Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Sta. Mesa, Manila

Senior High School Department

"Effects of stress to Grade 12 General Academic Strand students in

Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila"

CHAPTER II

RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Foreign Literature

Britannica (2007) Stress has been defined in different ways by different people. The
business person may define stress as frustration or emotional tension; the air traffic
controller may define it as a problem of alertness and concentration, while the
biochemist may define stress as a purely chemical event. Psychologists and biologists
think of stress as any strain that interrupt the functioning of an organism Medical
professionals think of stress as a factor that causes tension and disease, stress can be
defined as feeling tense, pressure.

Sely (2007) defined stress as "the rate of wear and tear within the body at any one
time because this is the immediate nonspecific result of function and damage” stress
as "a person's psychological and physiological response to the perception of a demand
or challenge". "Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted
with an opportunity, constraint or demand, related to what he or she desires and for
which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important". Konopaske and
Mattenson (2008), defined stress as "an adaptive response, moderated by individual
differences that are a consequence of any action, situation or event that places special
demands on a person"
According to the Dictionary of Psychology by Corsini (2002), performance is an
"activity or behaviour that leads to a result such as a change in the environment". In
relation to job, stress defined performance as "an activity in which an individual is
able to accomplish successfully the task/goal assigned to him, subject to normal
constraint of the reasonable utilisation of available resources"
Studying stress is important to make the organizations aware that they have a moral
and legal obligation to provide a work environment in which stress is kept to
manageable levels. Being aware on the extent of stress in the library workplace,
library administrators could design a necessary preventive technique for their staff to
deal with stress. This can help the library staff to cope positively with different
stressors in their workplace which may result in better performance and high level of
well-being. On the other hand, policy makers could formulate a guideline which is not
too complex so that employees can follow them effectively without being stress.

Local Literature

Blona (2005) claims that students experience stress since some are trying to cope with
the demands of adapting to a new living environment, new peers, academic pressure,
and sexual concerns. Being in college can also put financial stress on the students and
their families. These situations can leave them with trembling hands, tense muscles,
migraine, headache, and multiple other symptoms of stress performance or reduce the
student to ineffectiveness.

Duque (2007) cited common effects of stress. These are insomnia, headaches,
backaches, constipation, diarrhoea, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and
alcohol, tobacco or drug use. He suggested doing the following: 1) after seeing the
doctor, share your treatment plan with people close to you. Talk with friends and
relatives and explain what you are going through; 2) if your doctor prescribed
medication take it exactly the way it is prescribed. Do not stop taking your medication
until you doctor tells you to stop doing so; 3) Keep all follow-up appointments with
your doctor; 4) Remember that it may take some time to start feeling better; 5) If you
experience side effects from any medication, tell your doctor; and 6) Seek
professional counselling. If your methods of coping stress are not contributing to your
greater emotional and physical health, it is time to find healthier ones. There are many
healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. You can
either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to
choose, it is helpful to think of the four A’s: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept. Since
everyone has unique response to stress, there is no one size fits all solution to
managing it. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so
experiment with different techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel
calm and in control.

Tan (2006) further explained that stress produce illness, both physical and mental,
both fleeting and serious, life threatening ones. Because stress affects the body
immune system, it can be said that all ailments are in one way or another stress related
from asthma to singaw (canker sores), to cardiovascular ailments and even infectious
disease. In addition, there’s also a tendency to dismiss stress-related illness as
psychological, and that these are self-limiting, easily resolved. The fact is that stress
can so overwhelm people that they lapse into depression, resorting to destructive
behaviour, directed toward the self, or toward others.

Foreign Studies

As posted on Undergraduate Student Stress and Coping Strategies by Sarros and

Densten (2006). This study of stress among 107 undergraduate students enrolled in
various degree strands in a Victorian Institute of Technology reveals that major
stressors are both academic and personal in nature. Students generally are more likely
to use direct-action strategies in their attempts to cope with the college stress, while
male students rely. More on palliative techniques compared with female students.

