by Anastasija Pejovic
Stress affecting teenagers
In this modern world it is very hard to cope with everyday problems-stressors and stay calm and balanced. Teenagers are exposed to stress every day and the research is based on finding out what actually can stress them the most, and the background of that reflects what are the priorities of today’s teenagers. The idea od this study was encouraged by another study done in 1978 by Arthur and Rahe.
Aim
The aim of the study was to discover the most stressful and the least stressful event for a teenager.
Subjects
The subjects were children from the Cambridge School of Bucharest. In total the subjects were 30: 15 from grade 11,7 form grade 12 literature and 8 form grade 12 science.
The age of the participants varied between 16 and 18.
The sex of the subjects was mixed: boys and girls.
Method
The participants were given a list of 20 stressors which were chosen by a certain criteria: the main idea was to chose the stressors which could affect them the most(death of a family member, death of a friend etc.) so that the results could be as accurate as possible.
The task they had was to, from the given list, rank the 20 stressors from 1 to 20 according to their importance. They had to base their answers on personal experience.
Certain stressors might not have been experienced by the subjects, in that case they were asked to just imagine experiencing them and how would they feel about them.
The list of stressors
1. Experienced the death of a spouse
2. Experienced the death of a close family member
3. Experienced the death of a close friend
4. Experienced pregnancy or fathered a pregnancy
5. Had a major personal injury or illness
6. Ended a marital engagement or a steady realationship
7. Had sexual difficulties
8. Had a major change in self-concept or self-awareness
9. Experienced a major change in the health or behavior of a family member
10. Had a major change in financial status
11. Had a major change in use of drugs
12. Changed to a new school
13. Had a major change in amount of independence and responsibility
14. Experienced a major change in use of alcohol
15. Had a major change in social activities
16. Changed residence or living conditions
17. Had an outstanding personal achievement
18. Had a major change in religious activities
19. Had a major change in eating habits
20. Were found guilty of minor violations of the law
This study can be grouped into both qualitative and quantitative research, but it tends to have more features of a quantitative research as we take in consideration the number of subjects, number of stressors etc.
Findings
a) The rank for grade 11:
1.- stressor number 2
2.-stressor number 1
3.-stressor number 3
4.-stressor number 9
5.-stressor number 5
6.-stressor number 8
7.-stressor number 4
8.-stressor number 6
9.-stressor number 10
10.-stressor number 11 and 13
11.-stressor number 14
12.stressor number 20
13.-stressor number 15
14.-stressor number 7
15.-stressor number 12
16.-stressor number 18
17.-stressor number 17
18.-stressor number 19
19.-stressor number 16
b) The rank for grade 12 literature:
1.-stressor number 2
2.-stressor number 1
3.-stressor number 3
4.-stressor number 5
5.-stressor number 9
6.-stressor number 10
7.-stressor number 4
8.-stressor number 6
9.-stressor number 8
10.-stressor number 17
11.-stressor number 12 and 7
12.-stressor number 20
13.-stressor number 13
14.-stressor number 16
15.-stressor number 11
16.-stressor number 15
17.-stressor number 19
18.-stressor number 18
19.-stressor number 14
c) The rank for grade 12 science:
1.-stressor number 2
2.-stressor number 3
3.-stressor number 9
4.-stressor number 1
5.-stressor number 5
6.-stressor number 6
7.-stressor number 10
8.-stressor number 8
9.-stressor number 13
10.-stressor number 16
11.-stressor number 7
12.-stressor number 4
13.-stressor number 15
14.-stressor number 12
15.-stressor number 11
16.-stressor number 20
17.-stressor number 18
18.-stressor number 19
19.-stressor number 14
20.-stressor number 17
Conclusions
Regarding the findings of grade 11, there are some gaps between certain stressors , gaps between values obtained.
For example, gap between stressor number 3 (experiencing the death of a close friend) and stressor number 9 (experiencing a major change in the health or behavior of a family member) :this can be interpreted as young people considering changes in behaviour and health as something that can be cured/improved while death is something permanent. The values: 4,13 -6,73.
The gap between stressor number 5 (had a major personal injury or illness) and stressor number 8 ( had a major change in self-concept or self-awareness) : nowadays teenagers are more worried about physical condition-appearance than of mental. They don’t take time to stop and think about their personalities, virtues and disabilities. It is more important the physical condition, in order to work or study, than changes in our perception of ourselves. The values: 7, 06-10,06.
Stressors 8,4,6,10,11 and 13 share more or less the same place. This probably happened because all of them include a certain amount of independence (13,10,8) and for stressor 4 and 6,include things that are not yet experienced and for young people are not a concern. While stressor 11 (had a major change in use of drugs) shares the place with all of them because teenagers are more aware of the negative consequences of using drugs and they just refer to them as non-important. The value: around 10.
The last place share stressors number 18,17,19 and 16.All of them are related to things that these days young people are not worried about, for example changes in religious activities (teenagers don’t care about religion, they don’t know enough about it in order to get interested),eating habits (teenagers have more important concerns than if they eat too much or not enough).
The last stressor on the list is number 16 – changed residence or living conditions. This is not really stressful because nowadays, especially in Europe (and taking into consideration the financial status of the subjects) people live quite good and don’t worry about changing residence, as long as they have somewhere to stay. Living conditions are also excluded because the subjects’ financial status is very high,they don’t expect any changes. The value: 14,80.
Regarding the gaps for grade 12 literature:
Gap between stressor number 3 ( experienced the death of a close friend) and stressor number 5 (had a major personal injury or illness): teenagers don’t hope of getting hurt, they don’t consider that as an option in anything they do while friends are considered as very precious and even the thought of losing one is very painfull. The value: 3- 6,85.
Stressors number 7,12 and 20 share similar values. Stressors 7 and 12 are not considered so important in general. Stressor 7 (had sexual difficulties): nobody wants to have problems in that domain. While stressor 20 ( were found guilty of minor violations of the law): teenagers are more aware of the consequences of that kind of actions.
Also, stressors number 15,19 and 18 share similar values: in this case we always tend to be accepted in the society, no major changes otherwise it might cause rejection, so we accept the general policy and deal with it. About stressors number 18 and 19 was discussed previously.
The last stressor on the rank is number 14- experienced a major change in use of alcohol. Teenagers use alcohol as normal part of their lives, so for them nothing can be a ‘’major change in the use’’ of it. Still young to get addicted, but too old not to drink it. It is also considered as a part of social bonding. The value: 16,28.
Regarding the gaps for grade 12 science:
Gap between stressor number 1 ( experienced the death of a spouse) and stressor number 5 ( had major personal injury or illness): the difference between death and personal injury/illness might come from the fact that young people do not perceive themselves as being fragile or getting hurt and they think that cannot die soon, so it is not important. The values: 5- 8,13.
Gap between stressor number 11 (had a major change in use of drugs) and stressor number 20 (were found guilty of minor violations of the law) : drugs are more frequent, in the sense that more teenagers are tempted to use them (light ones) than to violate the law. They look for a bit of fun, rush of adrenaline and drugs can provide that, but breaking the law is something more serious and more dangerous. The values: 13-15.
The last place share stressors number 19,14 and 17.
The bottom stressor is number 17-had an outstanding personal achievement. At this age, achievement, is perceived as ‘’challenging’’ and ‘’exciting’’ so it is not considered stressful.
One thing is certain, they all have the same answer for what is the most stressful event and that is the death of a close family member. Which shows the true importance of the family no matter what.
Evaluation
The expectations of the study were confirmed.
