Lazarus & Folkman described stress as the problems or strains that people encounter throughout

life. On the other hand, Hans Selye, an early scientist who studied stress, commenced the term stress

from physics and engineering. He defined it as "mutual actions of forces that take place across any section

of the body, physical or psychological." Also defined as the body's response to any unpleasant situation,

this internal alarm system prepares the body to take action as a total response to environmental demands

or pressure. It allows the body to rise to a challenge and meet a tough situation with "focus, strength,

stamina, and heightened alertness". Stress can be a neutral, negative or positive experience. Apart from

negative events, positive occurrences may also be stressful as they involve changes to which people must

adapt. Stress resulted from negative events is distress while eustress is stress caused by positive events.

Regardless of the negativity or positivity of stress, a certain level of stress is required for well-being.

Selye called the responses to stress the general adaptation (adjustment) or stress syndrome. However,

excess stress, as well as long-term stressful condition, can disrupt performance and cause a variety of

emotional, behavioral and physiological problems which occur in a "vicious cycle".

The effects are even more significant among adolescents as studies have shown that excessive

stress during the teen years can have a harmful impact upon both physical and mental health later in life..

Adolescence, defined by World Health Organization as the period between 10 to 19 years, frequently

causes rise of apparent stress as teenagers learn to deal with increasing demands and burdens.

Nevertheless, throughout the world, adolescence is regarded as a stage of virtual health and, as such, is

not perceived as a main concern. "Too often in the past, public policy has either ignored adolescents or

focused on them only when they behave in ways that trouble their elders". As a result of this problem-

oriented standpoint, the issue of adolescent health has always been overlooked and neglected. In fact,

healthy development of adolescents is of great importance viewing at its long-term consequences. Among

the multitude of factors which can influence the development, the mental well-being of adolescents is

fundamental.
International Medical Journal Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 1 - 6 , December 2013
Psychological Distress, Sources of Stress and Coping Strategy in High School Students
by Hau Jett Lin, Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Muhamad_Saiful_Bahri_Yusoff/publication/259186979_Psychologi
cal_Distress_Sources_of_Stress_and_Coping_Strategy_in_High_School_Students/links/00b4952a4154a6
c939000000.pdf

Stress becomes unmanagable when students are not able to cope with undesirable situations and

they believe that the challenge is impossible to complete. The solution is to adapt to the situation and try

to overcome the stress. A bad stress can be changed to good stress when it motivates the students and

keep them energized to do best work.

Promotion of support system from peers, family members in learning communication skills- to

enhance peer-relationship and friendship Stress among students can be minimized by making study

pattern easy, interactive classroom sessions, less expectations from grades, minimize conflicts with

friends, not to compare with other students . Exercise and sports along with extracurricular activities

should be encouraged to cope stress and depression. Students should be provided a psychological, social

and academic counselling in order to decrease stress. Career guidance should be given to frame their

primary spheres of interest, to identify long-range goals and prepare them for decision making

IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science (IOSR-JNHS) e-ISSN: 23201959.p- ISSN: 23201940
Volume 3, Issue 2 Ver. IV (Mar-Apr. 2014), PP 27-30
Study on stress and coping strategies among private and government high school children in Udupi Taluk,
Karnataka - A cross-sectional study
http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jnhs/papers/vol3-issue2/Version-4/E03242730.pdf

(Pope and Simon, 2005; Rimer, 2007; Conner et al., 2009) concluded that changing

an entire school culture is a challenging endeavor. Thus high-performing schools

struggling to manage chronic stress among students (and faculty and staff as well)

have implemented strategies such as changing school schedules, staggering exams

and assignments among different classes, and providing stress reduction

opportunities such as yoga and meditation.

Masterman and Kelly (2003). Their study findings suggest that private schools take

a multi-faceted approach to reducing the level of perceived stress and improving

adaptive coping among students. Numerous examples of ways in which schools can

reduce the level of school-wide stress and increase students capacities for dealing

with stress adaptively have been reported in the literature and are consistent with

the present study. As reflected in the results described above, the major challenge

facing private schools is how to foster a culture of achievement in a

developmentally appropriate fashion, with acceptable levels of stress, strong

adaptive coping abilities, and access to social and emotional resources and

treatment services for students when needed. The Challenge Success program at

the Stanford University School of Education (www.challengesuccess.org) provides

resources for schools for creating a more balanced school culture that defines

success in broader terms including engagement in learning as well as achievement.

Further, schools may wish to implement evidence-based substance use prevention

or harm reduction curricula, and partner with experts to select and implement the

most appropriate intervention for their student population.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4511824/