Assessing Stress Factors And Coping Strategies Among Primary School Adolescents In Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to assess stress factors and coping strategies among primary school adolescents in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. Both purposive and stratified simple randomly sampling procedures were used. An overall number of 108 respondents made up of 18 primary school teachers and 90 primary school adolescents were involved in this study. Data were gathered through, interview, questionnaires and documentary reviews. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively through the use of SPSS version 16 and qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis. The findings indicated that; stressors such as, “academic performance”, “parental conflicts” “financial difficulty at home” “examinations” and “long distance from home to school” were the principal sources of stress among primary school adolescents. Wide range of physiological symptoms of stress such as headache, tiredness and hunger were very common to most of the adolescents. The findings also show that: “poor school attendance” “early pregnancy” “lack of concentration” and “lack of interest in studies” and “psychological problems” were the major effects of stress in primary school adolescents. To cope with stress the adolescents in primary school adopted different coping strategies including “positive reappraisal”, “escape-avoidance” and “seeking social support” these were very common to adolescents in this study while the less used one was confrontive coping. The study concluded that primary school adolescents have little knowledge of stress, and how to cope with stress. The study recommends that there must be extra efforts in assisting pupils to manage stress such as more leisure time activities, better interaction with parents, peers and teachers and proper guidance and peer counseling at school could do a lot to reduce stress, which affect not only their academic performances but also all aspects of health.