Stress factors and coping strategies amongst 12th grade adolescents
Keywords:
Adolescents, Coping, High school, StressAbstract
This paper presents a study involving 341 High School final-year students (from the North of Portugal), aimed at the exploration of the type and levels of stress experienced in their day-to-day lives, as well as the coping strategies they most frequently adopt. The data, based on the application of the Inventory of Stress Factors (12th grade) and the Inventory of Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences, reveal medium stress levels and identify the academic factors as the most stressful. The “Search for support outside the family”, the “Active problem solving” and the “Distraction and problem minimization” emerge as the most frequent coping strategies. Results also highlight the influence of gender, parents’ level of education, and students’ school performance on the levels of stress experienced by this group of final-year students.
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