Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan

Malasiqui, Pangasinan
A.Y. 2019-2020

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON STRESS

MANAGEMENT OF FRESHMEN AND
GRADUATING COLLEGE STUDENTS OF
PERPETUAL HELP COLLEGE OF PANGASINAN

By:

Amira P. Palatino

BEED-IV
 CHAPTER I
Introduction
Background of the Study
Stress is a psychological and physiological reaction that takes place when one perceives
an imbalance in level of demand placed on the capacity to meet that demand on individual. The
term stress was first employed in a biological context by Hans Selye in 1930s. He later
broadened and popularized the concept to include inappropriate physiological response to any
demand. This concept is borrowed from natural sciences and is derived from the Latin word
“Stringere” which means to draw tight. In psychophysiology, stress refers to some stimulus
resulting in a delectable strain that cannot be accommodated by the organism and which
ultimately results in impaired health or behaviour.
Stress Management is interventions designed to reduce the impact of stressors in the
workplace. These can have an individual focus, aimed at increasing an individual’s ability to
cope with stressors. Stress Management programs can also have an organizational focus and
attempt to remove the stressors in a role. Stress is a fact of life, wherever you are and whatever
you are doing.

You cannot avoid stress, but you can learn to manage it so it doesn’t manage you.
Changes in our lives, such as going to college, getting married, changing jobs, or illness are
frequent source of stress. Keep in mind that changes that cause stress can also benefit you.
Learning to do this takes time, and although you cannot avoid stress, the good news is that you
can minimize the harmful effects of stress, such as depression or hypertension. The key is to
develop an awareness of how you interpret, and react to, circumstances.

Stress is a part of day to day living. In our daily lives, we are often exposed to situations
that produce stress. The interpretation and reaction to events that make stress are different for
different people. For example, speaking in public can be stressful for some people and relaxing
for others. However if our stress level is too high, it can result in serious medical and social
problems.

Any event or circumstance that strains or exceeds an individual ability to cope is called
stress. Stress is an abnormality in behaviour, psychology, and emotional outburst, restraint in
performing day-to-day routine work or physiological changes in human being.
 Stress management is the ability to maintain and control when situation, people and
events make excessive demands. Stress in university students can be traced by adopting different
strategies. We must check and monitor the abnormal or unusual behaviour of the university
students. So that suitable measures should be taken to eradicate the deficiency level of the
students.

This research evaluates all these factors, signs of stress and also suggests suitable
strategies to solve the problems. This study and as well as the aim is about the factors that causes
stress and the impacts it has on student’s performance and some possible management
techniques.

The main objectives were to ascertain or identify the extent to which stress affects
academic success, health and general lifestyle, as well as to inquire and bring to light measures to
counteract the effect of existing stress in students. The possible limitation of this thesis is the
collection of primary source of data sue to the population size of the case study which is the
Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan.

Statement of the Problem

This study will designed to determine the comparison of freshmen and graduating college
students of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan.

Specifically it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the respondents’ profile in terms of:
1.1 Year level
1.2 Sex
1.3 Course
2. What are the major sources of stress among students?
3. How does stress affect the students’ academic performance?
4. What are the techniques on stress management?

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study generated useful information and gave benefits to the people
who are concerned to this field.
 School. The school will be aware of what are the causes of the student’s stress inside the
school. Through this kind of research, they will be able to prevent this kind of situation.
Teachers. They will be aware on every causes of student’s stress and will also help the
teachers to be notified and take some action.
Students. They will also be aware in having a stress and by this research they can avoid
the struggles or difficulties that they might get through this situation.
Parents. They will become aware of what their child experiencing inside the school. By
that, they will motivate and help their child to become a better person without stressed.
As a researcher. The research of this study will find out what are the sources and causes
of being stressed of the students. Be able to have more knowledge about this research. And also
to become aware in every students having this kind of stressed.
Scope and Delimitation

This study entitled, Comparative Study on Stress Management of Freshmen and

Graduating College Students of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan. This research respondents
are the 1st year and 4th year college students of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan. It will help
the researcher to know the major sources of stress, how stress affect the students’ performance
and the techniques on stress management on freshmen and graduating College of Perpetual Help
College of Pangasinan. The researcher will pick stratified random to the respondents.

Definitions of Terms
This part contains definition of words that are used in this study that will further help the
readers.
College. A person who has earned a degree or diploma from a school, college or
universities.
Comparative. Involving the act of looking at the ways that things are alike or different.
Freshmen. A student in the first year high school or college.
Study. The activity or process of learning about something by reading, memorizing facts
and attending school.
Stress Management. Consists of making changes to your life if you are in a constant
stressful situation, preventing stress by practicing self-care and relaxation and managing your
response to stressful situations when they do occur.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter contains some related studies and related literature having bearing on the
study. This gave important concepts and ideas for the development of the study.

Literature of Review

According to Worldring, Michael, Stress management defines stress precisely as a

person's physiological response to an external stimulus that triggers the "fight or flight" reaction.
Stress management can be defined as interventions designed to reduce the impact of stressors in
the workplace. These can have an individual focus, aimed at increasing an Individual’s ability to
cope with stressors. The goal of stress management is to help you to manage the stress of
everyday life. Many different methods may be employed, such as biofeedback, meditation and
massage Counsellors work with individuals in order to determine what stress management
program will work best for that person. Tips to stress management include calm, clear thoughts
and quiet confidence in yourself and your ability to accomplish the goals set for yourself.

