MAY

31

COPING MECHANISM ON PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY

STUDENTS

COPING MECHANISM ON PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED 

BY STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION
      
      Coping occurs in response to psychological stress and is usually triggered by changes in an
effort to maintain mental health and emotional well-being. Life stressors are often described as
negative events (the death of a loved one, loss of a job, broken marriage, etc.); however, positive
changes in life (marriage, birth, moving, a new job, etc.) can also constitute life stressors, thus
requiring the use of coping skills to adapt. Coping strategies are the behaviors, thoughts, and
emotions that you use to adjust to the changes that occur in your life. Coping is defined in
psychology as, expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and
seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress or conflict. The effectiveness of the coping efforts
depends on the type of stress and/or conflict, the particular individual, and the circumstances.
     Psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies or coping skills.
Subconscious or non-conscious strategies (e.g. defense mechanisms) are generally excluded. The
term coping generally refers to adaptive or constructive coping strategies, i.e. the strategies reduce
stress levels. However, some coping strategies can be considered maladaptive, i.e. stress levels
increase. Maladaptive coping can thus be described, in effect, as non-coping. Furthermore, the term
coping generally refers to reactive coping, i.e. the coping response follows the stressor. This
contrasts with proactive coping, in which a coping response aims to head off a future
stressor.                   
(Wikipedia source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_(psychology)
    

      There are many coping styles that people use, and some may prove more effective than others,
depending on the nature of the stressful situation and the person who is employing them. Ineffective
coping mechanisms, also referred to as maladaptive coping, may also be applied to stressful events
or internal conflict, often unconsciously. Maladaptive coping mechanisms are counterproductive.
      Among researchers, coping styles are commonly assigned broad categories that draw
distinctions between methods. For example, instrumental coping (referred to as problem-solving)
focuses on ways to tackle the issue in order to reduce stress around a given situation, while
emotion-focused coping gathers tools to nurture one's emotional health during the stressful period.
Additionally, coping is identified as being either active or avoidant. Active coping strategies involve
an awareness of the stressor, followed by attempts to reduce the negative outcome. By contrast,
avoidant coping is characterized by ignoring the issue, often resulting in activities that aid in the
denial of the problem (e.g., drinking, sleeping, isolating). Source:https://www.semel.ucla.edu/dual-
diagnosis-program/News_and_Resources/How_Do_You_Cope
     Some identified coping mechanisms of Filipinos as listed in Table 12 in the book From Victims to
Survivors by Lourdes Ladrido Ignacio, MD and Antonio P. Perlas, MD, MPH are the following:
1. Spirituality

2. Bayanihan/cooperative endeavor

3. Concern for the welfare of others especially family members and how they can be helped

4. Gathering of family members

5. Over activity (overextension of one’s capacity)

6. Doing relaxing activities/recreation

7. Creativity

8. Humor/laughter

9. Passivity/dependency

10. Anger and blaming others

11. Suspiciousness

12. Smoking
13. Drinking alcoholic beverages

14. Crying

15. Denial of the pain and gravity of the situation

     We can see in the list both healthy and unhealthy ways of adjusting. In the Philippines, spirituality
is a frequently observed coping style. The intimate relationship that Filipinos have with their religion
allows them to accept reality in the context that all events are within the plan of God for the world.
Good luck and misfortune or tragedies are colored with some amount of optimism that is found even
among the most desperate.
   But how do students cope with problems in school? How a particular average student does reacts
to a particular situation? In Kidapawan City National High School, what are the stressors and how do
they react to such? According to the research, there are 4 ways where people react to a situations,
namely, Mental Responses – which carries reactions like aggressive thoughts” I can’t do this” or “I’m
worthless”; Emotional Responses which manifests fear, anger, sadness and fright; Physical
Responses which shows heart is beating faster, stomach pains, headaches; Behavioral Responses
which results to drinking of liquors, overeating, isolating self and self-harming. We may also
categorize coping mechanism to Negative and Positive Responses.
    With these learned information, how does a student responds to a particular situation? Do these
information are prevalent to them? In this research, the researcher aims to know what coping
mechanism is common to students as they encountered any problem in everyday life, be it personal
that affects the study habit or is it the school’s activity that stressed them to affect their social life. Do
they use extensively the negative or positive response to cope with the problems; the answers are to
be discovered as study deepens.

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

     In education system, adolescents are those receiving education in junior high schools, senior
high schools, vocational high schools, colleges or universities. Due to fast physical changes and
mental development at this stage, students may sometimes experience incompatibility of their
mental development with their physical changes or with the social environment and thus suffer from
problems arising from inadequate adaptations. These problems may further cause psychological
troubles and even induce deviant behaviors. In modern society, stress has become a part and parcel
of life. Pinel (2003) defines stress as a physiological response to perceived threat. It therefore has
negative effects on life's pressures and events the brain is familiar with stress, a physical reaction is
triggered and it easily damages the memory, which may lead to further mental reactions or
misconduct. A student’s life is subjected to different kinds of stressors, such as the pressure of
academics with an obligation of success, uncertain future and difficulties envisaged for integration
into the college system. These students face social, emotional and physical and family problems
which may affect their learning ability and academic performance (Fish and Nies, 1996; Chew-
Graham et al., 2003). Stress levels among college students are higher than those of people at any
other stage of life, a poll has found. In addition, the poll found that college students have a higher
predisposition toward experiencing depression sometime during their four years at college (David,
2009). A healthy lifestyle is an essential companion to any stress-reduction program. Stress occurs
when pressure exceeds beyond its perceived ability to cope. Stress is the body's reaction to a
change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response.

     Today, stress levels among children have been going up dangerously high due to the pressure of
their academic and large amount of syllabus content in a limited span of time and too much
expectation from parents. High level of stress is likely to ultimately affect the health of the students
(Elizabeth, 2003). Pertinent to the gender differences in stress experiences, Nolen-Hoeksema
(1990) and Weissman et al. (1996) noted that across many nations, cultures and ethnicities, women
are about twice as likely as men to develop depression which is linked to anxiety. They reported
further that women face a number of chronic burdens in everyday life as a result of their social status
and roles relative to men, and these strains could contribute to their higher rates of depressive
anxiety. Depression has a strong relationship to anxiety as prolonged stress can lead to depression
(Sarafino, 2002).
      In today’s education systems ranging from elementary to tertiary level, students are faced with
several challengers. College students must realize that college can be demanding because of the
amount of homework that is due in a short amount of time and therefore, it is easy to become
overwhelmed. College has quizzes, tests, papers, exams, and project etc. If time is not managed
correctly to insure that all of these tasks are completed, many students will experience stress.
According to Macmillan Social Sciences library research, it was found that 70% of college students
say that their grades have a direct effect on their level of stress.

   
Pinost 31st May 2016 ni Rimmon Paren
Mga Label: coping mechanism problems
 
0 
Magdagdag ng komento