Chapter 4

DISCUSSION

This chapter presents an analysis and interpretation of the data

collected on job stress and coping strategies of college working students in

Davao city. The presentation of the analysis and interpretation of the data that

is shown in Chapter 3 are presented including the conclusion and

recommendations that were articulated for consideration.

Level of job stress among college working students in Davao City

The first objective of this study is to determine the level of job stress

among college working students in Davao City in terms of workload. The

overall level obtained by the independent variable which is the workload, is

high, which means that the level of job stress is very concerning to working

students (Wood, 2021).Working while in school is mostly motivated by

financial necessity: to supplement income to provide a better knowledge of

the subject matter, to offset losses in various forms of understudy support, or

to assist in achieving future goals. It also gives students a sense of financial

independence, gives them the ability to share responsibility for covering their

own study costs, and develops account management skills.

The high level of job stress is due to the high rating given by the

respondents. As to responses indicated by the respondents, it shows that they

often times felt that they have heavy workloads, have long working hours, one

that can’t possibly handle during ordinary day, have no time for relaxation and

need to get thework done by their subordinates.

 Moreover, according to Shokri et.al (2021) study, there has been an

increase in academic stress and burnout in certain countries, leading to

student dropout. Exams are connected to these stressors. They discovered

that difficult exams result in significant academic stress and demanding

homework assignments. In addition, there are numerous workloads,

inconsistent class schedules, a lack of lecturer-student relationships, an

uneven workload, teaching methods, curricula, and syllabuses that are mostly

above standards (Misra, et.al 2021).

Despite their financial difficulties, Filipino students are nonetheless able

to support themselves through employment. The Working Student (2020)

states that in order to list the employment opportunities available to Filipino

working students, school employment, fast-food workers, and paid corporate

internships. Filipino students struggle because they have to maintain their

academic standing in order to avoid receiving a diploma, and they have to

meet the requirements in their work in order to keep their jobs. According to

the most recent data from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED),

some 216,000 understudies in the Philippines are currently balancing

employment and education. A working student makes up about 8% of all

college students in the Philippines (ABS-CBN News, 2020).

This is supported by Endsleigh (2015) in his study shows that eight out

of ten (77%) understudies are currently working part-time to support them with

their financial necessities at school . Most likely, juggling your social life,

family time, school, and work is challenging for students who work. Reducing

your stress can be achieved by learning how to handle the demands of being
a working undergrad and making sure you get at least one night off each

weekMitchell, 2016).

The second indicator who also got a high-level rating is task

characteristics interpreted as high, which means that the indicator is

oftentimes observed. There are numerous stress-related factors among

students in today's world. The characteristics of the tasks that students

complete become a crucial and important component of academic

performance. The extreme stress that is present in the workplace greatly

impairs performance, and this has raised the interest of numerous students

Any organization must understand the causes of work-related stress and how

it affects students' performance in order to succeed and run smoothly.

The high level of job stress is due to the high rating given by the

respondents. As to responses indicated by the respondents, it shows that task

characteristics entails work shifts with some unscheduled overtime, requires

a high level of skill or knowledge, requires interacting with peers, with all

levels of line supervision, and requires trouble-shooting within its scope. It

takes a lot of interactions and interaction with other people in a working

setting to work as a team, and knowledge and skills in the advancement of

technology. Working students who struggle to comprehend their teammates

may find it challenging to maintain positive working relationships, which in turn

raises stress levels. A working students must devote a significant amount of

time to their work, and a bad working relationship with colleagues will

negatively impact them.

 For this to be achievable, a employer relies on the inputs of the

employees who are often referred to as the lifeblood of every institution. So,

for the business operations to be conducted efficiently, it is imperative for the

employees to perform at their very best to attain the institution’s goals.

Therefore, it is vital for the institution to make serious effort to devise robust

strategies or mechanism to keep their employees satisfied and stress free.

But in today’s work life, employees are generally required to work strenuously

for longer hours to meet their expectations about work performance as the

demand on them increases daily and this exerts enormous stress on them. As

such, the expectation from them equally grew dramatically alongside job

stress which significantly affect their performance.

Numerous academics suggest that workplace stress affects

performance in some way. According to Ali (2020), one of the main reasons

for low workplace productivity is stress related to one's job. According to

Ahmed A. & Ramzan (2020), stress has an impact on organizational

outcomes like a decline in performance and rise in discontent and

absenteeism. Desseller (2021) agreed in the same broad sense that

organizational stress has far-reaching effects that lower both the quantity and

quality of work performance. Frost (2021) claims that diligent and valuable

workers who have terrible experiences at work, having their confidence

eroded, their hopes crushed, and/or their goals thwarted.

