Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:58:43.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

School-related stress and coping strategies in Victorian Year II students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Lisa J. Warren
Lisa J. Warren*
Affiliation:
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
*
Community Forensic Mental Health Service, 213-219 Brunswick Road, BRUNSWICK Victoria 3056, Phone: 03 9380 8500, Fax: 03 9380 1557, E-mail: lisa.warren@dhs.vic.gov.au
Get access

Abstract

Adolescents who are coping with their final years of secondary schooling may be stressed. The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) has been the subject of considerable anecdotal controversy, including concerns over the level of stress that it places upon students and its effect on students’overall well-being. The present study provides some initial empirical data to inform this debate. The Australian Adolescent Problems Inventory, the Adolescent Coping Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire were used to examine the constructs of school-related stress, coping, and well-being in 118 Year II Victorian secondary school students. Students reported a range of school-related problems. They coped by positive avoidance or problem-focused methods that promoted independence. Students reported feeling high levels of global stress. Anticipation of the final year of schooling placed pressure on young people, but students found several ways to cope with the demands. Therefore, it could not be concluded that the Victorian Certificate of Education was significantly related to unhealthy levels of stress, worry, and poor coping.

Keywords

AdolescenceCopingSchoolStressVictorian Certificate of EducationYear II
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 44 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainslie, R.C., Shafer, A., & Reynolds, J. (1996). Mediators of adolescents’ stress in a college environment. Adolescence, 32(124), 21–34. Google Scholar
Ben-Porath, Y.S., & Tellegen, A. (1990). A place for traits in stress research.Psychological Inquiry, 1, 14–17. Google Scholar
Billings, A.G., & Moos, R.H. (1981). The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the stress of life events. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 139–157.Google Scholar
Bolger, N. (1990). Coping as a personality process: A process study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1066–1074.Google Scholar
Burvill, P.M., & Knuiman, M.W. (1983). Which version of the general health questionnaire should be used in community studies? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 17, 237–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colbry, S.L. (1995). Predictors of general well-being among female single parent college students. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 23, 113–126.Google Scholar
Compas, B.E., Davis, G.E., Forsythe, C.J., & Wagner, B.M. (1987). Assessment of major and daily stressful events during adolescence: The adolescent perceived events scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 534–541.Google Scholar
Costa, P.T., & McCrae, R.R. (1990). Personality: Another “hidden factor” in stress research. Psychological Inquiry, 1, 22–24.Google Scholar
D’Aurora, D.L., & Fimian, M. (1988). Dimensions of life and school stress experienced by young people. Psychology in the Schools, 25, 44–53.Google Scholar
Dusek, J.B., & Danko, M. (1994). Adolescent coping styles and perceptions of parental child rearing. Journal of Adolescent Research, 9, 412–426. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Endler, N.S., & Parker, J.D.A. (1990). State and trait anxiety, depression, and coping styles. Australian Journal of Psychology, 42, 207–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanshawe, J.P. (1994). Adolescent problems and coping strategies: An investigation of stress, problems, coping, and self-esteem among Queensland secondary students preceding and following implementation of a new tertiary entrance system. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.Google Scholar
Fanshawe, J.P., & Burnett, P.C. (1991). Assessing school-related stressors and coping mechanisms in adolescents. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 61, 92–98.Google Scholar
Folkman, S. (1982). An approach to measurement of coping. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 3, 95–107.Google Scholar
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R.S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 21, 219–239.Google Scholar
Forsythe, C.J., & Compas, B.E. (1987). Interaction of cognitive appraisals of stressful events and coping: Testing the goodness of fit hypothesis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 11, 473–485. Google Scholar
Frydenberg, E., & Lewis, R. (1991). Adolescent coping: The different ways in which boys and girls cope. Journal of Adolescence, 14, 119–133. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garmezy, N. (1981). Overview. In Moore, C. (Ed.), Adolescents and stress (pp. 1–10). (DHHS Publication No. ADM 81-1098). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Glenn, N.D., & Weaver, C.N. (1981). Education’s effects on psychological well-being. Public Opinion Quarterly, 45, 22–39.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. & Williams, A. (1988). A user’s guide to the General Health Questionnaire. Berkshire, UK: NFER-Nelson.Google Scholar
Grannis, J. (1992). Students’ stress, distress, and achievement in an urban intermediate school. Journal of Early Adolescence, 12, 4–27.Google Scholar
Heppner, P.P., Reeder, B.L., & Larson, L.M. (1983). Cognitive variables associated with personal problem-solving appraisal: Implications for counselling. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 30, 537–545. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasen, S., Johnson, J., & Cohen, P. (1990). The impact of school emotional climate on student psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18, 165–177.Google Scholar
Kohn, J.P., & Frazer, G.H. (1986). An academic stress scale: Identification and rated importance of academic stressors. Psychological Reports, 59, 415–426.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Moos, R.H., & Billings, A.G. (1982). Conceptualisation and measuring coping resources and processes. In Goldberg, L. & Breznitz, S. (Eds.), Handbook of stress, (pp. 212–230). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Neto, F. (1995). Predictors of satisfaction with lie among second generation migrants. Social Indicators Research, 35, 93–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, J.M., & McCubbin, H.I. (1987). Adolescent coping style and behaviours: Conceptualisation and measurement. Journal of Adolescence, 10,153–186.Google Scholar
Shek, D.T.L. (1995). The relation of family environment to adolescent psychological well-being, school adjustment, and problem behaviour. International Journal of Adolescent Mental Health, 8, 199–218.Google Scholar
Siddique, C.M., & D’Arcy, C. (1984). Adolescence, stress, and psychological well-being. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 13, 459–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steed, L.G. (1998). A critique of coping strategies. Australian Psychologist, 33, 193–202.Google Scholar
Stone, A.A., & Neale, J.M. (1984). New measure of daily coping: Development of a coping scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 20, 226–232.Google Scholar
Towbes, L.C., Cohen, L.H., & Glyshaw, K. (1989). Instrumentality as a life-stress moderator for early versus middle adolescents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 109–119.Google Scholar
Wilcox, B. (1981). Social support, life stress, and psychological adjustment: A test of the buffering hypothesis. American Journal of Community Psychology, 96, 14–22.Google Scholar
Winefield, H.R., Goldney, R.D., Winefield, A.H., & Tiggemann, M. (1989). The general health questionnaire: Reliability and validity for Australian youth. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 23, 53–58.Google Scholar