Base on the study of Abouserie (2006) Sources and Levels of Stress in Relation of Locus of
Control and Self-Esteem in University Students. This study r eports an investigation into the
sources and levels of stress in relation to locus of control and self-esteem in university
students. The study sample consisted of 675 (202 males and 473 females) second-year
undergraduates students. The results indicated that examination results were the
highest causes of stress in students, followed by studying for exams, too much to do
and the amount to learn, respectively. Results showed that 77.6% and 10.4% of the
students fall into the moderate and serious stress categories, respectively, and that
there were significant differences between females and males students in both
academic and life stress, with female students more stressed than males. Results also
indicated a significant positive correlation between locus of control and academic
stress, suggesting that students with external beliefs are more stressed than those with
internal. A significant negative correlation between self-esteem and both academic
and life stress emerged, indicating that students with high self-esteem are less stressed
that are those with low and based on Association for Psychological Science (2011) in
times of stress, were often encouraged to pause for a moment and simply be in the
‘now’. This kind of mindfulness, an essential part of Buddhist and Indian Yoga
traditions, has entered the mainstream as people try to find ways to combat stress and
improve their quality of life.

Local Studies

According to the study of Mazo (2015) to the students of University of the

Philippines. Stress affects people from all walks of life regardless of age, gender, civil
status, political affiliation, religious belief, economic status and profession. It affects
decision-makers such as the politician, the manager, the priest or pastor, the
employee, the housewife, the student, the out-of-school youths, the driver, and even
the jobless. Stress is found everywhere, that is, at home, with friends, in the office, in
school, in the classroom. It is just around the corner. It simply cannot be avoided
because it is part of being human. In fact, a lot of people experience stress every day.
It could be brought about by many factors. The causes and levels of stress vary from
one person to the other. No person is free from stress, regardless of how privileged,
reasonable, clever, and intelligent he may be. Every person will be challenged at times
by frustrations, losses, changes and conflicts.

Mazo (2015) Journal of Education and Learning, Students experience their own
stressors. The common causes of their stress include their academic subjects,
requirements and projects, oral and written examinations, announced or unannounced
quizzes and graded recitations, finances, issues with parents or guardians, love life,
their professors and instructors, and many more. Causes of stress are called stressors.
It is an agent or condition capable of producing stress or something that initiates a
stress response; it can be people, objects, places or events. These are outside forces
that place unusual demands on a person’s body or mind. Modern life exposes people
to many stressors. Some physical stressors remain, including natural disasters, illness,
and noise. Certain life experiences, such as the death of a loved one, are major
stressors. Day-to-day problems, such as burning toast, taking rest, or feeling rushed,
may also be stressful people need not experience events directly to feel stress.
Television, newspapers, and other means of mass communication flood people with
information about upsetting occurrences throughout the world. People can also
imagine future misfortunes and regret past failures. Experts consider modern life
particularly stressful for children and families. Not all stressors affect everyone in the
same manner. In a particular situation, one person may remain quite calm while.
Stressors are demands made by the internal or external environment that upset the
balance of a person, thus affecting the physical and psychological well-being of the
person and thus would require appropriate action if one is to restore that balance. At
one point stress was considered to be a transactional phenomenon dependent on the
meaning of the stimulus to the perceiver. Thus, stress is not a receiver. Thus, stress is
not an ordinary thing that may be set aside and ignored. Giving utmost attention to it
from the very start of the symptoms is necessary and taking proper action is a must to
avoid its worst effects.
Synthesis

In the study about the stress by G. Mazo (2015) Stress affect the people from all
point of their lives that no person is free from stress. Stress found anywhere because it
is part of human being. and in the study of foreign about stress People/Students that
are affected in stress is more likely use a direct action to cope with it while, R.
Bouresie says that People with high self-esteem are less stress that the others with a
low.

In the foreign literature Britannica (2007) defined stress in a different ways by

different people. Stress as a factor that causes tension, disease and feeling tense,
pressure. Stress as "an adaptive response, moderated by individual differences that is a
consequence of any action, situation or event that places special demands on a
person." And in the local literature blona, duque and tan descried that there are so
many effect of stress to the health of a person who encounter it like headache,
insomnia, heart decease and depression because stress is not a simple matter that you
have to ignore.