College of Arts and Sciences in Misamis University.

College students today experience high levels of stress in many areas of life. Stressful experiences make individuals develop different coping strategies, so as to adapt and survive. To begin with, the adaptation process is considered an integrating part of living beings. Stress is not necessarily harmful. In fact, having stress means being alive, although stress is usually not associated with pleasure, satisfaction or success. The concept of “health and stress” was first proposed by Dr Hans Selye (1976), who defined it as the way in which our body responds to the demands of our life. Dealing with stress does not mean having to eliminate stress, but rather learning to handle or administer it. Stress is a protective response. In certain occasions it can be beneficial, as it allows us to cope with and overcome difficult situations that require all our energy. In addition, in many situations stress can even make us feel good.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. Stress has become an integral part of our daily life. A little bit of stress may be unavoidable and good too, for it would never allow us to be complacent in life. But too much of stress may be

counterproductive and would in due course impair both our physical and mental health. In high stress situations, a number of symptoms are indicative of the presence of this syndrome: low self-esteem, emission of defective judgment, feeling of being overwhelmed, lack of memory for details, inability to concentrate, loss of perspective, emotional and more irrational thought, irritable and unpredictable behavior, changes in communication styles, an increase in the number of mistakes while on duty, fatigue and greater negative self-criticism. Furthermore, students experiencing burnout may easily become angry and irritated, exhibit stubbornness and inflexible thinking, abuse substances, and increase increasingly less productive.

Education should be a joyous experience, but if too much pressure is put into it, students find the going a hard nut to crack. Failure in an examination is not the end of the life. One can excel in any field if one chooses the right field for which one has the aptitude. For some people, it happens before having to speak in public. For other people, it might be before a first date. What causes stress for you may not be stressful for someone else. A long term stress can increase the risk of diseases like depression, heart disease and variety of other problems. . A stress-related illness called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after an event like war, physical or sexual assault, or a natural disaster.

By reason of this, the aim of our study was to describe how the senior Cas students response to their level of stress experiences.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework used to guide this study is based upon the concepts of stress, adaptation, and responses.

Stress is a feeling that’s created when we react to particular events. It’s the body’s way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. The events that provoke stress are called stressors, and they cover a whole range of situation everything from outright physical danger to making a class presentation or taking a semester’s worth of your toughest subject.

There are also many miscellaneous stresses that often come from college life. According to Scott (2012) there’s a lot of level of stress experience by the students. First is academic performance, many students keep crazy hours from staying up late to study, having hard hours like for example if the students is a working student he or she is trying to balance work and study, feeling intense pressure to obtain high grades, taking exams, and having deadline of coursework. Second is home experience this involved leaving the family home, changes in health of a family member or close friend, family arguments, Death (of a loved one), and marriage or pregnancy. Third is trying to establish social life this involved a romantic life or love life, lack of friends or support, relationship breakdown or having a long-distance relationship, dealing with work or job during school year, and Changes in personal habits such as giving up smoking, going on a diet. Next is job after graduation this involved unemployment, being in the wrong career, looking for a job after graduation or where you should start looking, having difficulties with your co-workers, and over work this include working late, taking work home, not taking vacation. Lastly, finances this includes tuition, debt, budgeting for food and boarding house or lodging, budget for self-care, books and other educational necessities.

The theoretical formulation of stress and coping is drawn on to examine 3 important issues: (a) how believing one has control in a stressful transaction can heighten threat, (b) the relationship between control and coping, and (c) pathways through which control can affect the adaptational outcomes of stressful encounters. (88 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Stressors have a chemical reaction inside of the body. A harmful stressor is detected by the brain, and an elemental decision pattern occurs. Initially, the stressor is detected and then transferred to the hypothalamus. Between this flows there is an alternate path that can be taken after the stressor is transferred to the hypothalamus, which leads to the sympathetic nervous system. After which, the adrenal medulla secretes epinephrine. The flow of the present study is shown in the schematic diagram in Figure I.

MISAMIS UNIVERSITY, FOURTH YEAR COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES STUDENTS (S.Y. 2012 – 2013)
Profile
Age
Gender
Course
Level of Stress among the Senior Students of College of Arts and Sciences in Misamis University.

Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of the Study

Statement of the problem

The general objective of this study is to determine the level of stress responses of senior psychology students.

The objective is specified and these are follows:

1. What is the profile of the students in terms of age, gender, and course taken? 2. What is the level of stress experienced by the 4th CAS student in terms of home experience, academic performances, finances, social life and job after graduation? 3. Is there a significant difference in the level of stress when the students are grouped according to profile?

Hypothesis

Ho1: There is no significant difference in level of stress when the students are grouped according to profile. Ho2: There is a significant difference in the level of stress when the students are grouped according to profile.

Significance of the Study

Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress, with stress defined as a person’s physiological response to an internal or external stimulus that triggers the fight-or-flight response.

The current study will be beneficial to several stakeholders in the school system.

This study is significant to the students where stress management is effective when a student uses strategies to cope with or alter stressful situations. This study can help them and understand, so they can control it and know what effects thus has on your body and finds ways to prevent stress.

This study may provide teachers with awareness of and provide depth and understanding about stress of how it will affect their students.

To the readers and future researchers may find insights on the depth and understanding of what stress is and provide them the knowledge of how stress affect to our lives. This can then be another avenue for future study.

Scope and limitations of the study

This study covers only the level of stress and this study are limited only to all fourth year students of the College of Arts and Sciences at Misamis University, Ozamiz City, School Year 2012 – 2013. The study does not take into account faculty characteristics or teaching styles which could have an effect on student’s stress levels. The study takes place at one university which will affect the generalizability to other institutions. Ergo, the results will only be applicable to similar institutions in similar settings.

Definition of Terms

The terms used in this study is operationally defined to give clarity or meaning of the variables used in study. Adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation. Adaptations contribute to the fitness and survival of individuals. Age – the age of the participant as identified on the demographic tool designed by the researcher. Coping refers to expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress or conflict. Course refers to the subject taken by the students.

Emotional response refers to a reaction to a particular intrapsychic feeling or feelings, accompanied by physiologic changes that may or may not be outwardly manifested but that motivate or precipitate some action or behavioral response. Gender – a response of male or female as identified on the demographic tool designed by the researcher. Senior student – a student that is projected to graduate within the year that the study is conducted. Stress. Typically describes a negative concept that can have an impact on one’s mental and physical well-being, but it is unclear what exactly defines stress and whether or not stress is a cause, an effect, or the process connecting the two. Stressors are situations that are experienced as a perceived threat to one’s wellbeing or position in life, when the challenge of dealing with which, exceeds the person’s perceived available resources.

Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Related Literature
Stress is simply the body’s non-specific response to any demand made on it. Stress is not by definition synonymous with nervous tension or anxiety. Stress provides the means to express talents and energies and pursue happiness; it can also cause exhaustion and illness, either physical or psychological; heart attacks and accidents. Thing to remember about stress is that certain forms are normal and essential. As the body responds to various forms of physical or psychological stress, certain predictable changes occur. These include increased heart rate, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), and secretions of stimulatory hormones. These responses to stress will occur whether the stress is positive or negative in nature. In lay terms, it is known as the “fight or flight” mechanism. Continual exposure lowers the body’s ability to cope with additional forms of psychological or physiological stress. The results of continuing stress may cause disruption in one or more of the following areas of health: physical, emotional, spiritual and/or social.

Stress is a process that builds. It is more effective to intervene early in the process rather than later. College students are more stressed out than ever before. This somewhat unusual methodology typically results in the statistical Lake Woebegon effect in which most people tend to overestimate themselves in relation to others (it refers to the fictional Lake Woebegon, where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average”). A study recently found that empathy among college students had declined 40% since 2000 — and since caring relationships are essential to mental (and physical) health, a decline in empathy could also produce a decline in mental health and coping. Students and families are now charged with the task of becoming more resourceful and strategic in finding new and creative ways to pay for college. Relationships with your family will change too. This can be especially difficult if you are the first one ever to go to college, or the first of your gender. Other family members can have complicated feelings about this. They may secretly envy you, or be afraid that your new experience will change you too much and make you no longer ‘one of us’.

