Republic of the Philippines

Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM ANDS ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension

about what’s to come. The first day of school, going to a job interview, or giving a speech

may cause most people to feel fearful and nervous. Students utilized various ways to cope up

with mental health challenges. It is necessary to address students' mental health during this

COVID-19 pandemic among High School Students.

Some students who suffer from anxiety experience painful emotional symptoms such

as depression, sadness, nervousness, anger, and loneliness. Students may feel unhappy about

coming to a school or become very nervous around people, such as friends and peers.

Teens with social anxiety find school extremely challenging. Sometimes referred to as social

phobia, social anxiety disorder is when a person is overcome with fear and worry in social

settings.

Many students face anxiety when they think they cannot achieve their academic or

non-academic purposes; however, sometimes anxiety can encourage students to think more

critically about how to achieve their goals. Students cope with anxiety in different ways, but

some may struggle. This probably causes many symptoms that affect their mental health.

Therefore, they should alleviate the anxiety to keep their mental health and persist in the

institution. When the students can manage their anxiety, they feel less pressure. If the

students remain anxious, they may not follow through with their academic studies. Also,

anxiety could complicate their physical and psychological states and persist after graduation,

and it may negatively affect their capacity to work in the future.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Theoretical Framework

‘Theories of anxiety’ looks four key perspective in anxiety. Freud’s views on

psychoanalysis. Behavioral theories were led by John Broadus Watson’s experiments on

behaviorism that suggested conditioning was responsible for the development of phobias and

these ideas were developed by O.H. Mowrer, Burrhus Skinner, and Joseph Wolpe, resulting

in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Cognitivism moved on from behaviorism by including

the study of thoughts; its key insight is that anxiety and the advances in neuroimaging

highlights Joseph LeDoux’s work in identifying the amygdala region of the brain’s limbic

system, which seems to be responsible for fear reactions.

Conceptual Framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Factors Affecting the Coping up mechanism

Coping up mechanism for for anxiety within the

Anxiety Grade 11 students

 Family Problem Take a time-out

 Studies Well balanced meal

 Personal Problem Getting enough sleep

Exercise regularly

Figure 1 Research Paradigm

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the coping up mechanism for anxiety among PNHS

grade 11 academic track. It specifically aims to answer the following questions:

1. Do the teenage suffer an anxiety attack?

2. What do they feel when they suffering anxiety?

3. What coping strategies do students at the PNHS use in managing anxiety?

Significance of the study

This study will focus on the assessment of coping up mechanism for anxiety among

PNHS grade 11 academic track and its affect to the student of Paoay National High School.

This study aimed to benefit the students who have experiencing anxiety.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

This study aims to assess the Coping up mechanism for anxiety among PNHS grade

11 academic track. The scope area of the study was in Paoay National High School wherein it

was limited only to the students of 11-STEM with 40 respondents and 11-ABM with 30

respondents in a total of 70 respondents. The primary data gathering method of the

researchers was a questionnaire.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Definition of Terms
In order to have an easy and better understanding for the readers, the researchers have

defined the following terminologies according to how it was used in the research:

 Anxiety - refers to anticipation of a future concern and is more associated with

muscle tension and avoidance behavior.

 Anxiety Attack - is a sudden and intense episode of fear and anxiety.

 Apprehension - anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.

 Cope up – is an intransitive verb meaning to deal with something well, despite or in

the face of some difficulty.

 Social Anxiety Disorder – (also called social phobia) is a mental health condition. It

is intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others.

 Alleviate – to make something bad such as pain or problems less severe.

 Psychoanalysis – a system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat

mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious

elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious

mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.

 Cognitivism – the view that ethical sentences express propositions and are therefore

capable of being true or not.

 Behaviorism – the theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms

of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological

disorders are best treated by altering behavior patterns.

 Amygdala – is a collection of cells near base of the brain

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

 Neuroimaging – the process of producing image of the structure or activity of the

brain or other part of the nervous system by techniques such as magnetic resonance

imaging or computerized tomography.

 Limbic System – is a set of structures in the brain that deal with emotions and

memory.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies of the study.

Related Literature

The word anxiety is derived from Latin word “angere,” meaning to cause distress

(Sharma & Sharma, 2015). Anxiety has also been defined as a vague, uncomfortable feeling

exacerbated by prolonged stress and the presence of multiple stressors (Lazarus & Folkman,

1984). Per the DSM V, generalized anxiety is “anticipation of future threat” and is often

associated with “vigilance in preparation for future danger and cautious or avoidant

behaviors” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 189). A study recently done by the

Anxiety and Depression Association of negative outlook, and think that things will go wrong.

