C.

Stress
To study the causes and effects of stress among school students
Group: Class X or Class XI students.
Tools: To construct two checklists-
Checklist 1:

 Indicating the potential stressors along with a 5-point rating scale indicating their frequency of occurrence (very
often, often, sometimes, rarely, very rarely).
 The stressors should include:
o Dispositional/internal variables- personality attribute, cognitive appraisal,
o Situational/external variables – life events,
o Environmental pressures – physical, social, cultural, and academic stressors

Checklist 2:

 Indicate the effects of stress – physical, psychological, and behavioral along with their frequency of occurrence
(on a 5-point rating scale)
Analysis: To determine the stressors and the effects that occur with the most to the least frequency and
understand/explain each.

1
 INDEX

Sr. No Content Page No.

2
 Aim

To study the causes and effects of stress among school students.

3
 Basic Concepts
Stress:
Over the last few decades, the word ‘stress’ has been used in various contexts. The word has been used to
denote a person’s perception or feelings in response to situations which the person fails to control. The
situation may be real or imagined.
The word ‘stress’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Stringere,’ which means to draw out tight. The exact
meaning can be articulated as a person feeling a noose of uneasiness and disturbance around his neck. It then
gradually tightens its hold till the person manages to free himself through individual efforts by effectively
dealing with it.
Stress is the response or reaction of one’s mind and body to a real or imagined threat due to some event or
change in the environment.
In 1936, Hans Selye used the term ‘stress’ in its present context and defined it as the ‘the non-specific
response of the body to any demand for change”.
Stress can be thought of as any event that strains or exceeds an individual’s ability to cope.
It can be also defined as a demand placed on our psychological and physical functioning that
threatens an individual’s adaptation to a given situation.
Stress, according to Morgan et.al can be defined as an internal state which can be caused by physical
demands on body or by environmental and social situations which are evaluated as potentially
harmful, uncontrollable, or exceeding our resources for coping.
McGrath: Stress is involved in an environmental situation that is perceived as presenting a demand which
threatens to exceed the person’s capabilities and resources for meeting that demand.
Humphrey: Stress can be considered as any factor, acting internally or externally, that makes it difficult to
adapt and that induces increased effort on the part of person to maintain a state of equilibrium both with the
internal and the external environment.
Stressors:
Stressors are the factors which trigger stress. Stressors may be chemical or biological in nature. They may
be any environmental condition or even a psychological factor like personality traits, perceptual differences,
etc. Stressors aggravate the chances of a person feeling stressed. There are many stressors, which can be
categorized into four main groups called physiological, environmental, social, and psychological.
(a) Physiological Stressors: include excessive exercise, lack of rest and sleep, chronic pain, physical injury,
diseases, etc.
(b) Environmental Stressors: include different kinds of pollution, excessive humidity, extreme temperature,
lack of proper illumination, presence of radioactive substances, crowding or isolation, excessive noise, etc.
I Social stressors: are found in each of our personal and work situation and in the familial domain. In the
family domain, social stressors included break-up of intimate relationships, lack of healthy relationship with
parents, siblings or neighbors, incompatible sexual relationship, etc. In work situations, stressors include
lack of leadership, autocratic leadership, unclear work responsibilities, lack of team work, work overload or
underload, discrimination in pay or promotion, workplace sexual harassment, etc. In personal domain, low
self-esteem, frustration, assuming every responsibility without delegating the work load to others, sense of
competitiveness and chronic guilt, anger, hostility, etc. are key stressors.