The third indicator who also got a high-level rating is Career

Development interpreted as high, indicating that it is oftentimes observed. The

workforce is so diverse in today's work the environment. The obstacles have

grown more formidable for someone who is committed to advancing into more

senior roles, thus having the chance to develop news skills has become

necessary. The desire for a students to advance in his career is quite stressful

because fresh prospects necessitate a diverse skill set in order for individuals

to succeed in the cutthroat economic world. There can be a lot of pressure

and strain from things like multiple performance reviews, fear of

obsolescence, redundancies, and lack of job security. Career development

like job insecurity or a lack of opportunity for progress are sources of

workplace stress. The CDC also considers rapid changes that have little to no

learning curve to be hazardous. Career development and guidance should be

given priorities to those working students, it is necessary that the College or

Universities should guide the students on how to advance their career by

providing training or seminar for further improvement of their skills.

The fourth indicator who also got a high-level rating is Relationship with

others, the high level of job stress is due to the high rating given by the

respondents. As to responses indicated by the respondents, it shows that

there is a lack of support from supervisors, the difficulty to maintain positive

relationship with colleagues and classmates, and difficulty of handling

different types of customer. While coworkers, classmates can be valuable

sources of support, they can sometimes be stressful. Worker relationships

with supervisors, peers, and subordinates can have a beneficial or negative

impact on their emotional state. There will probably always be some friction in

every setting where individuals work together.

Good relationships with supervisors and coworkers can lessen (buffer)

stressful circumstances. Even in situations where there is a lot of stress at

work, employees who have positive connections with their managers and

coworkers are typically effective and productive, according to Cummins

(2020). Given their role, supervisors can interact with employees and listen to

their complaints, which in turn helps their employees find resources to

counteract their stress. Several studies have found that social (classmates,

coworkers and supervicors) support is likely to become a positive resource for

workers and that support from coworkers and managers is important in

moderating the effect of high emotional demands. This means that workers

subjected to high emotional demands are likely more able to manage them

when they have proper support from their colleagues. Conversely, coworkers

can lessen stress levels by supporting one another in finishing duties. Bom

(2021) demonstrates that the impacts of role ambiguity, role conflict, overload

(qualitative and quantitative), withdrawal, low self-confidence, low job

satisfaction, and job tension on stress levels can be mitigated by interpersonal

interactions and personality variables.

Level of coping strategies among college working students in Davao

City

The second objective of this study is to determine the level of job stress

among college working students in Davao City in terms of Direct Strategy

Action. The high level of job stress is due to the high rating given by the

respondents. As to responses indicated by the respondents, it includes

preparation, mastery of challenges, self-awareness, and self-reflection These

tactics usually center on acknowledging an issue or challenge, then making

adjustments and adjustments to meet that challenge.

 This is supported by Parker and Martin (2019), they conducted a study

that examined the efficacy of palliative and direct strategy action in enhancing

job engagement among 515 teachers. It was found that direct coping

strategies such as planning and mastery orientation were slightly more

positively associated with workplace engagement and job satisfaction than

palliative coping strategies such as procrastination and self-handicapping

(Parker & Martin, 2019). According to a related study including 430 Australian

teachers, teachers who prioritized goal mastery above failure avoidance as a

coping strategy showed reduced levels of stress and burnout (Parker et al.,

20120). It is crucial to remember that the findings of these two trials did not

apply to every participant, suggesting that not all palliative care techniques will

worsen wellbeing or all direct coping measures will enhance it.

The second indicator who also got a high-level rating is Externalizing

Strategy, the high level of job stress is due to the high rating given by the

respondents. As to responses indicated by the respondents, it shows that

students tends to seek professional help or counseling when they feel

stressed, discuss and get advice from family, friends, classmates, when

experience job stress, seek emotional support from family, friends or close

classmates when stress out, and turn to prayer or spiritual thoughts when I

experience job stress. A person's coping style is defined as the behavioral or

cognitive approach they use to deal with stressful events. It can be separated

into two categories: negative coping (such as self-blame, withholding, and

escape) and positive coping (such as positive reappraisal, problem-focused

coping, development of positive meaning, and growth). Fredrickson and

Joiner (2020) observed a substantial correlation between stress and

externalizing strategies. According to Fredrickson (2020), seeking

professional help, emotional support, and having positive spiritual thinking are

one of the positive emotional attributes that can enhance a person's coping

methods and improve their capacity to handle job stress and adversity.

Additionally, Wood et al. (2021) found a strong correlation between various

coping strategies (externalizing strategy) and dealing with stress. It is

revealed that planning or favorably reinterpreting the circumstance, obtaining

emotional and instrumental social support, and discovering the opportunity for

progress can reduce job and workplace stress.

This is also supported by Frydenberg & Lewis, (2021), In this study,

students frequently employed the externalizing strategy or seeking social

assistance, which was seen to be one of the most effective ones. It was

discovered by the students that asking for social support and guidance not

only gave them positive reinforcement and support from adults and peers they

could trust, but also taught them new strategies for dealing with their job and

academic stress. These findings suggested that talking to a loving person for

emotional support and assistance on how to solve problems would be more

beneficial than just reporting the issue to a teacher and assigning the task of

finding a solution to a different person. Girls used this tactic more frequently,

which is in line with coping theory studies.