Their reactions may cause you to feel insecure, lacking in confidence or guilty about having this opportunity. But there can also be problems if everyone in the family has been to college. Can you live up to their standards? Do you have to work in the same field as them, or do they feel threatened by your choice of subject? Could they be concerned that you could, in fact, be too successful? The most important thing with family situations of this kind is that these feelings need to be acknowledged, by being talked about. Only then can everyone involved move towards creating a more supportive environment. Stress reactions to various situations are also affected by your overall level of health. Someone who is always feeling overwhelmed, eats poorly, and doesn’t get enough sleep (a description of many students) usually has a limited ability to cope with stressful events. You need to pay attention to your own well being. The right balance of sleep, food, exercise, work, school, and recreation is crucial. Some people are in a constant state of trying to catch up.

They find themselves rushing and hurrying from one activity to another, always racing with the clock and never getting on top of things. Part of this problem, for many students, is not being well organized. Effective time management can help. Gain Perspective by Discussing Problems–it is easy to get caught up in a problem or a narrow view of something you are doing, and to lose perspective and feel that a failure or roadblock is a catastrophe. Discussing your problems with a trusted, empathic friend can allow you to gain new perspective and can allow you to move out of what might seem like an isolated and negative internal world. The act of verbalizing your concerns and putting them together will often help give you a sense of control. Stress is often caused by general unhappiness and a sense of aimlessness or lack of purpose. People sometimes wind up making choices and living life styles that really don’t fit them. A student may be studying accounting when he or she really wants to be an artist, or he or she may have a wide circle of friends, but not really have the kind of intimate relationships that feel fulfilling.

Clarifying your values and deciding what you really want out of your life, can help you feel better about yourself and have that sense of satisfaction and centeredness that helps you deal with the stresses of life. This process is, of course, not easy. Most of us are constantly growing and developing our sense of self and our ideas about what we want and how we want to live. A sense of spirituality can help with this. You might find this with an organized religion or it might be a more personal, individual process. It may involve a sense of oneness with nature, or it may be related to the deep satisfaction gained from volunteer work that really helps someone. Although each of us must develop our own sense of well being and spirituality, it does help to talk about these issues with others, as a way of clarifying and challenging our own ideas and believe.

Stokes and Kite (2001) suggested that physiological measures have failed to provide a complete understanding of the human stress response and do not necessarily equate to psychological stress, and thus a third approach to understanding the human stress response has emerged—the transactional model. Transactional models view stress as the interaction between the environment and individual, emphasizing the role of the individual’s appraisal of situations in shaping their responses. From the transactional approach, stress is defined as, “…the result of a mismatch between individuals’ perceptions of the demands of the task or situation and their perceptions of the resources for coping with them.

According to Elizabeth Scott, (2012) many students keep crazy hours from staying up late to study, getting up early for classes, and trying to cram in all the work and fun that can possibly fit. Often the logistics of living more independently—from laundry to car insurance—can cause stress. College students experience stress through leaving the family home, feeling intense pressure to obtain high grades in connection with career aspirations, taking final exams, trying to establish a romantic or social life, dealing with (often very high) costs of college and possibly working at a job during the school year. Financial concerns still abound the challenging economic landscape continues to influence students’ college experiences. The proportion of students using loans to help pay for college remains high, at 53.1 percent, and more students reported receiving grants and scholarships than at any point since 2001 — 73.4 percent, a 3.4 percentage-point increase over 2009.

“The increasing cost of higher education poses a significant barrier to college access for today’s students,” said Sylvia Hurtado, co-author of the report and director of the Higher Education Research Institute. Level of stress is different for all of us and can change from time to time. Sometimes we like sport; sometimes we have better things to do. We cannot measure stress, but we can measure body reaction like blood pressure, temperature, etc, or see some changes in psychical activity. Stress Response have three stages (phases): 1. Alarm stage, 2. Resistant stage, 3.Exhaustion stage. The end of stress response is mental breakdown (burnout). Characteristic states for breakdown are depression and anxiety. Hans Selye brilliantly outlined how these three GAS stages are associated with changes in stress hormone patterns in the body, as well as the gradual depletion of the body’s energy resources. Figure 2: Stress curve and phases (General adaptation syndrome)