4
(d) Psychological stressors: mainly focus on emotion inducing factors that activate stress directly or
indirectly. The situations that we cannot manage according to social expectations are factors that induce
psychological stress. They trigger different negative feelings such as frustration, conflict, guilt. Sudden
shock due to separation from near and dear ones, bereavement, etc., are also very stressful. Besides the
above-mentioned stressors, some other common stressors are the demands and hassles of daily life.
Overburdened with petty matters like traffic jam, power cuts, etc., together end up being very stressful.
Stress levels shoot up when individuals are compelled to act or perform a task for which they do not have
the necessary skills or knowledge. It depends on individual’s perception of his own abilities as well as his
perception of the situation.
Stress Model:
General Adaptation Syndrome: Hans Selye’s Model
One of the well-known pioneers of the stress research who demonstrated the effect of physiological changes
that occur during stress on our health was Hans Selye. He used the term General Adaptation Syndrome
(GAS) to refer to a consistent sequence of reaction that our body displays because of continuous exposure to
stress. The GAS consisted of three successive physiological stage which Selye called the:
(i) Alarm Reaction
(ii) The stage of Resistance
(iii) The Stage of Exhaustion
(i) Alarm Reaction: It is the body’s reaction to any threat in the environment. In this stage organism is
suddenly exposed to a threatening and unfamiliar stimulus. This phase involves the immediate reaction to
the stimulus. The sympathetic division of autonomic nervous system gets activated and prepares the body
for extensive action. During alarm reaction there are number of autonomic nervous system changes as
follows:
(a) Increased heartbeat
(b) Respiration rate
I Blood Pressure
(d) Diversion of blood away from digestion and into skeletal muscles.
I Increased perspiration
(f) Endocrine glands release epinephrine and other hormones into the blood stream.
(g) Level of blood sugar increase and
(h) Many hormonal changes also take place., release of hormone named adrenaline, etc.
(ii) Resistance stage: It is rebound reaction phase to the stimulation. After the initial level of arousal, the
body times up fast to react. Secretion of adrenaline mobilizes glucose, providing the energy for fight or
flight (run fast). It is observed that symptoms that have appeared in the previous stage due to suddenness of
stimulus, disappear in this stage. This is because the first There are certain hormonal responses in the body
especially in what is termed as adrenocorticotropic axis to resist stress. On perception of any stressor,
information in the form of nerve impulses is sent to the brain. The brain in turn activates the hypothalamus
to release a hormone like chemical substance called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). The CRF is
carried to the pituitary gland to increase secretion of another hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone
(ACTH). ACTH activates the adrenal glands to secret a hormone called cortisol in the blood stream.
Cortisol breaks down fats and proteins to provide the body more glucose, the vital fuel to cope with stress.
5
It helps the body to adapt to the stress. This good for a short span of time. In the long run, however,
increased breakdown of proteins by cortisol may be serious. Proteins are needed for other physiological
processes, like manufacturing the white blood cells (WBCs) which fight against infections. Thus, If
increased proteins are used, the body becomes vulnerable to infections too. This explains a major link
between environment stress and our physiological well-being.
(iii) Exhaustion stage: If the exposure to the stressor persists, gradually the body’s resistance breaks down.
The resources that help the body to fight depletes continuously. Thus, the final stage of exhaustion sets in.
If this stage prolongs, it results in burnout. In this stage body’s capacity to respond to the stressor’s
collapses. Due to increased level of cortisol, the person may not be able to ward off infections. He/she
either becomes sick or may even die.
Common Causes of Stress
The factors which generate stress are called stressors or causes of stress. A wide range of activities may be
held responsible for making a person prone to stress. They include events in our daily life to various
personality traits. Therefore, management of stress is not possible unless the individual is aware of the
specific causes of stress. The causes of stress can be classified as follows-
External or Environmental Internal or dispositional
 Stressful life events  Need
 Minor hassles of everyday life  Personality trait and types:
 Locus of control
 Personality types: Type A, B, C
 Work related stress:  Attitude: Optimism vs Pessimism
 High workload or underload
 Difficult or unpleasant work environment
 Person-Environment (P-E) Fit
 Role ambiguity
 Relation with other employees
 Career related issues
 Performance appraisal
 Physical environment
External or Environmental Factors:
1. Stressful life events: A major life event which occurs suddenly leads to stress within an individual. The
individual who is experiencing marked changes in life or has experienced marked changes in life or has
experienced some changes in the recent past is susceptible to physical and psychiatric problems.
Holmes and Rahe (1967), attached a great importance to the factor of major life events which lead to stress.
These events include academic failure, divorce, imprisonment, disappointment in life, losing job, death of
family member, etc. Sudden confrontation with any of these events disturb the individuals deeply.
Sometimes they are unable to search a proper way to cope with this change within a manageable time frame.
This may hamper his normal functioning at the professional and personal level.
Minor hassles of everyday life:
In our daily life, we sometimes become troubled and our mental peace gets jeopardized by the number of
repetitive or persistent minor events. Our daily life is filled with countless minor annoying sources of stress-
termed hassles- that seem to make up for their relatively low intensity by their much higher frequency.
Hassles are annoying minor events of everyday life that cumulatively can affect psychological well-
being.

