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Stress Paper

Name

Institution

Course

Instructor

Date
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Stress Paper

Items and Instructions for Perceived Stress Scale

The questions in this scale ask you about your feelings and thoughts during the last month.

In each case, you will be asked to indicate how often you felt or thought a certain way.

Although some of the questions are similar, there are differences between them and you

should treat each one as a separate question. The best approach is to answer each question

fairly quickly. That is, don't try to count up the number of times you felt a particular way,

but rather indicate the alternative that seems like a reasonable estimate. For each question

choose from the following alternatives:

0. never 1. almost never 2. sometimes 3. fairly often 4. very often

__2__1. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened

unexpectedly?

__2__2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important

things in your life?

_2___3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and "stressed"?

__2__4. In the last month, how often have you dealt successfully with irritating life hassles?

__3__5. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were effectively coping with

important changes that were occurring in your life?

__3__6. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your

personal problems?

_3___7. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?

___0_8. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things

that you had to do?

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__0__9. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?

__3__10. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?

_2___11. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that happened

that were outside of your control?

___3_12. In the last month, how often have you found yourself thinking about things that you

have to accomplish?

__3__13. In the last month, how often have you been able to control the way you spend your

time?

___1_14. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you

could not overcome

them?

TOTAL SCORE: __24___

Scored in the reverse direction.

Since my stress score was 24, from the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), I experience

moderate stress. Even though I do not experience high perceived stress, my stress score is closer

to the ‘high’ bracket which starts at 27. Thus, I must determine various ways that will help me

reduce the score to the low stress which is 0 – 13.

As a student, there are various factors that cause me stress. Most of my stress results due

to worrying about the things that I have to accomplish, and being angered by the because of the

things that happened outside my control. My stress also results from the fact that I am unable to

control the irritations that are present in my life, and that at times I feel difficulties piling up and

getting out of my control. On some occasions, I have also found myself nervous or stressed

because of many responsibilities that proved to be quite overwhelming—my control for these
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were fairly average. For the things that I had to accomplish and being angered by occurrences

outside my control, I had little control over them. To ensure better control of these stressors, I

have adopted various stress coping mechanisms to help me reduce stress and gain better focus of

my activities and responsibilities. The mechanisms include trying to stay optimistic as much as

possible, spending quality time with my family members and friends, and participating in various

enjoyable activities, such as playing football with my friends. According to Zinurova and DeHart

(2018), participating in enjoyable activities, being optimistic, and spending time with friends and

families are among the most significant stress coping mechanisms. Besides, these strategies have

been working well for me.

I also like playing video games with my friends during our free times, and this also help

me to cope with the stressors. Plante et al. (2019) report that video games are important stress

coping mechanisms. However, this mechanism can result in video games addiction and this is

why my friends and I only play limitedly. Physical exercises have also facilitated my way of

coping with stress. Moreover, I often try to adjust my schedule to enable me complete my tasks

on time, and assess various ways that can help me handle the several responsibilities that I have

without having to worry about their completion time. I also try eat healthy and get enough sleep

to prevent the stressors from overwhelming me, and avoid any kind of drug or alcohol (Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Due to the above mix of my stress coping

mechanisms, my strategy involves both problem-based and emotional-based methods of coping

with stress. Besides, Quick and Bryant (2020) note that problem-based and emotion-based

strategies are effective in reducing academic stress and improve the quality of life. Thus, these

strategies are important for my academic performance and life quality.

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I have identified several ways that I can use to reduce my stress, including regular

exercises, eating and drinking with the objective to optimize my health, and identifying ways that

can help me reduce my stressors (Cleveland Clinic, 2020). Regular exercises will help my body

to release endorphins that will help me feel better and develop an optimistic attitude throughout

my activities. Other stress-reducing strategies include assessing my values to ensure that they

conform with my actions, knowing when to handle every problem, and setting only SMART

goals that I can achieve. Also, I must acknowledge that there will be times when I cannot solve

every problem. According to Cleveland Clinic (2020), meditation and relaxation to music are

also effective strategies that can help me to reduce my stress. For meditation, it will help me in

the long-term stress management in addition to reducing my stress level.

After implementing the above stress-reducing strategies for three consecutive days, I

realized that they were quite effective in reducing my stress level. The strategies have reduced

my worriedness on the things have to complete, how angered I get at things I cannot control, and

I am better at handling the irritations to my life. Moreover, I am less nervous and stressed about

the responsibilities that that may overwhelm my schedule. In overall, the assignment help be to

be aware of my stress patterns and ways to effectively cope with stress to a greater extent.
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References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Tips for Coping with Stress|Publications|

Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. Cdc.gov. Retrieved 21 June 2021, from

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/copingwith-stresstips.html.

Cleveland Clinic. (2020). Stress: 10 Ways to Ease Stress. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved 21 June

2021, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/8133-stress-10-ways-to-ease-

stress.

Plante, C. N., Gentile, D. A., Groves, C. L., Modlin, A., & Blanco-Herrera, J. (2019). Video

games as coping mechanisms in the etiology of video game addiction. Psychology of

Popular Media Culture, 8(4), 385. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-19997-001

Quick, E., & Bryant, W. (2020). Stress-Coping Mechanisms and the Effects of Academic Stress.

https://augusta.openrepository.com/handle/10675.2/623073

Zinurova, E., & DeHart, R. (2018). Perceived stress, stressors, and coping mechanisms among

PGY1 pharmacy residents. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 82(7).

https://www.ajpe.org/content/82/7/6574.abstract