Psychological Capital and Stress among School Students

Abstract

Psychological capital is a positive state-like capacity. Psychological capital is defined as an individual's positive psychological state of development and is characterized by having self-confidence (self-efficacy); redirecting paths to goals (hope); making positive attribution (optimism); and even beyond (resilience) to attain success (Luthans et al., 2007). Transition from one age to other could cause a psychological, academic and social shock to them. The objective of the present study was to explore the psychological capital and stress among school students. The stratified random sampling technique was used to collect the data from llth and 12th class students (n=200) from government and private schools affiliated to PSEB. The data was analysed by using descriptive method statistics, t-test and correlation. This study reveals that there is no significant gender differences were found in stress among school students. The results of the study revealed significant and negative relationship of stress with psychological capital among school students. A significant difference was found in psychological capital and its dimensions viz. efficacy, hope and resilience among school students in relation to type of school. However, no significant difference was found in stress among private and government school students. Implications of these results are discussed.