6
These daily hassles are an important cause of stress.
Lazarus et al developed a Hassle Scale on which individuals indicate the extent to which they have been
“hassled” by common events during the past month. The items included in this scale deal with wide range of
everyday events, such as having too many things to do at once, shopping and concerns over money.
Although such events may seem relatively minor when compare with the major life changes studied by
Holmes and Rahe. When scores on the Hassle Scale are related to reports of psychological symptoms,
strong positive related are obtained. The more stress report because of daily hassles, the poorer their
psychological well-being.
Work related stress:
Most adults spend more time at work than in any other single activity. It is not surprising, then, that jobs or
careers are a central source of stress. Some of the factors producing stress in work settings are obvious; for
example, sexual harassment, discrimination etc.
Internal Factors:
Stress sometimes is generated from the individual himself. It may occur because of pressure arising from
personal needs, personality traits, personality type or from internal conflict. Most of the psychological
studies focus on these following factors.
1. Need: The various needs of individuals like to reach a difficult target, create pressure on the individual.
Low or over-estimation of self along with high aspiration level creates an unrealistic demand on self. This
may lead to stress.
2. Personality trait and types: The following personality trait and types make a person more susceptible to
stress-
(a) Locus of control- Different studies have shown a definite relationship between a person’s locus of
control and stress level. Locus of control refers to the individual’s perception of the amount of control they
have in their life.
People with internal locus of control are more susceptible to stress compared to people with external locus
of control.
This is because people with external locus of control do not take responsibility for anything. If things go
wrong, they can always attribute that to circumstances, fate, or fault of a team mate. They vent their
emotions easily by sharing them with others.
On the other hand, people with internal locus of control take too much responsibility on themselves. They
suffer from guilt feelings as they blame themselves completely for anything that goes wrong.
(b) Personality types: Usually three types of personality, i.e., Type-A, Type-B and Type C have different
impacts or effects on an individual’s susceptibility to stress.
Type- A Personality Type- B Personality Type-C Personality
 People with this personality  Individuals with this  People with this personality
type are high achievers, personality type are type suppress all their
ambitious, competitive and basically optimistic. negative feelings like anger,
workaholics.  They are just the opposite hostility, and rage.
 Their higher aspiration of Type-A people.  This disrupts their
levels may make them  They can manage stressful equilibrium and immune
more stressed since they situations properly. system.
want to complete a lot of  Moreover, due to their  As a result, their body
work within a time limit. normal levels of aspiration becomes weak and less
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  They are never relaxed and and positive attitude resistant to diseases like
are at greater risk of towards life, they seldom cancers especially lung
cardiac arrest. feel stressful. cancers
3. Attitude (Optimism vs. Pessimism): It has been seen that people with a positive attitude (optimists)
experience lesser stress than people with negative attitude (pessimists). Optimists have an accurate
perception of reality, a sense of purpose in life, acceptance, and tolerance for different viewpoints of others.
They take credit for success and blame for failures, and are open to new ideas unlike pessimists, who do not
show the above-mentioned traits.
Effects of Stress on Health and Performance
Different health related issues and problems hinder an individual while the latter works towards attaining
success and contentment. They restrict the achievement of the goals thereby lowering the satisfaction level
of the individual. These issues and problems also in turn place adjustive demands on the individual which
make him/her stressful. When these demands become prolonged or perpetual in nature, they severely affect
the immunity and health of individuals. Sometimes it may also result in fatal health issues.
1. Upsets the Internal Mechanism and Balance:
The link between stress and personal health is very strong according to doctors. It has been estimated that
stress is one of the major reasons for almost 50-70% of life-threatening ailments like ulcers, cardiac
diseases, diabetes, etc.
Stress disturbs our homeostasis thereby inducing physiological imbalance. It interferes with the functioning
of both mind and body. It activates the automatic nervous system (ANS). The autonomic system has two
parts.
(i) Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): SNS gets active when body is aroused particularly during stress.
It prepares the body for emergency reaction or fight or flight response. As a result, it raises the heartbeat,
blood pressure, muscle tension etc. Under stress, SNS trigger secretion of the hormone’s adrenaline and
noradrenaline from adrenal glands. They then circulate around in the body through blood vessels and
increase the functioning of different internal mechanisms.
For example, this increases mobilization of glucose in the liver and provides a huge energy boost to brain,
increases heat rate, increases muscle activity, etc. So, adrenaline duplicates and strengthens many of the
actions of sympathetic nervous system. Noradrenaline constricts the peripheral blood vessels and so raise
blood pressure. On the other hand, the other branch of ANS, the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)
tends to restore the equilibrium of the body disturbed due to stress. It works totally opposite to that of SNS.
It tends to build and conserve body’s stores of energy. Hence, it decreases heart rate, blood pressure etc.
Generally, during moments of stress, the activity of SNS outpace the activity of PNS. Therefore, period of
stress continues.
Besides adrenaline and noradrenaline, the most important hormone triggered by stress is ACTH
(adrenocorticotrophic Hormone) secreted by the pituitary gland. It stimulates secretion of another hormone
cortisol into the blood stream. Cortisol breaks down fats and proteins to provide fuel for the body in the
form of glucose. Prolonged exposure to stress means more accumulation of cortisol. This can have fatal
effects on the health of the person. This is because, excess cortisol will continue to breakdown the proteins
and facts to supply fuel to the body. But proteins are also required for manufacturing white blood cells, a
vital element to fight infection. So, this may seriously upset the internal mechanism thereby impairing the
immune system and making the individual vulnerable to various ailments.
The effects of stress on the physical health may be summarized as follows-