(National Institute of Mental Health, 2013).America (n.d.) revealed that seven out of ten

adults in the United States experience a moderate level of anxiety or stress daily (as cited in

Beiter et al. 2014). Normative anxiety may include being concerned about issues such as

money, health, and/or family problems, but those with an anxiety disorder are extremely

worried about these or other things, even when there is little or no reason to worry about

them. They are very anxious about getting through the day, have a negative outlook, and

think that things will go wrong. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2013).

Sources, Symptoms and Effects of Anxiety

Many children develop an anxiety disorder when they are young and often go

untreated, causing the symptoms and negative effects to persist and manifest in various forms

(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Anxiety can also start during the teen years or

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

young adulthood as peer interaction becomes increasingly important (National Institute of

Mental Health, 2013). Symptoms may get better or worse at different times, and often are

worse during times of stress. Young adults often use maladaptive coping skills such as safety

or avoidant behaviors, risk-taking behaviors, alcohol and/or drug abuse to try to manage their

anxiety alone. Many of these will reduce the symptoms in the short-term, while continuing to

strengthen and maintain the disorder in the long term.

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common obstacles teens and young adults

face and it’s beginning to take a serious toll in the classroom. With so many children and

teens who have undiagnosed anxiety or depression, this can negatively impact their ability to

learn and enjoy their time in school. When students have anxiety and depression that goes

unnoticed their mental health is at risk, which can lead to social and behavioral problems,

poor performance and learning, neglected hygiene, poor self-care practices and low self-

esteem. Anxiety disorders are influenced by environmental stimuli that are stressful for the

individual. Antiquely, it was believed that anxiety disorders were learned, and although the

familiar and social context influence in the possibility to develop an anxiety disorder,

nowadays, it is known that anxiety disorders have a neurobiological substrate that involves

neurochemical changes modifying the correct function of diverse brain structures. In fact,

they are the same brain structures involved in the etiology of depressive disorders, which

explain the comorbidity among anxiety and depressive disorders, as well as the observation

that some antidepressant drugs (i.e., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) produce also

anxiolytic actions at the clinical level.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Every year more cases of anxiety and depression are reported in children and teens. 1

in every 8 children has anxiety, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of

America (ADAA). While there are treatments for anxiety and depression, 80% of children

with an anxiety disorder and 60% of children with depression are not receiving treatment.

The anxiety symptoms reflect an excessive autonomic activity caused by the over-

release of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol, which in consequence produces

perspiration, palpitations, rise in blood pressure, loss of sphincters control, development of

gastric ulcers, among others. Anxiety and depressive disorders are classified in the Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR and recent DSM-5) and

International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), according to the duration, intensity and

origin of symptoms. Anxiety is classified in some types of phobia, separation and social

anxiety disorders, among others

With so many different factors leading to anxiety it’s nearly impossible for teachers to

identify these disorders without any prior training. The longer anxiety go without treatment,

the higher risk students’ face of a worsening condition, academic disengagement and a steep

decrease in academic performance. Students who have these disorders are at risk of suffering

from poor academic performance and resistance to anything school-related. This can include

lack of engagement in the classroom, poor relationships with peers and teachers, and

disinterest in pursuing passions and planning for the future. Their learning is also affected

due to the fact that anxiety can impact the working memory, which makes it challenging to

retain new information and recall previously learned information. Anxiety and depression

negatively influence academic progress and encourage under-achievement. Students with a

high level of anxiety score lower on IQ and achievement tests than their peers.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

A student dealing with one of these disorders can experience negative effects on their

attention, interpretation, concentration, memory, social interaction and physical health. All of

these factors play a key role in each student’s academic success and achievement. A child

who has anxiety is more likely to focus their attention on things that they perceive to be a

possible threat rather than focusing on what is important, like learning in the classroom.

Individuals will also interpret everyday situations as dangerous or threatening and will often

assume the worst case scenario. The negative impact anxiety have on students’ academic

performance doesn’t just hurt them and their families, but it has consequences for the

economy and society as a whole because they are not receiving a proper education.

Disorders like anxiety and depression are constantly being researched and new

breakthroughs are being made every year. However, doctors are still not sure if depression

is passed on genetically or if it’s a mental illness that is solely psychological and physical.

