How high School Students deal with stress: How teachers can help their students cope
Porsche Johnson
Nova Southeastern University
RES 9300 – Methods of Inquiry
Marcelo Castro
7/10/2023
How high School Students deal with stress: How teachers can help their students cope
Stress is a multifaceted phenomenon that affects people in multiple ways. According to Rana, Gulati, and Wadhwa (2019), stress is a reaction triggered by threats, harm, and mental disturbances. When left unchecked, it can escalate to detrimental levels and instigate other mental disorders and diseases, such as depression, and high blood pressure, among other ailments. Like other demographics, high school students are vulnerable to stress from academic work, family issues, peer pressure, and the uncertainty of life after school. As a result, it is imperative for stakeholders such as teachers to incorporate stress management models as coping mechanisms to assist high school students going through stressful situations. Such strategies play an integral role in promoting the overall wellbeing and holistic growth of a student. A mentally disturbed learner is unable to concentrate in class and therefore cannot perform well like other learners.
Problem statement
Many learners in high school face different types of stress, primarily associated with parents, peers, and family. Parents, for instance, often pressure students to perform well in school, and teachers bombard them with tests, homework, and challenging assignments. Further, these students also require their personal space to bond and form meaningful relationships with their peers. Due to societal pressure and high expectations, students in high school may be overwhelmed, making them prone to varying levels of stress. According to Rana, Gulati and Wadhwa (2019), 80% of high school studies in America experience moderate levels of stress, while 6.5% posit severe symptoms of stress. Since society, particularly family, teachers, and peers, have normalized asserting pressure on high school students, stress among this population needs to be considered and given the necessary attention. This gap informs the intent of this study. The study explores how high School Students deal with stress and how teachers can help their students cope. The problem statement is, therefore, the need to reduce stress among high school students and the role of teachers in helping them cope.
Literature map
The need to reduce stress among high school students and the role of teachers
The need to reduce stress among high school students and the role of teachers
Parents
Parents
Teachers
Teachers
Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2016).
Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2016).
Stereotype threat (Bedyńska et al., 2020).
Stereotype threat (Bedyńska et al., 2020).
Role of psychotherapy in stress management (Puolakanaho et al., 2019).
Role of psychotherapy in stress management (Puolakanaho et al., 2019).
Role of sports in managing stress (Dolenc, 2015).
Role of sports in managing stress (Dolenc, 2015).
Theoretical perspective
The problem of stress among high school students is grounded in the self-determination theory. This theory was originally developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan in 1985 and was primarily used to study wellness, human development and motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2017). The theory of self-determination indicates that human beings are defined by particular psychological needs that include competence, autonomy and relatedness. This implies that human beings strive to acquire a sense of independence, success and social inclusion in different spheres of life. Thus, students in high school who are largely adolescents seek to succeed in their academics, relationships and also to develop a sense of belonging in their endeavours. Due to social pressure emanating from parents, peers and teachers, students in high school become prone to stress since they cannot attain the three psychological attribute. In most cases, the psychological traumas of students in high schools are disregarded. As a result, managing their stress is not a prioritized. This occasions a problem that is worsening the predicament of high school students. As a result, self-determination theory is an appropriate model of exploring the how students can cope with stress and the role of teachers in helping learners cope with stressful situations.
Literature review
Stereotype threat as a critical precursor to stress among high school students
As teenagers grow, they tend to create strong social and personal identities. However, specific difficulties, such as academic challenges, may alter these identities. One of the key entities that may exacerbate stress among high school students is stereotype threats. According to Seo and Lee (2021), stereotype threat creates a cognitive load and negative connotations about an individual. In their study, Seo and Lee (2021) ascertained that when students realize they are being profiled or discriminated against, they experience a stereotype threat, instigating stress and negative perceptions about themselves. As a result, such students quickly develop a sense of low self-esteem and self-efficacy, which negatively affects their academic orientation. In this study, the researchers used a quantitative study design and purposive sampling technique to select the sample, which consisted of black Americans, Latinos, and whites. The study findings indicated that 80% of Latino and black high school students experience anxiety and stress emanating from an unconducive classroom setting.
Casad et al. (2017) posit similar results in their study, titled “Stereotype threat among girls: Differences by gender identity and math education context.” In this research, it is evident that the existing perception that girls are poor in mathematics and sciences ultimately compromises their performance in these subjects. Bedyńska et al. (2020) also conducted a study on the effects of stereotype threat on boys’ performance in art-based subjects and found out that due to the belief that boys are weak in arts, these students end up succumbing to such stereotypes, and this compromises their performance in the subjects. Of the 619 boys in the experimental group, 231 reported stress and anxiety while handling art subjects, yet they performed well in sciences and mathematics. After consolidating data from the three primary sources identified above, it is clear that stereotype threats instigate moderate to severe stress levels among students. Therefore, the relevant stakeholders must implement the necessary interventions to help students in high school handle stress.
