Stress Levels and High School Adolescents Coping Mechanism during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Adolescents are prone to psychological disorders due to theirpersonal nature that they cannot accept changes. It is further exacerbatedby the Covid-19 pandemic situation which requires all activities to be carriedout online from home.Purpose: This study aims to determine the relationship between stresslevels and coping mechanism in high school adolescents during the Covid-19pandemic in Halim Jakarta.Methods: Research design is a cross sectional used for adolescents aged15-19 years at SMA Negeri 67 Jakarta and SMA Angkasa 1. 342 sampleswere selected by using the quota sampling method. The measurementof stress levels is done by distributing the Perceived Stress Scale(PSS) questionnaire, while the coping mechanism uses the Brief Copequestionnaire. The research results include the results of univariate analysisand bivariate analysis with the Chi Square test.Results: The results of this study showed that there was a relationshipbetween stress levels and coping mechanism (p value 0.017), dysfunctionalcoping strategies (p value 0.000) in high school adolescents during theCovid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, there is no relationship between stresslevels and Emotion Focused Strategies (p value 0.703), and ProblemFocused Strategies (p value 0.816) in high school adolescents during theCovid-19 pandemic. The female adolescents are more dominant than maleadolescents. More respondents from class XII majoring in science are fromSMA Negeri 67 Jakarta. There are still teenagers with severe stress duringthe Covid-19 pandemic. There is a relationhip between stress levels withcoping mechanism and dysfunctional coping strategies. But the stress levelhas no relationship with Emotion Focused Strategies and Problem FocusedStrategies.Conclusion: The results of this study are expected to improve mentalhealth services through routine mental health screening and providingcounselling related to stress management in adolescents. Adolescents arealso expected to solve problems by optimizing the use of coping mechanism(Emotion Focused Strategies, Problem Focused Strategies) appropriatelyand avoiding the use of dysfunctional coping strategies.