8
1. Affects the immune system: Stress drains off the resources of the person highly disturbing his/her
complex immune system. Immune system constitutes the mechanism by virtue of which the body is bale to
recognize and destroy potentially harmful agents and elements like bacteria, viruses, other infection
producing germs and cancerous cell. Foreign elements that enter our bodies are called antigens. When they
enter the body, a type of white blood cells called lymphocytes begin to multiply. Some of them (T-cells)
attack the antigens, and often destroys them by engulfing them. They even destroy the body’s own cells that
have been infected or have become cancerous. Other lymphocytes (B-Cells) produce antibodies which are
chemical substances that naturalize the antigens.
Array of stressors like trouble in interpersonal relationships, loneliness, academic pressure, daily hassles,
lack of social support may interfere with the functioning of immune system.
Optimum, regular exercise and feelings of control over stressful events may prevent adverse effect on
immune system under stress.
2. Causes Hypertension: Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure indicates that the blood
pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. It is a dangerous, silent killer. The risk is that it is not
always identified by any symptom. High blood pressure slowly damages the various organs such as
kidneys, heart, brain, and eyes.
Sustained high blood pressure leads to heart problems, stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, renal failure, poor
vision, etc. People experiencing high levels of stress generally are at greater risk for having hypertension.
The body vessels thereby raising blood pressure.
3. Cardiac Problems: Extensive research work in psychology suggests that Type A personality is linked to
experiencing high levels of stress culminating to heart problems. Type A individuals are target-oriented,
competitive and try to achieve more than others. They tend to judge themselves by the amount of success,
money, assets, and friends they have. Their level of excitement, anger or tension are also always high. All
these are traits create a lot of internal pressure on them. Consequently, they experience a lot of stress. This
may ultimately lead to cardiac problems in the same way as stress leads to hypertension.
4. Psychosomatic Disorder: Stress is related to different psychosomatic disorders. Psycho means ‘soul’
and ‘soma’ means body. The mind and body are interconnected as often psychological trouble adversely
affect the physiological mechanisms of the body. It then gets manifested through different psychosomatic
diseases like ulcer, asthma, common cold, headache, diabetes, and many others.
(i) Ulcer: Ulcers are holes or breaks found in the protective lining of the duodenum (upper part of the small
intestine) or the stomach or the esophagus. It is believed that stress coupled with poor lifestyles habits like
fatty foods, alcohol, cigarette, caffeine promotes acidic secretion from the stomach. Build-up of these
stomach acids erode the protective lining of stomach, duodenum or esophagus creating ulcers.
(ii) Asthma: Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the bronchial tubes, the
passageways that allow air to enter and leave the lungs. The symptoms include coughing, shortness of
breath and chest tightness. Different studies have shown that stressful life events and exposure to
environmental stress are significant risk factors for the onset of asthma in adults. Domestic violence is
associated strongly with both adult and childhood asthma in India. Stress may worsen the symptoms of
asthma. The symptoms make the person more anxious thereby trapping the person in a vicious cycle of
stress asthma and anxiety.
(iii) Diabetes: Various studies have shown that stress also results in diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus or DM).
Diabetes refers to a chronic medical condition in which the blood sugar level in the body increases. This
occurs either when pancreas fails to produce adequate amount of an important hormone called insulin. It
may also occur when the body cells are resistant to insulin. Insulin regulates the glucose or blood sugar
level in the blood stream.
9
During stress, as already discussed earlier, cortisol is secreted in the blood stream. It then breaks down fats
and proteins and increases blood sugar level in the blood stream. Another principal function of cortisol is to
thwart the effect of insulin by inducing insulin resistance. As a result, blood sugar level remains high in the
blood stream making the person diabetic.
Effective Strategies/ Stress Management:
To adjust and deal with everyday stress, people may adopt various techniques which are effective in the
short term as well as in the long-term. Some of the most effective ones are-
1. Relaxation techniques: To effectively reduce the stress, it is necessary to activate body’s natural
relaxation response through techniques such as deep breathing, rhythmic exercise, etc. Stressors activate our
nervous system disrupting the homeostasis. Relaxation techniques can restore homeostasis by producing the
relaxation response, a state of calmness. Few most popular relaxation techniques are as follows-
(i) Deep breathing meditation: This is a technique that is easy to learn and can be practiced almost anywhere.
It involves taking in full, cleansing breaths.
(ii) Progressive muscle relaxation: This involves a two-step process in which one must systematically tense
and relax different muscle groups. This leads to relaxation of both mind and body.
(iii) Body scan meditation: This is a relaxation technique that helps the person to feel and be aware of the
various sensations that occur throughout the body.
(iv) Mindfulness: The process of focusing and becoming aware of all internal and external experiences of
the present is termed as mindfulness. It is believed that by staying calm and focused on the present moment
may improve our mental well-being.
(v) Creative Visualization: This involves imagining a scene, which makes the individual feel relaxed, free
from anxiety and tension. This process must be guided by a therapist.
2. Yoga: The practice of yoga involves doing a series of exercises that includes various postures, with a
continuous focus on simultaneous deep breathing. Yoga not only reduces stress and anxiety, but also
improves flexibility, strengths, balance, and stamina. It should be done under proper training and guidance.
Effective Lifestyle:
Studies suggest that psychological wellness help to cope better with stress. An effective lifestyle denotes the
cluster of interest, opinions, behavior, habits of an individual, group or cultures. To maintain effective
lifestyles, one may try to practice the following-
1. Exercise: It is now a proven fact that regular exercise not only keeps an individual physically fit, but also
helps the individual to cope the mental stress, anxiety, and depression. Exercising not only reduces weight
or control pain, it also controls the secretion of hormones and other chemicals in the body that has impact on
the mental health of the individual, helping him to cope with stress effectively.
2. Diet: A balanced diet, according to many psychologists, is the key to a healthy body, which in turn
promotes a healthy mind. Meals consisting of the various nutrients in the required amount gives the body
the required energy for work, help in the development and maintenance of muscles and other organs,
strengthens and boosts immunity and result in one feeling better about himself or herself.
3. Assertiveness
The ability to communicate one’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, opinions, needs and wants clearly and
confidently is one’s assertiveness. It includes one’s ability to say no to a request one does not want to

