Grade 12 HUMSS students’ Academic Stress and Seeking-Support

Coping Mechanisms

Maravilla, Carl Nicola B.

 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
INTRODUCTION
Academic stress involves mental distress regarding anticipated academic challenges or
failure or even the fear of the possibility of academic failure. Academic stressors show
themselves in many aspects in the students' environment: at school, home, in their peer relations
and even in their neighborhood.
Grade 12 HUMSS students may have experienced challenges in their studies and those
challenges may have affected them badly. With the complicated situation right now, they could
have been on it all along. One of which is academic stress. Academic stress is the response of the
body to academic requirements that surpass students’ adaptive capabilities. While this is
happening, senior high school students are more likely to prevent and may have endured the
burden of these challenges. According to Thakkar (2018), academic stress includes mental
discomfort or fear of the likelihood of academic failure over planned academic difficulties or
failure. Whereas, seeking-support coping style is asking for help or seeking emotional support
from family members or friends, during a difficult time that can be an effective way to preserve
emotional wellbeing.
In today's world, it has become highly competitive were students have to face many
academic problems such as the inability to understand a subject, academic pressure, academic
workloads, and the feeling that you are constantly racing to meet another deadline. According to
Thakkar (2018), excessive levels of academic stress can lead to an increased incidence of
conditions linked to psychological and physical issues such as depression, anxiety, nervousness,
and stress which in turn can impact their academic outcomes. Also in some cases, due to the
growing occurrence of suicides among students, the mental health of students, especially in
terms of academic stress and its effects have become a serious issue in schools.
On the other hand, it is also necessary to know the extent of the responses of the senior high
school towards the stress. Literally, they have their own coping style but, in this study, each
coping style is assessed from a general point of view. The use of effective coping mechanisms
will help relieve the detrimental effects of stress (Smith & Renk, 2007). Seeking support or
social support coping style can be employed when the person experiencing stress perceives the
stressful situation that is outside of his or her control. Such study findings demonstrated that the
early encounters that occur between parents and their children can have a long-lasting impact on
the later functioning of grown children. How mothers and fathers raise their children can be an
integral part of students' overall and academic functionality (Smith & Renk, 2007). It plays an
important part in the relationship between parent and child. Also, in the social sort, it can be
helpful for their levels of stress keeping, as their mental and physical health is less affected by
stressful circumstances (Susman, 2020). Academic stress needs to be addressed. In a classroom
setting, it has been observed that students have different courses of action in coping with their
academic stress. Some are taking breaks, outlining the set of tasks to be completed, and seeking
from their family and friends, while some cannot handle stress, which can lead to mental health
issues. In general, different students have their ways to cope with academic stress. In the study,
the researcher intended to determine the correlation between academic stress and seeking-
support coping style of the Grade 12 HUMSS students in Pantalan Senior High School. Thus, the
study focused on determining the extent of the coping style of the senior high school subduing
the effect of the academic stress they experienced.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There have been many other studies on perceived stress, stressors that cause stress, how
adolescents handle stress, and the impact of these on their academic life. In the Philippines
however, there have only been a few studies dealing with stress responses of tertiary students to
particular stressors.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In today's highly competitive world, students face various academic problems including
exam stress, disinterest in attending classes and inability to understand the subject. Academic
stress is the feeling of anxiety or apprehension over one's performance in the academic activities.
It can lead to students being unable to perform to the best of their abilities in examinations. At