The third indicator who also got a high-level rating is Internalizing

Strategy, the high level of job stress is due to the high rating given by the

respondents. As to responses indicated by the respondents, it shows that

students anticipate the negative consequences, and they try to see a

problematic situation as an opportunity to learn and develop new skills.

Gaining internalized strategy skills enables you to reduce, tolerate, and

manage stressful events in your life. Effective stress management can

improve your physical and psychological well-being and have a positive effect

on your productivity.

The fourth indicator who also got a high-level rating is Avoidance

Strategy, Folkman and Lazarus (2019) discovered that people who were

habituated to using negative coping mechanisms, such as denial,

disengagement, avoidance, and delusions, had a higher chance of receiving a

depression diagnosis in the future. These conclusions are not limited to the

cultures of the West. A study conducted in 2020 by Noh and Kaspar on

Korean immigrants in Japan likewise demonstrated that, although negative

emotion-focused coping styles may exacerbate mental health issues, good

problem-focused coping styles can successfully lower stress. Fan and Chen

(2020) came to the same conclusion in a Chinese context: positive coping

methods have the potential to counteract the negative effects of depression

and anxiety, while passive coping styles may exacerbate them.

Avoidance strategies included avoiding the stressful situation and the

potentially dangerous stimuli. It was revealed that avoidance strategies were

linked to lower levels of stress, but they hardly ever helped to solve the issue.

Significance of the Relationship between Job Stress and Coping

Strategies

Based on the result of the survey with regards to the four indicators,

the direct strategies action got the highest mean score while the avoidance

strategy got the lowest mean score. The study revealed that the overall r-

value is .395 with a probability value of 0.000, which implied that there was a
significant relationship between job stresses between coping strategies of

college working students. Consecutively, the p-value was determined to

be .000, which is less than 0.05, signifying that the null hypothesis was

rejected.

Positive coping techniques have been shown to significantly mitigate

the effects of psychological health issues such as job stress. Numerous

research have demonstrated that, generally speaking, direct strategy action is

one of the primary coping mechanisms that aids in enhancing university

students' performance and preventing stress related to their jobs and studies.

One of the main mental health difficulties that highly trained health

professionals are seeing an increase in is stress, which shouldn't be

disregarded since it can lead to a host of other health problems. To produce

better future health consultants, it needs to be assessed and corrected.

Conclusion

The respondents showed a high level of job stress in terms of task

characteristics of college students. The study generally revealed that there

was a significant relationship between job stresses between coping strategies

of college working students.

For students who are facing deadlines for their coursework, coping

strategies are crucial since they can lessen the damaging effects of stress

and enhance academic achievement. Various coping strategies have been

found to be beneficial for helping students get beyond obstacles and stay

focused on their objectives. These include positive reframing, acceptance,

self-talk, and asking for help. It has been discovered that effectively managing

academic expectations is favorably correlated with positive adjustment in

adolescents and negatively correlated with stress. Coping skills that are part

of health education programs can also be helpful in helping students attain

optimal well-being and handle the stress of their studies.

These results demonstrate that behavioral interventions that focus on

coping strategies may be able to assist people in addressing troublesome

actions due to stress. Teachers and parents in particular should support and

mentor teenagers who exhibit problem behaviors in embracing more

constructive coping mechanisms as opposed to destructive ones. Providing

greater social supports, teaching teens how to transform negative

perspectives into good ones, and organizing courses to assist them in

learning effective coping mechanisms are a few examples of these initiatives.

RECOMMENDATION

Job stress is the negative physical and psychological reactions that

arise when a worker's needs, resources, or capabilities are not met by the

demands of their job. Any institution's ultimate purpose is to produce

graduates who, through appropriate education and character development,

will be beneficial to themselves and make a significant contribution to the

socioeconomic growth of their community. This objective can only be met by

the combined efforts of the faculty, staff, students and administration of the

university to minimize the stress that students are experiencing.

The researcher recommend that the school administrators should

engage with counseling and human development centers to arrange

orientation programs, seminars, and workshops that educate students about

the stressors they may encounter while pursuing their academic goals. The

impact of these stressors on learners needs to be highlighted. In order to

assist students in managing their stress, it is crucial to develop intervention

measures such as workshops, programs, or courses. It is also advised that

students keep their study space uncomplicated, calm, and devoid of

interruptions and disarray. Here is one way to reduce your stress levels. that

learners experience. However, cultivating optimism and positive thinking can

also benefit students' relationships, academic achievement, and general well-

being.

All levels of administrators ought to implement coping mechanisms that

enable pupils to manage any stress they may encounter. Since their capacity

to handle this stress is what will enable them to succeed academically. The

findings of this study will give students, instructors, and other researchers

important knowledge on stress and academic achievement.

Lastly, for the future researcher, the researchers recommend that they

explore other related studies pertaining to handling stress and coping

strategies for the development which will help students in their career

development.