10
comply, or being able to express one’s emotions and opinions openly. Assertiveness can help an individual
to stop a lot of things that are stressful to him or her.
4. Rational thinking:
One’s thinking and feelings are closely related to each other. Distortions in the thought process result in
negative thoughts and biases like automatic vigilance and motivated skepticism. These result in stress in the
individual. Thus, an effective strategy to cope with stress would be to challenge one’s own distorted thought
process, irrational beliefs and to fight one’s negative anxiety provoking thoughts. This would promote
rational thinking that helps to cope with stress effectively.
5. Relationships:
Healthy relationship goes a long way in helping to cope with stress effectively. To foster a good relationship
with others, one must have an open and clear communication system which entails listening to others,
expressing one’s own feelings and thoughts effectively and keeping an open mind capable of accepting the
other person’s idea, opinions, and feelings even if different from one’s own.
6. Habits:
One’s tendency of avoiding difficult situation or procrastinating the work that needs to be done can give one
a temporary relief from stress. This temporary relief helps these behaviors to be repeated and they end up
being a habitual behavior. However, these behaviors that help to sort the stressor and alleviate the stress.
7.Familial and social support:
It is well-known that healthy family and social support are necessary for individuals to overcome traumatic
and stressful situations. To receive this support, one needs to maintain proper communication and relations
with other members of the family as well as develop strong, lasting relationships outside the family that will
both be the components of the individual’s support system.
8. Resisting stress:
(1) Hardiness: Commitment, taking a challenge rather than considering situations stressful and emotional
control are important qualities of hardy person. The qualities help to resist stress to a great extent.
(2) Maintaining balance between ability, aspiration, and achievement: A person with a balanced
estimation of self and reality can judge his/her ability. Accordingly, he/she can set or adjust the aspiration
level that can be reached or fulfilled. Low aspiration levels make individuals inactive and very high
aspiration often proves frustrating.
(3) Increasing stress-tolerance capacity: The habit or ability to wait for good times with patience is
something that needs to be inculcated from childhood. If one is impatient and is always in a hurry to be free
of frustration, it will only increase worries and anxiety.
(4) Reducing the number of anxiety and tension-inducing situation: Once can reduce stress mostly by
pro-planning daily activities and planning for future. Thus, proper, efficient, and effective time-management
techniques help in coping with stress.