According to Krishnan Lal (2013), the students today are facing with new challenges in
education calling for greater effort from students. In addition there are heavy demands made by
the society on students to perform various roles, many of which are undefined,
inconsistent and unachievable in the present socio cultural, economic and bureaucratic
contexts of our society, causing heavy stress on students mainly high school students.
Students in their teens are the ones who are going through the transitional phase, which is an
intermediate of childhood and adulthood. Stress is believed to be cause by the various problems
that exist such as problems at school, colleges, financial problems, family problems and
problems in their surroundings.
According to Marwan Zaid Bataineh (2013) the study investigated the academic stressors
experienced by the students at university. A total sample of 232 subjects participated in this
study were obtained from faculty of education at KSU. The result showed that academic
overloads, course awkward, inadequate time to study, workload every semester, exams
awkward, low motivation, and high family expectations were drive moderately stress among
students
 According to Rajasekar (2013) the study examine the impact of academic stress among
the management students. Stress management encompasses techniques to equip a person with
effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress. Students have different
expectations, goals and values that they want to fulfil, which is only possible if they are
integrated with that of the institution. The objective of the study is to find out the present level of
stress, sources of stress and stress management techniques that would be useful for management
students. The study takes into account various criteria like physical, psychological, individual,
demographical and environmental factors of stress among the management students.

Foreign Studies

Students have a unique cluster of stressful experiences. Student’s academic performance

can be affected by many factors. Bernstein(2008) define the sources of stress as every
circumstance or event that threatens to disrupt people’s daily functioning and causes them to
make adjustments. Similarly, Phinney and Haas (2003) stress out of sources of stress more
specifically as a unique set of stressful encounters among student which includes: difficult
financial challenges, domestic responsibilities, responsibilities related to holding a job while in
school, and a heavy academic load.

According to Ann Marriner Tomey et. Al,(2013) Stress is a part of every student's daily
life. Leaving home or commuting daily managing, finances, living with roommates, and juggling
work, classes, and relationships all contribute to the normal stress of being a student. It is not
uncommon for students to feel stressed and anxious about wasting time, meeting high standards,
or being lonely. Stress can also come from exciting or positive events. One of the most important
things you can do is to recognize when your stress levels are building. A critical first step in
coping with stress is taking stock of the stressors in your life. Whenever stress is present, your
body reacts. It acts like an alarm system that prepares your body to depend yourself. A little
stress is good. It helps you think faster and harder and makes you put that extra bit of effort to
meet in the challenge of life.

On the other hand, Lether and Woolfolk say that the relaxation is the very valuable stress
management technique that can soothe the emotional turmoil and suppress problematic
psychological arousal. While Martin and Lefcourt, suspected humour might be worthwhile
coping response. Empirical evidence to that effect has emerged only recent years. For them good
humour functions as buffer to lessen the negative impact of stress.

Local Studies

According to Calderon, people who experience a high level of stress for a long time and
who cope poorly with this stress may become irritable, socially withdrawn, and emotionally
unstable. They may also have difficulty concentrating and solving problems. Some people under
intense and prolonged stress may start to suffer from extreme anxiety, depression or other severe
emotional problems.

Odrigo G. Ancheta says that, Stress gives us energy to cope with the demanding activity
of life. It is true that stress is a normal constant part of our life because it involves changes,
challenges and emotions. Try to imagine life without stress. You would not have any challenges
anything to affect your emotions and anything new and exciting. It gives as energy because it
activity involves physically and emotionally. Stress might be considered as a problem because
we often bear about stress in a negative light that people may only associate’s bad experiences
with stress. How you handled stressors will determine whether the stress is good or bad for you.
A situation that seems extremely stressful to you could leave very calm to somebody.

Floressaid that a person who is stressed typically less anxious thoughts and difficulty
concentrating or remembering. Stress can also change outward behaviours. Teeth clenching,
hand wringing, pacing, nail biting, and heavy breathing are common signs of stress. People also
feel physically different when they are stress. Butterflies in the stomach, cold hands and feet, dry
mouth and increase heart rate are all physiological effects of stress that we associate with the
emotion of anxiety.
 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents a discussion of method and procedure in the study. It includes
research design, sources of data, population of the study, instrumentation and validation, data
gathering procedure and to the statistical treatment of data in this study.

Research Design

This study used a descriptive comparative approach and is non-experimental. This

method was chosen as it compares the differences in freshmen and graduating students of
Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan. The researcher chose a survey research design because it
best served to answer the questions and the purposes of the study. The survey research is one in
which a group of people or items is studied by collecting and analysing data from only a few
people or items considered to be at least 5 representative of each courses.

Sources of Data

This study will focus on the stress management of the freshmen and graduating College
Students of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan, wherein the researcher will stratified random
pick up on the freshmen and graduating students to answer the following questions prepared by
the researcher.

Population of the Study

The participants of the study consist of 100 freshmen students and 100 graduating
students of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan. The students were asked some questions
regarding to the study entitled Comparative Study on Stress Management of Freshmen and
Graduating College Student of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan. The sample of the
population of this study stood at 100 freshmen students and 50 graduating college students gave
a total of 150 respondents.
Instrumentation and Validation

The researcher used the stratified random sampling on picked 100 freshmen and 50
graduating College Students. The researcher conducted a study and these were the materials in
this research. The researcher used the 1st year and 4thyear college students of Perpetual Help
College of Pangasinan as the participants in this research.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researcher prepared a questionnaire about this study and prepared a letter to a
participant to ask a permission to conduct this research. The researcher used stratify random
sampling were the researcher allowed time to answer after gaining access. The survey schedule
will be set and then the actual survey will be conducted.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The following statistical measures were used in the study.

Percentage

𝑓
P=𝑛(100)

Available in determining the awareness of Perpetual Help College of Pangasinan.

Percentage

P= Percentage

F= Frequency

N= no. of total respondents

Weighted Mean. To compute for the responses of the respondents.

𝑤𝑡
∑+ 𝑛

Where:
F= frequency

W= weight N= total number of choices