school there is a range of academic pressure feel, derived from a need for perfection, worry over
grades, parental pressure, competition, sports, or a tough class load. The nervous breakdowns,
panic attacks, burnouts, and depression are also apparent in many younger students. The same
situation is not always stressful for all people, and all people do not undergo the same feelings or
off-putting thoughts when stressed. Students were considered to be the future pillars who take
the responsibilities to take our country to the next phase they should be in better way. To know
this, the investigator decided to analysis the academic stress among higher secondary students.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study aims to find out the present stressors and kind of stress responses most exhibited by
Grade 12 HUMSS students in Pantalan Senior High School . Specifically, it answered the following
research questions:
1.) What are the socio-demographic characteristics of the Grade 12 HUMSS students?
2.) What are the stressors and stress responses of Grade 12 HUMSS students?
3.) How stress Grade 12 HUMSS students affects their emotional, mental, psycho-social, and
spiritual being?
 RELATED REVIEW LITERATURE
According to (Bernstein, et al 2008) Stress is viewed as a negative emotional, cognitive,
behavioral and physiological process that occurs as a person tries to adjust to or deal with
stressors. (Auerbach & Grambling 1998) Also stated that stressors are defined as
circumstances that disrupt, or threaten to disrupt, individuals‟ daily functioning and cause people
to make adjustments.
Moreover (Bernstein, et al 2008) stress is perceived in different ways and may mean
different thing to different individuals. It is perceived as events or situations that cause
individuals to feel tension, pressure, or negative emotions including anxiety and anger.
Moreover, other people define stress as the response to existing situations, which includes
physiological changes (increased heart rate, and muscle tension), emotional and behavioral
changes.
Auerbach and Grambling (1998) argue that stress can leads to serious problems if it is
not managed effectively. Moreover, when a person is exposed to chronic stress, she or he is
likely to experience both physical illness (including heart disease), and mental illness (e.g.,
anxiety disorders).
Bernstein et al. (2008) define the sources of stress as every circumstance or event that
threatens to disrupt people’s daily functioning and causes them to make adjustments. These
sources of stress are called “Stressors”.
Auerbach and Gramling (1998) view catastrophes as an unexpected life-threatening
calamity or disaster that cause individuals to be unable to cope with it. For instance, wars, floods,
hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, sexual assaults and tornadoes are common catastrophes.
(Passer & Smith 2007) stress does not affect all people equally, but stress can lead to
illness and negative experiences. Coping with stress is therefore an important factor, it affects
whether and how people search for medical care and social support and how they believe the
advice of the professionals.
(Lazarus & Cohen, 1977) The transactional model of Stress and coping is an approach
for evaluating the coping processes of stressful situations. Stressful situations are viewed as the
transactions between an individual and the environment.
Keinan and Perlberg (1986) argue that the feelings of frustration, anxiety, and
depression are among the potential consequences of high degree of stress.
Mckean et al. (2000) maintain that stressors alone do not produce anxiety, depression or
tensions. Instead, the interaction between stressors and the person’s perception and the reaction
to these stressors cause stress.
 (Shirom, 1986) Environmental stress occurs as a result of environmental stimuli or
demands apprehended by a person that are exceeding his or her ability to deal with them.
(Fairbrother & Warn, 2003) Academic stress among students have long been
researched on, and researchers have identified stressors as too many assignments, competitions
with other students, failures and poor relationships with other students or lecturers.
(Carveth et al, 1996) Academic stressors include the student's perception of the
extensive knowledge base required and the perception of an inadequate time to develop it.
(Abouserie, 1994) Students report experiencing academic stress at predictable times each
semester with the greatest sources of academic stress resulting from taking and studying for
exams, grade competition, and the large amount of content to master in a small amount of time.

