LE 4000

1. CONFIDENTIAL
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NNM 2012
Below is the background information of a study. You are to use the information provided
as a basis to answer ALL questions.
Title of study
STRESS, STRESSORS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL
STUDENTS IN A MALAYSIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL: INITIAL FINDINGS
Literature Review (Excerpts)
1. Stress as a process by which we perceive and cope with environmental treats and challenges
(David G. Myers, 2005, page no. 13)
2. Personaland environmental events that cause stresses are known as stressors (David G. Myers,
2005, page no. 28)
3. An optimal level of stress can enhance learning ability (Harold L. Kaplan and Benjamin J.
Sadock 2000, page no. 74)
4. The same stressors may be perceived differently by different students, depending on their
cultural background, personality traits, experience and coping skills (David M. Kaufman,
Vermont Day and Dorothy Mensink, 1998, page no. 22)
5. Secondary education has always been regarded as stressful and 20% of children around the
world have mental health problem (Nadiah Abu Sidek, 2009, page no. 26)
6. Chronic and excessive stress leads to physical, emotional, mental health problems as well as
reduced self-esteem (Mehmet Aktekin, Tau Karaman,Yesim Senol , Senatalar Erdem , Husein
Erengin and Mahmoud Akaydin, 2001, page no. 88)
7. Stress on secondary school students needs to be recognized, and strategies developed to
improve it should focus on both individual and situational factors (James Brissie, Kathleen V.
Hoover-Demprey, and Octavia C. Bassler, 1988, page no.147)
8. Effective and appropriate coping strategies may buffer the impact of newly encountered
stressful situations on mental and physical health (Caterine Park and Nancy Adler, 2003, page
no. 57)
9. Several dimensions of coping such as problem-focused coping, self-management, suppression
of competing activities, acceptance, denial, turning to religion, restraint and seeking social
support (Collin Carver, Corey Feldman, Roy Fisher and Andrew A. Schwab, 1989, page no.
114)
10. Many of these emotional disturbances seem to be caused by school-related stress such as
inappropriate workloads, or assignments, examinations, falling behind others, and
inappropriate treatment by teachers (Khalid Syed Ahmad Ghaffur, 2007, page no.51)
11. the top five coping strategies that frequently used by the students were religion, active coping,
positive reinterpretation, planning, and instrumental support (Muhammad Saiful Bahri, 2010,
page no. 189)

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NNM 2012
Statement of Problem
Adolescents experience positive and negative stress during their developmental years. School
training adds to stressful situations, which could impair students’ academic achievement as well
as personal and professional development. This situation needs to be recognized, strategies
developed should be focused in overcoming this problem with emphasis on individual, and
situational factors. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the causes of stress and ways to
manage it.
ResearchQuestions
1. 1. What are the three main reasons for the prevalence of stress among Malaysian secondary
2. school students in terms of gender?
3.
4. 2. What are the stress coping strategies employed by Malaysian secondary school students?
5.
6.

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NNM 2012
Study the graphs below (Figure 1 and 2). Write the findings in 100 words, based on the
graphs given. Your responses should be in line with the ResearchQuestions.
Question 1a (7 marks)
Figure 1: Stress factors among Malaysian secondary school students according to gender.
The graph shows the top five reasons of stress among Malaysian secondary school
students. First of all, from the above table, among the five reasons of stress, unable to be
accepted into university made up the highest number which was 30. The second highest was the
reason of examination which was of about 24 students. Another reason for stress among
secondary school students was peer pressure. This reason comprised about 19 students. The next
reason for students’ stress was found that about 14 of them had difficulty in understanding the
subject content. Finally, 11 students mentioned that because of too much homework they
became stressed up. In conclusion, these are some reasons of stress among secondary school
students in Malaysia.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Inability to be
accepted into
university
Fear of
examination
Peer pressure Difficulties in
understanding
subject content
Inability to cope
with much
homework
Male
Female

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NNM 2012
Question 1b (7 marks)
Figure 2: Coping strategies among Malaysian secondary school students.
The pie chart shows five coping strategies among Malaysian secondary school
students. Firstly, religion made up the highest coping strategy which was 34 per cent.
This is followed by social support which was 20 per cent. In addition, self-management
took up 17 per cent of the coping strategy and an additional 1 per cent was the strategy of
acceptance of situation. Finally, the least percentage which was 13 per cent of among the
five coping strategies was denial. In short, these are the five coping approaches among
secondary school students.
Religion
34%
Social support
20%
Self-management
17%
Acceptance of
situation
16%
Denial
13%
Coping strategies among Malaysian
Secondary school students

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NNM 2012
Question 2a ( 14 marks)
Using the findings in Question 1a and 1b, write the discussion for the study in 200-250 words.
Use the Literature Review (excerpts) as support. You have to demonstrate the ability of using at
least 2 of the 3 techniques taught (quoting, paraphrasing, synthesizing).
The result from the study indicated that among the five reasons of stress, unable
to be accepted into university made up the highest number. The second highest was the
reason of examination. Another reason for stress among secondary school students was
peer pressure. The next reason for students’ stress was the difficulty in understanding the
subject content. Finally, too much homework they became stressed up. This is supported
by Khalid, SAG. (2007) who explained that many of these emotional disturbances seem
to be caused by school-related stress such as inappropriate workloads, or assignments,
examinations, falling behind others, and inappropriate treatment by teachers.
Park, C.L. and Adler, N.E. (2003) reported that effective and appropriate coping
strategies may buffer the impact of newly encountered stressful situations on mental and
physical health. From the data collected it was found that religion made up the highest
coping strategy. This is followed by social support, self-management and the strategy of
acceptance of situation. Finally, the least percentage among the five coping strategies
was denial. Carver et. al. (1989) and Muhammad, SBY. (2010) have found and
proposed several coping strategies that frequently used by the students were religion,
active coping, positive reinterpretation, planning, and instrumental support.

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NNM 2012
Question 2b (12 marks)
Basedon the discussion, write a conclusion to the study in 120-150 words. You are to
include a recommendation for future research.
This research investigated the reasons of stress and the coping strategies among
Malaysian government secondary school students. The following conclusions can be drawn
from the study. To begin with, this study has shown that, unable to be accepted into university
was the main reason of stress. This was then followed by the reason of examination. Another
reason for stress among secondary school students was peer pressure and then was the difficulty
in understanding the subject content. Lastly, too much homework they became stressed up.
The results of this study also indicated that religion made up the highest coping strategy. This is
followed by social support, self-management and the strategy of acceptance of situation. Finally,
the least percentage among the five coping strategies was denial. However, these findings are
only true for Malaysian secondary school students and cannot be generalized to other non-
government school students. The same study needs to be conducted with students from other
non-government schools to see if there are any similarities with the factors that will influence
students’ stress patterns.