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STRESS
and the persons ability to fulfil these demands. It is the undesirable response people have to
extreme strain or other sort of burden placed on them. Stress occurs when a person deal with
a situation that they recognize as irresistible and cannot manage (Vermunt & Steensman,
2005).
Stress is considered to be part of students life and can impact the students coping strategies
in accordance with the demands in academic life (Agolla & Ongori , 2009). Stress may come
TYPES OF STRESSORS
A stressor is situation that makes people worried or anxious that provokes stress.
According to Selyes eustress concept (1975), stress is not necessarily always a bad thing.
Many people are unaware that there are two categories of stress: eustress and distress
(Lazarus, n. d). Eustress or the positive stress boosts and motivates people to continue
working in a situation. It is also that positive reaction to stress that generates within a desire
to achieve and overcome a challenge. However, when the good stress becomes too much to
bear and prolonged, the bad stress or the distress comes into action. Distress can follow both
acute and chronic stress, provided that the bodys biological functions are sufficiently
affected and leads to a decrease of performance (Moberg, 2000). A study by the Brock
University in Canada categorized the effects and symptoms of distress, namely; physiological
pressure, rapid breathing and generalized tension. Behavioral symptoms include overeating,
life. With all the assignments, projects, papers to be passed at once, students suffer from
emotional imbalance. These learners often deal with pressure related to earn high school
grades and on acing every exam making sure to get the degree their parents envisioned for
them.
According to Yusoff (2010), stress is either good or bad depending on how the
person cope with it. The study is to acquire knowledge on the stress prevalence, stressors and
coping strategies among secondary school students. 100 secondary school students were
involved in this study; results then suggested that a number of 90 (90%) students participated
in this study. Based on the results, the main stressors were related to academic.
environmental stressors and the capacity of an individual to satisfy these demands (Vermunt
& Steensman, 2005). Stress start to arise when a person is dealing with something that is
beyond their capabilities and this may lead to a lot of negative effects on the person dealing
with it (Richlin-Klonsky & Hoe, 2003). Studies were conducted on the effects of perceived
academic stress on students performance with the use of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to test
the academic stress effects on the performance of the students in relation with the
demographic variables. Researchers took a sample of one hundred and fifty respondents
which involved seventy-five males and females; results then suggested that there were
significant effects of academic stress on the performance of the students. Based from the
scores on the PSS, stress was found to be higher in junior students than the senior students.
Whilst, there were non-significant difference on PSS scores among the students when stress
was measured at the beginning and at the end of the semester (Khan, Altaf and Kausar,
2013).
COPING STRATEGIES
According to Folkman & Lazarus, coping strategies can be grouped into two general
problem solving or doing something to alter the stress. Emotion-focused coping is aimed at
reducing or managing the emotional distress that is associated with the situation. Although
most stressors elicit both types of coping, problem-focused coping tends to predominate
when people feel that something constructive can be done, whereas emotion-focused coping
tends to predominate when people feel that the stressor is something that must be endured.
five dimensions assess aspects of what might be viewed as emotion- focused coping( seeking
and six dimensions assess coping responses that are less useful( focus on and venting of
humor, substance use, self-blame). These coping strategies may buffer the unwanted impacts
(Uma, 2011) Stress has become significant due to social factor and changing needs of
life style. It is man's reaction towards a situation which can lead to physical, mental and
behavioral changes. Not all stress are destructive in nature, it may trigger passion for work
and ignite inspiration. It can also make an individual productive and constructive, when it is
identified and well managed. The stress levels among IT companies in Hyderabad was
studied. And as a result, the coping strategies such as management programs, physical
activities, life style modification, finding the trigger and stressors, supportive groups, stress
The study of Hong and Lei (2011) investigates the mental stresses of college students
and comes up with four sources of stresses which are: employment situations, study
conditions, personal factors, and economic conditions. The researchers also list strategies for
college students to cope with stress, namely adapting the college life as soon as possible,
improve the student's ability of starting a career and establish a good concept of it, guide
students to rational consumption and help with financial difficulties, cultivate the
interpersonal skills of college students, and ease the mental stresses caused by family
conditions in time.
Another study by Hussain (2008), was conducted to examine the levels of academic
stress and adjustment between public and government high school students and to be able to
see the relationship between the variables. The result indicated that the levels of academic
stress was higher in public school students whereas the government students were better in
terms of their degree of adjustment. However, there is an inverse yet significant relationship
between academic stress and adjustment was found in both the group of students and for each
type of school.
Science, Technology & Engineering (STE) is an acronym that refers to the academic
disciplines of Science, Technology & Engineering. The term is typically used when
specific disciplines in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the three
disciplines as separate and discrete subjects. STE integrates them into a cohesive learning