Role of Sports in managing students’ Stress
According to Dolenc (2015), students who engage in organized sports demonstrate higher self-esteem levels and lower anxiety scores than learners who do not participate in sporting activities. In this study, Dolenc recruited a sample of 280 Slovenian students and found out that all participants who engaged in organized sports revealed low anxiety and stress levels. Sporting activities can be reasonably ascertained as stress-coping strategies that seek to promote an individual’s mental and overall health. These results are consistent with González-Hernández et al. (2020), who studied the links between athletics and anxiety levels. The findings indicated that youths can develop a resilient mind-set through sports to cope with stressful situations. The study incorporated 241 basketball and handball players, and all of them demonstrated a robust coping mechanism for Stress, which was lacking in the control group and did not participate in sporting activities. These studies demonstrate that teachers can utilize sports events to reduce anxiety, Stress, and mental disturbances among learners, which is paramount in the students’ holistic growth (Frank et al., 2014).
Psychotherapy as an intervention approach to stress
Puolakanaho et al. (2019) affirmed that commitment therapy programs are fundamental preventive tools for addressing adolescent stress. In a randomized controlled experiment by Puolakanaho et al. (2019), 49% of the adolescent participants who accessed therapy sessions demonstrated higher stress management levels than those who lacked access to such services. In another study by Regehr et al. (2013), the researchers found that psychotherapy interventions such as mindfulness and behavioral modification were attributed to low levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Further, Livheim et al. (2015), school-based psychotherapy programs are vital since they provide students with mental health support services. As a result, high school students, for instance, will be able to seek and acquire treatment early enough before stress levels escalate to severe degrees.
After consolidating data from the reviewed sources, it is evident that stress is a significant problem affecting high school students today. The current study should utilize a quantitative study approach and explore the correlation between stress and the academic performance of high school students. A simple random sampling technique is highly recommended since it gives all students in high school an equal chance of being recruited in the study. Therefore the researcher should select all participants objectively to increase the validity and reliability of the study findings.
Overall the literature review ascertains the link between schooling and stress among high school students. This sets a solid premise on which this study is anchored. The sources reveal the need to explore ways students can incorporate into their lives to reduce the effects of stress. Further, the sources also indicate the need for teachers to utilize empirically proven models and approaches to help students cope with stress at school and at home.
References
Bedyńska, S., Krejtz, I., Rycielski, P., & Sedek, G. (2020). Stereotype threat as an antecedent to domain identification and achievement in language arts in boys: a cross-sectional study. Social Psychology of Education, 23, 755-771.
Casad, B. J., Hale, P., & Wachs, F. L. (2017). Stereotype threat among girls: Differences by gender identity and math education context. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 41(4), 513-529.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2016). Optimizing students’ motivation in the era of testing and pressure: A self-determination theory perspective. In Building autonomous learners: Perspectives from research and practice using self-determination theory (pp. 9-29). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
Dolenc, P. (2015). Anxiety, self-esteem and coping with stress in secondary school students in relation to involvement in organized sports/Anksioznost, samospoštovanje in spoprijemanje s stresom pri srednješolcih v povezavi z vključenostjo v organizirano športno aktivnost. Slovenian Journal of Public Health, 54(3), 222-229.
Frank, J. L., Bose, B., & Schrobenhauser-Clonan, A. (2014). Effectiveness of a school-based yoga program on adolescent mental health, stress coping strategies, and attitudes toward violence: Findings from a high-risk sample. Journal of applied school psychology, 30(1), 29-49.
González-Hernández, J., Gomariz-Gea, M., Valero-Valenzuela, A., & Gómez-Lopez, M. (2020). Resilient resources in youth athletes and their relationship with anxiety in different team sports. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(15), 5569.
Livheim, F., Hayes, L., Ghaderi, A., Magnusdottir, T., Högfeldt, A., Rowse, J., … & Tengström, A. (2015). The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for adolescent mental health: Swedish and Australian pilot outcomes. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 1016-1030.
Puolakanaho, A., Lappalainen, R., Lappalainen, P., Muotka, J. S., Hirvonen, R., Eklund, K. M., … & Kiuru, N. (2019). Reducing stress and enhancing academic buoyancy among adolescents using a brief web-based program based on acceptance and commitment therapy: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of youth and adolescence, 48, 287-305.
Rana, A., Gulati, R., & Wadhwa, V. (2019). Stress among students: An emerging issue. Integrated Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2), 44-48.
Regehr, C., Glancy, D., & Pitts, A. (2013). Interventions to reduce stress in university students: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of affective disorders, 148(1), 1-11.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory. Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness.
Seo, E., & Lee, Y. K. (2021). Stereotype threat in high school classrooms: how it links to teacher mind-set climate, mathematics anxiety, and achievement. Journal of youth and adolescence, 50(7), 1410-1423.
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