In the Alarm stage, Dr. Hans Selye explains that the body recognizes there is a threat to survival where organism meet face to face with stressor (cause of stress) and mobilizing energy. Organism need to protect us from stressor (stimulus that provokes a stress response) and initiate alarm reaction, “fight-or-flight” reaction. Adrenaline will be releases and some activation (HPA axis) makecortisol. This reaction can provoke both, good and bad events and only in that phase we can talk about Eustress (happy stress, like winning the game).In alarm stage, stress response helps us to protect our self, giving us extra strength to defend our self. We are rising to the challenges, stay focused, and energetic (burst of energy), and alert, work hard and react quickly. In Resistant (second) stage, organism attempt to resist to stressor, defend it and make balance again. This is phase with maximum resistance and maximum activity, and body spends our energy stores (sugars and fats). We are feel too much tension. Reactions are overreacted, overdone, and excessive.

People can smoke too much, drink more coffee, drink more alcohol, or does other think too much. Using drugs (dope), feels driven, pressured, tired and bad orientation. Usually reaction is anxiety, memory loss, other overreacting (rude, worries) or depression. Organism (mind-body occurs) is very vulnerable and can get sickness very easy (weaken immune system). Lastly, the exhaustion (final) stage, in which adaptive mechanism collapse. The body is put under too much stress. Organism cannot fight with stressor anymore. No ability for normal function. Organism is exhausted, tired out, broken, done up, supply emptied, reserve spent. We are weak, more sensitive to stress, risk of heart disease, digestive problems, sleep problems, raise blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, obesity, suppress the immune system, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process.

Also risk of develop a serious sickness like: mental illness, personality changes, errors in judgment, dizziness, feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, depression, anxiety, feeling lonely, extreme fear, bipolar disorder, trauma, abuse, grief and loss. This stress became a chronic (long-term) stress and also can contribute to those illnesses. End of this state is breakdown. People have long been aware of the connection between stress, mental and emotional attitudes, physiological health and overall well-being. However, in recent years, a growing body of compelling evidence is bringing these crucial relationships to the forefront of the scientific arena. Scientific research now tells us plainly that anger, anxiety and worry significantly increase the risk of heart disease, including sudden cardiac death.

Landmark long-term studies conducted by Dr Hans Eysenck and colleagues at the University of London have shown that chronic unmanaged emotional stress is as much as six times more predictive of cancer and heart disease than cigarette smoking, cholesterol level or blood pressure, and much more responsive to intervention. In order to better understand the interactions and relationships between thoughts, emotions, physiological and psychological wellness, an appealing research-based model is the performance-arousal curve. These curves help clarify the relationships between emotional arousal, performance (the ability to do what has to be done) and health.

Figure 3: Performance increases with effort, to a higher level in some than others, but it falls when tolerance is exceeded in all individuals. (Graph redrawn from Watkins, 1997)

Figure4: The relationship between battle stress and efficiency, and the phases of exhaustion on the down slope. (Reproduced from Swank and Marchland 1946; In: Watkins, 1997)

Figure 5. The human function curve model, which illustrates the relationship between performance, arousal and health.

On the upslope, performance increases with arousal; the cardiovascular system is in an orderly state and metabolism anabolic (energy storage, regeneration). On the downslope, every increment of arousal (stress) reduces performance. The cardiovascular system is disordered and metabolism catabolic (energy depletion, breakdown). Some individuals are hardy, marked by high curves which permit higher performance, whereas others register lower curves and are more vulnerable to exhaustion, ill health and breakdown (P = breakdown point). The dotted line indicates the intended level of activity and the solid line the actual level of performance. The more individuals struggle to close the gap between what they can do and what they think they should achieve, the further down the curve they move and the worse they become. (Redrawn from Watkins, 1997) Stress can be symptom or/and cause of many illness and it is very import to understand the stress mechanism (stress response) and use stress management every day.

Figure 6: Stress Management

Stress is disease of our time and cause of many illnesses, so we need to learn how to manage your stress. First of all is Prevention. Preventing stress is the best known way to live with less stress or free from stress. Prevention is – keep your healthy life in constant good condition as it is possible. Try to avoid stress, or look for ways to lower it on some acceptable level. Try to anticipate the varieties of possibilities. Find out what is cause of your stress (the causal factors or roots of the stress) and try to solve your problem, or if you cannot do it now try to avoid problem (this is not excuse for laziness). Reduce the stress. Point of stress reduction is to fix and stabilize our biological mechanism, rest our organism and take mind off problems for a while. . Stemmler, Heldmann, Pauls, and Scherer (2001) extended this view in their exploration of psycho physiological responses to fear and anger under real-world and imaginable states. They suggest that emotion exists in context-deviation specificity.