While scientists and doctors continue to explore this, there is evidence that suggests

depression could be a combination of both nature and nurture.

On the other hand, a number of variables can lead to an anxiety disorder. An anxiety

disorder may be prevalent if the following occur:

 When a fear/worry about a particular event or area of life is present

 The fear/worry is extreme compared to that experienced by peers or it is age ‐

inappropriate

 The fear/worry leads to avoidance of events

 The fear/worry causes significant distress and/or interferes significantly in

daily activities

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Since there are different kinds of anxiety, teachers should be trained to understand

how to work effectively with each one. Common types of anxiety disorders are separation

anxiety disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobia, OCD, panic

disorder and PTSD.

When someone is experiencing anxiety or depression the majority of their mental

capacity is used to create and process worrisome thoughts. This can make it extremely

difficult to focus on positive thoughts and can be very exhausting for the student, which

detracts from their learning abilities.

Not only do these disorders impact memory, which makes it hard for students to

recall information, but they can also have negative effects on how students engage in social

situations. Often, students with anxiety or depression will avoid interactions with their

peers and will perceive neutral situations as threats. This, in turn, makes others

uncomfortable and results in the student feeling lonely, outcast and increases anxiety and

depression.

Physical symptoms like headache, fatigue, nausea and unexplained illness are also

risks of untreated anxiety and depression. Children with these disorders have a higher

resting heart rate, higher blood pressure, higher cortisol levels and they carry more tension

in the body. These physical effects often lead to missed school days causing the child to fall

behind.

Dealing with undiagnosed depression or anxiety can result in students feeling like

they are constantly missing out on opportunities and this can lead to substance abuse,

conduct problems, further mental health problems and even suicide.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Currently, suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students.

Heather Morgan, a crisis line manager for Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Suicide

Prevention Center says, “We receive calls from college students daily. Since people go

through different traumatic events in life; calls, texts and chats can range from relationship

issues, LGBTQI questions or concerns, financial, and family issues or concerns – to name a

few.”

The negative impact of anxiety and depression on student’s academic progress and

overall well-being is very clear. Early anxiety disorders typically predict adult anxiety

disorders making it crucial to address them early on. 85% of depressed adolescents have a

history of having anxiety as a child. If these issues can be identified early on while the child

is in school there is a better chance for treatment and preventative care so that the above

consequences can be avoided.

Ways of Coping with Anxiety

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), parents have the

right to request appropriate accommodations related to their child’s diagnosis. Teachers and

school staff need to be able to respond effectively and know which accommodations to

provide for each student.

Mental health training is crucial in schools, especially for teachers, who are

interacting with students on a daily basis and have many opportunities to observe behavior

and reach out.

A mental health training program will prepare teachers and staff to look for discreet

signs that may indicate disorders like anxiety. These signs include increased inflexibility,

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

over-reactivity, emotional intensity, impulsivity, acting out or escaping to avoid a situation.

Very often a student may go to the nurse during a quiz or get kicked out of class on

purpose. Teachers may interpret the child as simply being a troublemaker or slacking off,

when in reality, they are feeling intense anxiety and are trying to protect themselves.

There’s a reason anxiety and depression are referred to as invisible diseases. It can

be very difficult to identify these disorders in students unless teachers have a deep

understanding of them and know exactly what to look for. Training is necessary because the

best way to improve these conditions are to address them as soon as possible.

Isabel, a school superintendent in California says, “In most schools mental health

certification is reserved for a social worker or guidance counselor. Yet 99.9% of student

contact time everyday is with a teacher, bus driver or coach. Our number one priority

should be to train and equip our front line staff to deal with this crisis.”

Teachers and classroom staff are on the front lines of helping students seek proper

treatment and receive an education in a safe, comfortable environment. When school staff

and teachers are properly trained they are able to effectively address anxiety and depression

among their students and create a better learning environment that will produce higher

academic outcomes.

Related Studies

In the study of Katherine H. Bisson (Spring 5-2017) entitled “The Effect of Anxiety

and Depression on College Students’ Academic P Academic Performance: Exploring Social

Suppor formance: Exploring Social Support as a Moder t as a Moderator’, it was stated that

Low past academic performance, was found to be significantly correlated with academic

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

performance. Social workers, and others working with college students, may be mindful of

students that have previous low academic performance. These students may be more at-risk

academically and should be connected to available resources. Academic coaching,

academic advising, tutoring, supplemental instruction, etc. are some of the resources that

practitioners could connect college students with after assessing their needs. Part of this

assessment should include reviewing high school GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and any prior

college credits completed. It is important for SOAR and other university programs utilize

this information, in conjunction with meeting with the student, may help to inform the

practitioner on which resources to allocate. Another implication for practice is to consider

these findings regarding students that struggle with anxiety and depression.

