Personal and social factors of stress perception by senior adolescent boys and girls

Abstract

At present, due to the speed and intensity of modern life and the high stressfulness of events and situations, scientific interest in the study of stress and factors that allow to constructively overcome them has seriously increased. Purpose: to study the contribution of personal and social characteristics to the perception of stress in senior adolescence. Hypothesis: boys and girls manifest the parameters of stress perception differently: overstrain as an emotional component and hardiness to stress as an instrumental component. For girls, the perceived stress is more closely related to their personal characteristics, and for boys it’s associated with social ones. In general, in the period from 15 to 17 years, personal characteristics contribute more to the ability to reduce or increase intensity of stress, and social characteristics contribute to the activation of efforts to counteract stress. A sample of 90 senior adolescents aged 15–17 was divided into two groups: 45 boys and 45 girls. Methods: the scale of perceived stress (ShVS-10, adaptation by Ababkov et al.); the scale of personal anxiety A.M.Prikhozhan; S.Muddy’s hardiness questionnaire (Leont’ev, Rasskazova’s adaptation); K.Riff ’s psychological well-being scales (Troshikhina, adaptation by Zhukovskaya); G. Sommer and T.Fydrich’s perceived social support questionnaire (adaptation by Kholmogorova, Petrova). Correlation and regression analysis was carried out. The study showed gender characteristics and differences in the perception of stress, which are manifested in a subjectively more intense and active experience of stress by girls compared to their peers boys. Data have been obtained on the greater contribution of individual-personal characteristics to the perception of stress in general and to such a component as overstrain in particular. It is also shown that in counteracting stress, along with personal characteristics, the factor of social support also plays a significant role.