Specifically, they concluded that each individual has response components within a greater somatovisceral response organization that directs resource7 allocation based on situational circumstances. Examples of such responses are the activation of behavioral inhibition, approach and avoidance responses, the alerting response, and the defense reflex. According to Stemmler (2001) and colleague’s framework, these response components would naturally be followed by an, “emotion signature proper” whose primary function is “…to prepare the organism for the emotion-specific, upcoming need to act and to protect itself with a hardwired, fixed somatovisceral adaptation. Although some stress reactions are part of deeper and more serious emotional problems, many are not, and can be handled with relatively simple counseling and stress-management techniques. You can use the following guidelines to help manage your stress. First, understand your role in stress reactions. Second, develop a balanced life-style and effective personal organization.

Third, learn specific relaxation techniques. Fourth, gain perspective on problems by discussing them, and lastly, clarify your values and develop a sense of spirituality When we are health and our life is excellent then, stress is “spice” of life. With some acceptable level, stress can be very useful for us. Whole body can work better, brain can think brightness, immunity are better. Also, we are more creative, efficient, focused, energetic, and we more respect our self and other people. But if we going too far, stress will damage our health and bring some problems in our life. Usually we learn new responses to stress and bring new experiences of it. Stress came with first living organism. Biology is full with stress adaptations. Human history is full of stress problems, situations, answers and solutions. Biologically (the ecosystem), some changes force living creatures to react, adapt, make some changes and then the organism may survive. All living creatures are in a constant interchange, but sometimes it looks like stress and sometimes it is ordinary day. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Accommodation, finance, food, and travel can all present daunting problems in your first weeks. Ask for help from older students, from other first-years, or from your teachers. Don’t be proud – you are not alone in your difficulties. Most places of education should have sources of advice and information: an accommodation office, to help you find somewhere to live; a financial advice service; and a student advisory service to give other kinds of information. There should also be a students’ union. The students’ union will often publish a handbook or a welfare manual outlining sources of help. Eat well

It’s very important to eat properly, and not to exist on snacks, beer and coffee: the right foods can help your concentration for studying and help you feel well generally. However, if you are anxious, preparing your own food may feel like too much trouble. Use the canteens, if any, if the food is bearable, especially at the beginning. As well as being fed, it will give you the opportunity to meet people and make friends. Meet people

Seek out other newcomers. Loneliness can make the challenges of your new life seem much worse. Yet when you start, everyone is alone. Colleges recognize this and often organize ‘getting to know you’ social events, ‘fresher’s fairs’. Take advantage of these and any other social opportunities. The very beginning of your first term, when you first arrive, is a key time for making friends. Use strategies like propping your door open, if you are in a hall of residence, to encourage people to drop in and get to know you. If you are shy and find it very difficult to join in, remember other students will be feeling nervous too, and trying to hide it. If there is something an especially interest you, such as music or a sport, find out if there’s a college society that focuses on this. Meeting people with similar interests and outlooks makes life seem more manageable. If you have moved to a new town, live with others to start with, if at all possible. If you can’t get a place in a hall of residence or student flat, try and find a flat share. Finances

In the last ten or fifteen years, since student loans were introduced, there has been an increase in students taking on paid employment alongside their studying. Also, many mature students are already in full-time employment and may only be studying part time. Studying is now more expensive than ever and there is often concern about the debt that will be waiting at the end of a course of study. Make sure you find out about all of the financial help you are entitled to. Nearly all universities now have a special finance service that can help you find out if you are receiving the right type and amount of loans or funding for your personal situation. If you are a mature student, already in work, find out if your employer will sponsor your studies – they may have a funded ‘personal development scheme’ or they may be willing to pay for studies that give you skills that will help you to work better for them.