According to the study of Prima Vitasari (2010) titled “A Research for Identifying

Study Anxiety Sources among University Students”, University students suffer to some

levels of study anxiety. Student cannot perform well if they are having a problem regarding

anxiety. Campus environment as part of social anxiety has universal access to increase study

anxiety among students. The prevalence of study anxiety has been acknowledged by students

and educators. However, no current researches exist to identify the study anxiety sources

among university students.

According to Sarason in Haris and Coy (2003) that anxiety is a basic human emotion

consisting of fear and uncertainty that typically appears when an individual perceives an

event as being a threat to the ego or self esteem. Spielberger theory of anxiety defined that

anxiety as an emotional state consisting of feeling, tension, apprehension, nervousness, and

worry with activation or arousal of the autonomic nervous system, these are differentiated as

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

state and trait anxiety (Spielberger, 1966). In the conceptualization, individuals with high

levels of anxiety generally hold heightened levels of trait anxiety, but in evaluative situations,

the state anxiety also elevates.

International Conference on Mathematics Education Research (2010) conducted a

study to examine the relationship between study anxiety and academic performance among

engineering students. The purpose was to determine the students who have low academic

performance received test to measure their anxiety level was influenced by these criterion

Previous studies demonstrated that students with higher level of anxiety tend to obtain lower

marks in their end-ofsemester examination. Anxiety while studying is a major predictor of

academic performance (McCraty, 2007 and McCraty, et al., 2000) and various studies have

demonstrated that it has a detrimental effect. Engineering student has many situations which

it is appropriate and reasonable to counter with some anxiety. Therefore, study anxiety should

be investigated for engineering students.

The study of Oliver Robinson (2013) stated that (1) by examining anxiety under

carefully controlled conditions, we can clarify cause-effect relations and bridge the gap

between the human and animal literatures on anxiety; (2) The effect of both anxiety disorders

and threat of shock on such processes may illuminate, in particular, a profile of the adaptive

effects of anxiety. Specifically, threat of shock studies point to enhanced sensory-perceptual

processing across multiple stimulus modalities as a function of anxiety; (3) threat-induced

anxiety can boost sensory-perceptual processing in general, it also selectively improves the

processing of extrinsically and intrinsically salient stimuli. The discussion thus far has

focused on studies employing simple, innocuous stimuli to study early sensory-perceptual

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

effects. But even there we find evidence that the relative significance of some stimuli is

preserved in terms of modulating sensory-perceptual responses.

Aun et.al (2011) opined that coping skills improve class attendance, participation,

persistence even when faced with setbacks or failure in general, and arm them with stronger

more resilient self who can lead to a much more positive learning experience. Similarly,

academic coping strategies helped undergraduate students to perform in their academic

through academic coping strategies factors i.e. approach, avoidance, and social support

(Sullivan, 2010). In addition, academic coping strategies was also design to help

undergraduate students to cope their life those that include physical well-being, emotional,

spiritual, and psychological well-being (Yasin & Dzulkifli, 2009). Normally, emotional

coping strategy is usually practiced in the first year of undergraduate students while in later

years the trend is changing towards cognitive, confrontive and painful problem solving

(Mahajan, 2010).

According to IRCHE (2017) the dimensions of coping mechanism is positively and

significantly related to student's, it can be assumed that the more adaptive and tolerable the

students to academic and personal stress, the better their academic performance are.

A study done by Larson, Orr, and Warne (2016) explored both physical and

mental health issues. Some of the physical health difficulties the study measured included

asthma, allergies, mononucleosis, strep throat, and urinary tract infections. The study

found that mental health issues were significantly and negatively associated with GPA.

The results of the study also showed that physical health issues were often correlated with

mental health issues. For example, students who had high levels of stress, or difficulties

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

handling stress, reported physical health issues affecting their diet and sleep. In working

with students with anxiety, the physical health symptoms are often reported as the presenting

problem because they are the symptoms that are externalized (Dusselier, Dunn, Wang,

Shelley, & Whalen, 2005; Hartley, 2011).

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

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 Republic of the Philippines
Region 1
School Division of Ilocos Norte
PAOAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Paoay, Ilocos Norte

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