Stressors experienced by female students enrolled in an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in Norway
Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: \nNorwegian adolescents report increasing levels of perceived stress. Of them, female students report experiencing more stress than the male students do. Female students enrolled in an International Baccalaureate Diploma programme (IBDP) report even higher levels of perceived stress, compared to general education student population and their male counterparts. The sustained stress response appears to be detrimental to human health and is vital to understand what causes female students to stress in order to prevent the sustained stress response often experienced. We also know that stress is related to everyday subjective health complaints, which are common amongst Norwegians. The purpose of the present study was to explore and learn about what leads female Norwegian IBDP students to experience high levels of stress, how stress is experienced, and the different coping strategies the female students use to deal with their stress. Seven Norwegian female IBDP students, aged between 17 and 18 years, were interviewed about their lived experience with stress. The semistructured interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and then analysed using thematic analysis. It was a consensus amongst the participants that school was the major area in their lives where they experienced stress, yet the participants frequently discussed other stressors, like the need to balance time and demands, the pressure related to being teenagers, and the expectations from the society to act and behave a specific way. Feeling tired, loss of sleep, headache, restlessness, and not being able to do anything are examples of how the interviewed students experienced stress. Social support, time and task management, taking short and long breaks, redirecting their thoughts, control and working hard were the coping strategies these students employed. Considering that academic achievement and societal stressors for youth experienced by female IBDP students most likely will neither decrease nor disappear, this study takes an important step in understanding their stress experience and how it is handled by the female IBDP students. These findings are consistent with the findings of similar research in the field and add key in depth insights concerning the stress and coping of adolescents in Norway. As such, they may offer valuable knowledge and ideas for coping with stress to other students in high achievement academic environments.
Author: Sara Tokheim
Language: English
Topic: Student Stress and Coping
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2765952679