(Murphy & Archer, 1996) When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive,
students experience physical and psychological impairment. Methods to reduce stress by students
often include effective time management, social support, positive reappraisal, and engagement in
leisure pursuits.

(Erkutlu & Chafra, 2006) The pressure to perform well in the examination or test and
time allocated makes academic environment very stressful. (Fairbrother & Warn, 2003) This is
likely to affect the social relations both within the institution and outside which affects the
individual person’s life in terms of commitment to achieving the goals.

(Bernstein et al., 2008) Daily hassles can also be viewed as the irritations, pressures, and
annoyances that might not be significant stressors by themselves but whose cumulative effects
can be significant. This can be related to individuals‟ jobs, everyday living circumstances and
personal relationships.
According to Fan and Wang’s study (as cited in Abdullah et al. 2011),
the stress level amongst the final year students could be because of the higher level of university
education which may cause more academic stress towards the students.

Research by Shaikhand colleagues (2004), stated that the most common reasons of
stress among undergraduates are usually related to exams and academics, relationship problems
in university or family, homesickness and even due to financial problems.
 METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
This research used the quantitative approach correlational research design to determine
the correlation between academic stress and seeking-support coping style among Grade 12
HUMSS students. A correlational research design investigates relationships between two
variables (or more) without the researcher controlling or manipulating any of them. It’s a non-
experimental type of quantitative research.
 REFERENCES:
Abouserie, 1994. “Effect of Stress Management Training on self-image of visually impaired
Individuals” Essays in Education. Online Journal, University of South Carolina Aiken,
Vol.19, p.10.
Abdullah et al. 2011. Factor structure of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS-21)
in adolescents and young adults with chronic digestive disorders. In H. Calsbeek (Ed.), The
social position of adolescents and young adults with chronic digestive disorders (pp. 83-103).
Utrect: Nivel.
Bernstein et al. (2008). “Confirmatory factor analysis of a short form of the Coping Inventory for
Stressful Situations”, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 62. No. 3, pp. 273-283.
Carveth et al, 1996. “What is wrong with coping assessment? A review of conceptual and
methodological issues”. Psychology and Health, Vol. 12, pp.417-431.
Erkutlu & Chafra, 2006. Coping inventory for stressful situations (CISS): Manual. Toronto:
Multi-Health Systems.
Endler, N. S., & Parker, J. D. A. 1990b. “Multidimensional assessment of coping: A critical
evaluation”, Journal of personality and social psychology, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 844-854.
Endler, N. S., & Parker, J. D. A. 1994. “Assessment of multidimensional coping: Task, emotion,
and avoidance strategies”, Psychological Assessment, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 50-60.
Frydenberg, E. 2008. Stress and coping in adolescents: Advances in theory, research and
practice. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Child and Adolescent
Psychopathology, Roehampton University, London, 14-15 July 2008.
Gigliotti, E. 2004.” Types and sources of social support and maternal-student role stress in
married associate degree nursing students”, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Vol. 25, pp.
415-432.
Halamandaris, K. F., & Power, K.G. 1999. “Individual differences, social support and coping
with the examination stress: A study of the psychosocial and academic adjustment of first
year home students”, Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 26, pp. 665-685.
Larose, S., & Bernier, A. 2001. “Social support processes: Mediators of attachment state of mind
and adjustment in late adolescence”, Attachment & Human Development, Vol. 3, No. 96-
120.
Lazarus, R. S. 1999. Stress and emotions: A new synthesis. New York: Springer Publishing
Company, Inc. 102.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. 1984a. Coping and adaptation. In W. E. Gentry (Ed.), The
handbook of behavioral medicine (pp. 282–325). New York: Guilford Press.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. 1984b. Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Lazarus, R. S., & Launier, R. 1978. Stress-related transactions between person and environment.
In C. Pervin & M. Lewis (Eds.), Perspectives in Interactional Psychology (pp. 287-327).
London: Plenum Press.
Lindop, E. 1999. “A comparative study of stress between pre- and post-Project 2000 students”,
Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 967-973.
Michie F, Glachan M, Bray D. 2001. “An evaluation of factors influencing the academic self-
concept, self-esteem and academic stress for direct and re-entry students in higher
education”, Educational psychology, Vol. 21, pp. 455-472.
Murphy & Archer, 1996. “Stressors on the college campus: A comparison of 1985 and 1993”,
Journal of College Student Development, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 20-28.
Pierceall, E. A., & Keim, M. C. 2007. “Stress and coping strategies among community college
students”, Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 703–
712.
Robotham, D., & Julian, C. 2006.” Stress and the higher education student: A critical review of
the literature”, Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 107-117.
Shaikhand colleagues (2004),. “Sources of stress among college students”, College Student
Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 312- 317.
Shirom, 1986.” Academic stress and coping strategies of high school students”, Behavioral
medicine Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 63.