INTRODUCTION:

Adolescence is the vital, transition period of advancement in maturity from childhood to adulthood. It starts with the onset of puberty and ends with an individual assuming adult roles and responsibilities¹. The values and skills that they develop during this phase have a great impact on their well-being and to become a contributing member of the society². The social development of the adolescents is best related to their experience with peers, family, school and community ³. The stress in the transitional phase of adolescence between the childhood and adulthood has become a common part of life as they have to perform varied roles which are not defined clearly, and inconsistent causing heavy stress for them. Adolescents are caught between autonomy, and dependence in various aspects of life. Stress, if no handled well can lead to psychological disturbances as they grow up⁴.

Stress at mild level may be acting as a motivating factor for accomplishments, whereas chronic, persistent and unresolved stress affects the quality of life. Thus, stress among adolescents not only affects them personally but disturbs their interpersonal relationship, equilibrium and harmony with peers, family and community.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

The objective of the present study was to assess the level of stress among the adolescents. The present study was carried out in an English medium school, Perinthalmanna, Kerala. Quantitative Nonexperimental descriptive design was used for the study. Study subjects comprised of adolescents between the ages of 13-15 years, studying 8^th and 9^th standard in the selected school. All the eligible adolescents who were available during the period of data collection were included as study subjects. Administrative permission to conduct the study in the respective school was taken from the principal of school. A total of 76 adolescents were included in the study after obtaining informed consent from the parents and assent from the adolescents. In view of the nature of the problem being studied and objectives of the study, the following tool was used and it included:

Section A: Socio-demographic variables: Demographic variables included candidate code, age in years, class studying, religion, educational status of the father and mother, occupational status of the father and mother, family’s income, type of family, family’s residence, birth order, their experience as class representative, participation in games and sports in school, participation in cultural events in school, attending tuitions after school, and attending any extracurricular classes after school.

Section B: Sun, Dune, Hou and Xu’s, Educational stress scale for adolescents was used to assess the level of stress among the adolescents. The scale was used after obtaining content validity from the experts.

Table 1. Description of adolescents, according to their demographic characteristics.

S. No	Demographic characteristics	Categories
S. No	Demographic characteristics	Categories	n (76)	%
1.	Age in years	13	21	27
		14	46	61
		15	9	12
2.	Class studying	8^th Standard	32	42
2.	Class studying	9^th Standard	44	58
3.	Gender	Male	37	49
3.	Gender	Female	39	51
4.	Religion	Hindu	31	41
		Christian	24	32
		Muslim	21	27
5.	Father’s education	Middle school	2	3
		High school	20	26
		Intermediate /post high diploma	14	18
		Graduate /post graduate	32	42
		professional	8	11
6.	Mother’s education	Middle school	-	-
		High school	22	29
		Intermediate/post high diploma	11	15
		Graduate/post graduate	36	47
		professional	7	9
7.	Father’s occupation	Unemployed	2	3
		Skilled worker	9	12
		Clerical/shop owner/farmer	23	30
		Semi professional	28	37
		professional	14	18
8.	Mother’s occupation	Unemployed	46	60
		Semi-skilled worker	-	-
		Skilled worker	2	3
		Clerical/shopkeeper /farmer	2	3
		Semi professional	16	21
		professional	10	13
9.	Family income	1601-4809	7	9
		4810-8009	9	12
		8010-12019	8	10
		12020-16019	11	15
		16020-32049	27	36
		>32050	14	18
10.	Type of family	Nuclear	49	65
		Joint family	24	32
		extended	3	4
11.	Family’s Residential area	Urban	14	18
		Rural	15	20
		Semi urban	47	62
12.	Birth order	1	42	55
		2	25	33
		3	8	11
		>4	1	1

The distribution of study participants according to their socio-demographic variables are summarized in Table 1. Majority of the participants 46 (61%) were 14 years old, 44 (58%)were studying 9^th standard, 39(51%) were females, 31 (41%) were Hindus, 32 (42%) of the participant’s father had completed graduate/postgraduate education, 36 (47%) of the participant’s mother had completed graduate/post graduate education, 28 (37%) of the participant’s father were semi-professional, 46 (60%) of the participant’s mother were unemployed, 27 (36%) of the participant’s family income was between 16020-32049, 49(65%) of the participant’s belonged nuclear family,47 (62%) were from semi-urban area and 42 (55%) were single child in the family.

