This is supported by Misra and McKean (2000)
stating that managing time efficiently lower the amount of academic stress. Others
emphasized that a student must be setting priorities, avoid procrastination and stop
overthinking. It only ascertains that a student must be knowing what he or she is
doing through not overthinking of what could happen and not making excuse of
doing something they want just to escape what is intended to do. The other students
indicated that enjoy their life is one of the strategies for it could give them happiness
in whatever situation the students are in. Finally, the others specified that through
God’s grace, everything is possible. Every student must know that there’s God who
never leave us no matter what situation, time or place a person is in. Through these
strategies In studying the process of coping with stress, a measure, known as “Ways
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of Coping” was developed (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). Embedded in the “Ways of
Coping”, according to Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub, (1989), is a distinction
between two main styles of coping namely, problem-focused coping and emotion-
focused coping. Problem-focused coping seeks to solve problems or change the
source of stress. On the other hand, emotion-focused coping aims to reduce or
manage the emotional distress associated with the situation. Folkman and Lazarus
(1980) as cited in Carver et al. (1989) are of the opinion that even though most
stressors elicit both types of coping, problem-focused coping tends to predominate
when individuals feel that something constructive could be done. Emotion-focused
coping tends to predominate when people feel that the stressor must be endured.
This only shows that every coping strategy when it comes to stress has different
styles that should be known by most of the students. The strategies that were stated
above only shows that the varieties of strategies are known and handled through
proper self-assessment on what a student must be doing in times of circumstances
such as stress. Every individual has unique or clever ways to cope with stress.
Through these it could be recommended that a student should have time to find or
research ways to cope with stress, this study would help them to find the right way to
cope with it.

This study in general concludes that every student has his own understanding
of stress. The study also indicated the reasons and effects of stress to a student. It
also has the coping up strategies that every student asked was doing. The
undertaking didn’t only state the right things to do when coping with stress but also
humbly integrates recommendations for every statement. An awareness and proper
teachings of knowledge to students such as conducting seminars or for teachers to
set teachings or reminders to students on what stress is and how it should be
managed as well as every student’s helping hand to their fellow students they know
that experience stress is highly recommended.

Based on the discussion, the study proposes the models below:

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Figure 1. Belez, et al’s Model of the Definition of Stress

The definition of stress is presented in figure 1. It shows that stress is a

psychological thing which means that stress is related to the mental health of a
person. In the figure, psychological thing is represented by a person that has so
many things to face. Stress is also a natural reaction, it means that it’s normal for a
person to feel stressed especially when things happen at the same time it gives
pressure. In the figure, it shows natural reaction as waves that originated in the brain
and is released by a person. Stress triggers the emotion of a person. When
stressed, a person can experience anger, joy or sadness. Similar to the figure, it
differs depending on the person experiencing it. Stress also induces fear. When a
person encounters a situation that leads to stress, a person could feel frightened of
losing different things. In the figure, it is represented by an eye that expresses fear of
something that a person might not be able to have again after being stressed. Lastly,
stress is associated with pressure which always happens to many students. When
students are stressed, most of them rush things due to pressure causing them to
feel like finishing an entire project for just one night. In the figure, it is represented as
erupting lava that only shows that a person could feel the heat of being pressured
due to stress.
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Figure 2. Belez, et al’s Model of the Causes of Stress

The figure above presents the causes of stress of students. First, is the loads
of work, this is one of the primary causes of stress of a students. Normally, it’s about
the projects, assignments and others that happen at the same time which usually
occurs at school. It is represented by a student carrying boxes that keeps them
busy. These experiences are normal since they are students that need to do tasks
for their grades to be satisfied. One of the causes of stress is anxiety; it represents
fear and worrying of a person. When a person feels nervous and at the same time
tends to overthink, stress happens. It is represented in the figure as a person with
several things that accumulate in his head represented by the white smoke. Also, a
cause of stress is when he or she doesn’t manage his or her time well. It keeps them
distracted and unable to decide what to finish first. This gives them stress just as
what can be observed in the figure. Lastly, the cause of stress gathered by the
researchers is when a sudden situation happens. When a student or a person is not
prepared, it causes stress. For example, in the figure, a dog suddenly barked and
ran off. This triggers a person to run and save himself and causes stress.

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Figure 3. Belez, et al’s Model of Strategies in Coping with Stress

The coping strategies are presented in the last figure. One of the coping
strategies is entertainment; it is one of the best ways to cope with stress. An
example is in the figure, learning to play an instrument or listening to music, reading
a book, watching TV and playing games. Anything that will keep a person happy and
comfortable as a break from being stressed is a big help. Second is enough rest,
when a person gets enough rest from being stressed it could help them gain positive
vibes that will help them cope with stress. The third is time management, if one of
the causes of stress is unmanaged time, then having a well scheduled plan for a day
or month will help a student finish tasks ahead of time. There is no room for
procrastination. Fourth of the coping strategies is talking to friends and family. It is
nice to feel that there are people you can lean on. Talking to people you know could
help you ease the heavy feeling. Lastly, the best coping strategy is praying. Knowing
that your family and friends are there is good but knowing that God is always there
for you is the best feeling. Whenever a person or student feels down and has so

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much to think of, there is one way to feel safe, it’s talking to the best adviser through
a prayer.

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