The relationship between academic achievement and coping with stress among public junior high school adolescents
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of academic achievement and gender in the use and in the assessment of helpfulness of different types of coping with stress strategies by junior high school students. The study included 608 students: 311 high academic achievers (with math and reading scores above the 75 percentile), and 297 low academic achievers (with math and/or reading scores below the 35 percentile). The sample included males (44.2%) and females (55.8%). Students were asked to report the frequency of use and the assessment of helpfulness of four types of coping with stress strategies (direct-active, direct-inactive, indirect-active, and indirect-inactive) on the Coping with Stress Inventory. Results of the study indicate a significant degree of association between lower academic achievement and both more frequent use and high assessment of direct-inactive, indirect-active, and indirect-inactive types of coping strategies; and also between lower academic achievement and high assessment of direct-active coping strategies. Findings regarding gender indicated only one significant difference in the use of types of coping strategies by males and females: direct-active strategies were used by a significantly larger number of females. No significant difference were found in the assessment of helpfulness of coping strategies made by males or females. The interaction of academic achievement by gender was not associated with any significant difference in the use nor in the assessment of any type of coping strategy. Implications of the findings for counseling, behavior modification, and other types of therapy activities were discussed. Areas for future research were suggested.
Subject Area
Behaviorial sciences|Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
Gomez, Conrado, "The relationship between academic achievement and coping with stress among public junior high school adolescents" (1993). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9328412.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9328412