Table 2: The distribution of adolescents according to their experience and participation in various activities

S. No	Characteristics	Categories	participants
			n(76)	%
1.	Experience as class representative in school.	Yes	60	79
		No	16	21
2.	Participation in games and sports in school.	Yes	62	82
		No	14	18
3.	Participation in cultural activities in school.	Yes	70	92
		No	6	8
4.	Attending tuitions after school.	Yes	27	36
		No	49	64
5.	Attending extracurricular classes after school.	Yes	20	26
		No	56	74

Table 2 indicates the distribution of adolescents according to their experience and participation in various activities. Majority 60 (79%) had experience as class representative in school, 62 (82%) had participated in games and sports in school, 70 (92%) had participated in cultural activities in school, 49 (64%) did not attend tuitions after school, and 56 (74%) did not attend any extracurricular classes after school

Table: 3 Distribution of adolescents according to their level of stress

S. No	Parameter	Categories	Participants
			n(76)	%
1.	Stress	No stress	-	-
		Mild stress	8	11
		Moderate stress	51	67
		High stress	17	22

The frequency and distribution of adolescents according to their level of stress are summarized in table 3. It reveals that majority of the adolescents 51(67%) had moderate level of stress, 17 (22%) had experienced high level of stress and 8 (11%) had mild stress.

DISCUSSION:

Irrespective of the gender the adolescence in the transition phase undergoes a lot of turmoil. The stressors and the reasons for the stress may be varied but it causes a lot of disturbances in their relationships with their family members and peers (Huli, 2013)⁵. The incidence of stress symptoms, related gender differences and the factors that contribute to the stress symptoms were investigated among Swedish adolescents. More than 30% adolescents were found to be reported with high stress symptoms. Almost every second girl and every fifth girl reported to have felt a high degree of stress (Schraml et al, 2011)⁶.

Kumari et al (2014)⁷ reported that among 100 adolescents majority had moderate and low levels of stress and few had high levels of stress. High prevalence of stress was noticed in the academic areas and the contributing factors identified were related to school training, students and parents. Similarly in this present study 67% had moderate stress, 22% had high levels of stress, and 11% had mild level of stress.

CONCLUSION:

Stress among the adolescents in the transitional phase is unavoidable. Stress has become a part of everyone’s life in this fast developing technical world. In addition, Inconsistencies in their roles, demands and expectations cause high stress on the school going adoelscents. Parents, teachers and health care professionals play a vital role in identifying their needs, develop and train them in implementation of stress prevention strategies to protect them from harmful negative effects of stress on them. It is suggested to include various training programmes in school by teachers or the health care professionals to equip them with healthy ways to cope with stress and lead a healthy life.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

None.

SOURCE OF FUNDING:

None.

ETHICAL CLEARANCE:

Obtained from institutional human ethical committee.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The researchers express their heartfelt thanks to the principal of the school, parents and the adolescents for all their support they had rendered in the study.

REFERENCES:

1. WHO (1994), Life skills education for children and adolescents in schools-introduction and guidelines to facilitate the development and implementation of life skills programme, World Health Organization, Geneva.

2. UNICEF (2001), Life skills approach, Teachers talking about learning, UNICEF, New York.

3. Bishop J. A, and Inderbitzen H. M. (1995), “Peer acceptance and friendship: An investigation of their relationship to self-esteem”, Journal of Early Adolescence, 15, 476-489.

4. Krishnan Lal (2014), “Academic stress among adolescents in relation to intelligence and demographic factors”, American International Journal of Research humanities, Arts and Social sciences, 123-125.

5. Prerana R. Huli (2013), “Stress management in adolescence”, Quest Journals, Journal of research in humanities and social science, 2(7), 50-5.

6. Karin Schraml, Aleksander Perski, Giorgio Grossi, and Margareta Simonsson-Sarnecki (2011), “Stress symptoms among adolescents: The role of subjective psychosocial conditions, life style and self-esteem”, Journal of Adolescence, 34, 987-996.

Received on 03.04.2018 Modified on 29.06.2018

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2018; 6(4):417-419.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2018.00100.X