Coping Behaviours in Relation to Life Stress and Strain in Adolescents of Residential and Non-Residential Schools

Stress can have a significant effect on an adolescent's long-term physical and mental well-being. An understanding of the role of unmanaged stress during early adolescence is critical for the prevention of chronic diseases such as depression. The purpose of the study was to explore levels of stress, and use of coping strategies among adolescent's urban residential and non-residential schools of Pilani.200 adolescents, 100 from residential and 100 from non-residential schools constituted the sample. Independent variables considered were age, sex, ordinal position of child, socio-economic status of the family and type of school. Adolescents stress and coping styles were the dependent variables. In the process of investigation. “A life stress scale” by Agarwal and Naidu (1986) and coping questionnaire by Folkman and Lazarus (1985) were used. Results revealed that majority of adolescents in both settings experienced moderate levels of stress and reflected moderate adoption of coping styles. Further, comparative distribution on stress and coping styles reflects that adolescents of residential school experienced higher levels of stress and coping styles than adolescents of non-residential schools.