However, you are funding your studies; don’t wait until any money problems get out of control. Seek advice as early as possible, so that you can continue your studies without worrying whether you can pay your rent or buy food. Stress is a natural feeling, designed to help you cope in challenging situations. In small amounts it’s good because it pushes you to work hard and do your best. Stress heightens the senses and your reaction time, which means it can enhance your performance, including in exams. There are many sources of stress in college students. Ross, Niebling and Heckert (1999) used the Student Stress Survey (SSS) to identify the major sources of stress in this population. The researchers surveyed 100 undergraduate students at a mid-sized midwestern university. The survey consisted of 40 items that were divided into four categories of potential sources of stress.

These categories included interpersonal sources of stress, intrapersonal sources of stress, academic sources of stress and environmental sources of stress. The interpersonal sources of stress were the result of interactions with others such as a fight with a girlfriend or boyfriend or trouble with an individual’s parents. The intrapersonal source of stress indicated a change within the individual such 27 as sleeping or eating habits. Academic sources of stress identified school related activities such as an increase in workload, difficulty in assignments and examinations or transferring schools. Lastly, environmental sources of stress were related to problems outside of the school area such as difficulties with a vehicle or computer. Additionally, the categories were subdivided into daily annoyances such as financial difficulties or major life events such as a divorce, death in the family, change in alcohol or drug use.

Related Studies
PHOENIX — A quarter of students surveyed in the latest National College Health Assessment reported that stress has hurt their academic performance, with such impacts as lower grades or dropped courses. That proportion has fluctuated in the vicinity of 30 percent for more than a decade. As you can see, stress is a popular topic. Students will be coming in throngs to your focus groups,” Baker said. “They love to talk about it and they have a lot to say, and using that power of the students, engaging the staff in your university administrations, and building that awareness can lead to actual outcomes that are far-reaching and beyond. A study of the “social dimensions of stress” in an American university. Were a group of graduate students. Stress situation consisted of doctoral examinations. Study deals with social interactions of these students during the stress period, their stress-adaptation mechanisms, and their reactions to success and failure. Author reviews the contributions of various scientific disciplines to the concept of stress and concludes that stress can best be understood within the framework of group interaction and influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

First-year college students’ self-ratings of their emotional health dropped to record low levels in 2010, according to the CIRP Freshman Survey, UCLA’s annual survey of the nation’s entering students at four-year colleges and universities. The survey, part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), is administered nationally by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Only 51.9 percent of students reported that their emotional health was in the “highest 10 percent” or “above average,” a drop of 3.4 percentage points from 2009 and a significant decline from the 63.6 percent who placed themselves in those categories when self-ratings of emotional health were first measured in 1985.

Female students were far less likely to report high levels of emotional health than male students (45.9 percent versus 59.1 percent), a 13.2 percentage-point difference. Women were also more than twice as likely as men to feel frequently “overwhelmed by all I had to do” as high-school seniors. While students’ perceived emotional health took a downturn, their drive to achieve and their academic abilities are trending upward. More students than ever before (71.2 percent) rated their academic abilities as “above average” or in the “highest 10 percent,” and 75.8 percent rated their drive to achieve in the same terms. Often considered positive traits, high levels of drive to achieve and academic ability could also contribute to students’ feelings of stress, said John H. Pryor, lead author of the report and director of CIRP.

A disturbing trend in college student health is the reported increase in student stress nationwide (Sax). Stressors affecting students can be categorized as academic, financial, time or health related, and self-imposed (Goodman;LeRoy). Academic stressors include the student’s perception of the extensive knowledge base required and the perception of an inadequate time to develop it (Carveth, Gesse, & Moss, 1996). Students report experiencing academic stress at predictable times each semester with the greatest sources of academic stress resulting from taking and studying for exams, grade competition, and the large amount of content to master in a small amount of time (Abouserie; Archer & Lamnin; Britton & Tesser; Kohn & Frazer,).When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive, students experience physical and psychological impairment (Murphy & Archer, 1996). Methods to reduce stress by students often include effective time management, social support, positive reappraisal, and engagement in leisure pursuits (Blake & Vandiver; Mattlin, Wethington, & Kessler).