(5) Working towards an optimistic and positive outlook attitude: Instead of focusing on the negative
impact of stressful events, the individual must take a rational and optimistic view of the event and treat it as
a normal occurrence. Taking the stress as a challenge helps to deal with the situation effectively.

(6) A sense of humor: Too much seriousness about personal achievement or work can lead to accumulation
of stress. Often little things can make a person happy. Happiness is dependent on several factors like
generosity of one’s own mind so that they find happiness and joy even from a simple gesture. Being able to
11
accept one’s mistakes and laugh at it, while learning from it at the same time, reduces the stressful feelings
of guilt and failure. It makes every failure a stepping stone towards success.

9. Self-Care:

Individuals practicing the processes like exercising regularly, eating healthy diet, improving relationships,
thinking positively and such other processes that improves the person, are caring for self. This self-care
helps an individual to cope with stress effectively.

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 Methodology
Group: Class X or Class XI students.

Boys
Name Age Class
ABC 15 10
DEF 15 10
GHI 16 10
JKL 15 10
MNO 14 10
Girls
PQR 14 10
STU 14 10
VWX 14 10
YZA 14 10
BCD 15 10

Tools: To construct two checklists-

 Indicating the potential stressors along with a 5-point rating scale indicating their frequency of occurrence (very
often, often, sometimes, rarely, very rarely).
 The stressors should include:
 Dispositional/internal variables- personality attribute, cognitive appraisal,
 Situational/external variables – life events,
 Environmental pressures – physical, social, cultural, and academic stressors
Checklist 2:

 Indicate the effects of stress – physical, psychological, and behavioral along with their frequency of occurrence
(on a 5-point rating scale)
Phase II
Mode of Administration:
Self-administration: Administration of the checklists on the group of 10 students. Each statement of the checklists is
attached with a 5-point rating scale- A to E, where A denotes ‘Very Often’, B denotes ‘Often’, C denotes ‘Sometimes’,
D denotes ‘Rarely’ and E denotes ‘Very Rarely’.
Each point of the 5-point scale is specified and represents a corresponding score.
Instructions:
“Please sit comfortably and pay attention to my instruction. I shall present you two checklists, one after the other,
containing 25 and 15 statements respectively. Please go through them carefully and put a tick against the suitable
option with which you agree. Ask me, if you have any inconvenience.”
After giving checklists:

13
Select any one of the five options against each statement, where –
A- Very Often C- Sometimes
B- Often D- Rarely and E- Very Rarely
Phase III:
Analysis and interpretation:
Step I: Summation of all scores against each of statements are done.
Step II: The most common stressor and effect of stress in the student’s life are obtained.
Step III: Finally, statements are to be arranged from highest to lowest in terms of frequency of their occurrence.

14
 Results and Discussion
Checklist 1
Causes of Stress
Sr. No. of Responses on the statements by the Score for the corresponding Total Domain of Mean
the group of 10 students responses score of the score of
statement each statements each
s statement Domain

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Dispositiona
2 l Variables
3
4
5
6 Cognitive
7 Appraisal
8
9
10
11 Life Events
12
13
14
15
16 Academic
17 Stressors
18
19
20
21 Physical,
22 Social and
23 Cultural
24
25

15
 Checklist 2
Effects of Stress
Sr. No. of Responses on the statements by the Score for the corresponding Total Domain of Mean
the group of 10 students responses score of the score of
statements each statements each
statement domain
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Physical
2 Effects
3
4
5
6 Psychologi
7 cal Effects
8
9
10
11 Behavioral
12 Effects
13
14
15

16
Discussion:
From the above findings, the following interpretation may by drawn separately for the two checklists-
(i) Checklist 1:

(ii) Checklist 2:

17
Conclusion:
After conducting a study, it can be concluded that the top two internal stressors experienced by students are
‘feeling of being overburdened’ and ‘feeling of pressure and tension for achieving the goal.’ The top two
external stressors are ‘quarrel with a friend’ and ‘inability to relax before examination.’ The prominent
physical effects of stress include headaches and bouts of nausea. The psychological effects include – feeling
disturbed regarding physical appearance and anxiety for missing important classes. The behavioral effects
include – crying because of feeling neglected and feeling restless because of waiting for something.

18
 APPENDIX

Checklist 1
Internal Stressors
1 I have no control on my regular home tasks.
2 I cannot perform successfully as compared to others.
3 I feel over-burdened
4 I am not confident about my abilities
5 I always feel pressurized and tensed to achieve.
External Stressors
1 I cannot concentrate on my studies under noisy surroundings.
2 I feel strained due to competition with my class-mates.
3 I am afraid of taking part in various cultural activities in the school.
4 I cannot relax before my examination.
5 I am deeply affected when there is a quarrel with my friend.

Checklist 2
Physical Effect
1 I feel anxious whenever I miss important classes
2 I feel disturbed when someone talks about my physical appearance.
3 I feel lonely.
4 I am bored with my day-to-day activities.
5 I feel depressed when I do not reach my expectations.
Psychological Effect
1 I have headache when I feel overloaded with studies.
2 I feel frequent bouts of nausea before my examinations.
3 I cannot sleep properly until my examination results come out.
4 I tend to lose appetite when I have to finish my work within a stipulated time period.
5 I palpitate when I have to meet a new person
Behavioral Effect
1 I often shout on others for petty issues
2 I become irritated with others when my expectations are not met.
3 I feel restless if I have to wait for anything.
4 I cry easily when I feel that I am neglected.
5 I tend to lie to manipulate things in my favor.

19
 Bibliography

1. Baron, R., &Mishra, G. (2022). Heath, Stress, and Coping. Psychology: Indian Subcontinent Edition
2. www.simplepsychology.com
3. www.apa.co.in
4. www.verywellmind.com

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