Leisure satisfaction is defined as the positive feeling of contentment one perceives as a result of meeting personal needs through leisure activities (Seigenthaler, 1997). Although relationships among some leisure domains and perceived stress have been studied in a variety of settings involving retirees to school-related settings (Kabanoff & O’Brian; Kaufman; Pickens & Kiess; Ragheb & McKinney; Tice & Baumeister, 1997), relationships between leisure satisfaction and academic stress of college students have not been addressed directly. The only scientific research that specifically related leisure satisfaction to academic stress was that of Ragheb and McKinney, who established a negative association between academic stress and leisure satisfaction.

Stanford studies the psychological effects of comparing ourselves to others. It found that the way people tend to conceal their negative emotions while broadcasting their happy ones makes the rest of us feel somehow “less than” — as though all our friends and neighbors have better lives than we do. This phenomenon, too, might tie into why the new survey, “The American Freshman: National Norms, Fall 2010,” found that students are feeling less confident about their level of emotional and mental stability. If all the students around you are desperately trying to put on a happy face — and you perceive that face as a true reflection of their inner selves, even as you work to hide your own sadness — well, it’s not surprising that so many students might be getting a bit stressed out.

Instead, if students were encouraged to feel safe expressing their honest emotions, even about their fears and failures, everyone might feel more connected, happier and yes, healthier. Before we cope with stress, it is good to know that some illness may have the same symptoms like stress. It will be a good idea to visit your doctor and check your health. The level of stress is different for all of us, so treatment or our coping of stress is different. It is important to recognize your usual symptoms and signs of stress and cope with stress. Choose your coping methods. The three main psychological coping strategies: Appraisal strategies – person modifies the way they think(distancing from the problem, seeing the humor in a situation). Problem strategies – work on the cause of their problem. Emotion strategies – control emotions and feelings, relaxation. Usually we use a mixture of all three types and change over time.

Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This part presents the research design, research setting, and research respondents. Research instruments, validation of research instrument, data-gathering procedure and statistical techniques used in processing the data.

Research Design

The descriptive method will be employed in this research study. This method is held appropriate in looking into the level of stress of 4th year CAS students in Misamis University. In addition, this method is seen appropriate in testing the null hypotheses asserted in this study. In this descriptive study, researcher-made questionnaires will be used in eliciting responses from the respondents. In analyzing the gathered data, percentage and average weighted mean will be used.

Research Setting

The study will be conducted at the Campus of Misamis University College of Ozamiz City only. The respondents will answer the questionnaire to the place where the environment is pleasant that they can concentrate while studying. Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study will be the fifty total 4th year and graduating students under the Department of College of Arts and Sciences in Misamis University, S.Y. 2012 – 2013. In which, 74% are females and a corresponding 26% of males. 2% out of the total population are aged 32 to 30, 40% are aged 21- 23 and 58% are 18- 20.

Among the total population, 36% are taking up the course B.S in Social work, 14% are B.S in Psychology students; 4% are B.S Mathematics students, 2% are Library Information students, 2% also are B.S Biology students; 22% are B.S Psychology students. 2% are A.B History students and the remaining 18% are students taking up A.B English.

Research instrument

The researcher-made questionnaire will be used as the main tool for the study. Before the formal construction of the instruments, the researchers will make a review of the different studies and will compose statements based on the concepts gathered. The questionnaire is composed of two sections: Section-A will be designed to give the profile of the respondents. Section-B contained statements which will be designed to provide the researchers with data regarding their responses of the level of stress experienced by the students. There are different level where which the respondents choose their suitable answers in the questionnaire. The level of stress categories are: 5 for extremely stressful (ES), 4 for very stressful (VS), 3 is for moderately stressful (MS), 2 is for minimally stressful (M), and 1 is for less stressful (LS). This is accordance of measuring the level of stress.

Validation of Research Instrument

The questionnaire will be presented to the research adviser for her comments and suggestions will be considered when the final copy of the questionnaire will be framed. The items of the questionnaire will be tried out to fifty (50) senior CAS students in Misamis University. Item analysis will be done to check for solidness and validity of the items.

Data-gathering Procedure

The researcher will provide a questionnaire for every individual senior CAS student. While the study conducted the researcher will thoroughly observed the respondents and other important research activities like accumulating of responses and interpretation of data will be strictly observed by the researchers.