ABSTRACT

The study was conducted on a sample of 110 teenagers (students and non-students) residing in different areas of Varanasi, India. The investigations have established significant relationship between the stress and undesirable and threatening environment. Also, coefficient of correlation between psychosocial stress and its psychological and behavioural outcomes was also assessed on Psychosocial Stress Questionnaire.

This study indicates that the teens belonging to urban middle and urban posh areas showed greater stress and there is no significant difference between male and female teens participants. Teenagers felt adhibhotik and adhyatmik stress, they were unable to cope the situations which resulted in anxiety, anger, depression, withdrawal and physical illness and they initiated towards unhealthy coping strategies such as drug and/or alcohol use.

INTRODUCTION

Stress occurs every time you have to adapt to a new situation. Every time your environment- your physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual surroundings- changes, you must change along with it and develop a new equilibrium with it. Your resilience, which is your capacity to roll with the punches and snap back to normal after even the lowest of bliss; is your immunity. As stress increases, strain on your immune system grows. When the strain becomes too great your immune protection fails and you develop an illness.

Behaviour is interpreted in terms of totality of an individual?s life style and total mind-body relationship in Ayurvedic literature. Going back to the Samkhya and Yoga system, it has been pointed out that there are two Sanskrit words klesha and dukha, which approximates stress. The Samkhya-Yoga system explains that the fundamental non-cognition, which leads to phenomenological stress, is avidya. This avidya leads to asmita (self-appraisal), raga (object-appraisal), dvesha (threat-appraisal) and abhinivesa (coping-orientation). These three appraisals, namely, those concerning the self, the object and the threat are used for reality testing. Faulty evaluation in either or all of these can produce stress and torment.

The Samkhya system postulates that the feeling of dukha or stress is experienced by the individual in the course of his interaction with the world around him. This system mentions three types of stresses: adhyatmik (personal), adhibhotik (situational) and adhidehik (environmental). Personal stresses are of two types, namely, physiological and psychological (mental). Psychological stresses are caused by emotional states, lust, hatred, greed, fear, jealousy and depression, low self esteem, not knowing or following one?s life purpose, lacking spirituality in life, etc. Physiological stresses are born out of imbalances between the three fundamental physiologic constituents, namely, vata, pitta and kapha. Situational stresses are usually caused by ?unwholesome interpersonal transactions?, which may include conflicts, competitiveness, aggression etc. The third type of stresses, namely, environmental stresses are occasional by natural calamities, extremes of temperatures, storms etc. The abhinivesa indicates the commencement of coping behaviours in a proper response sequence.

In view of the ancient philosophy of ?Mind-Body Relationship? it may be hypothesized that the teenagers who experience stress in difficult/painful situations, bodily changes, school demands and under threat of their family members, that they take the initiative towards wrong (unhealthy) methods to cope up of such stress phenomena and the conversion symptoms of ill health resulted from their behaviours and environment.

METHODOLOGY

Sample:

One hundred and ten subjects were taken for this study. The participants were students and non-students residing in rural, urban middle, urban posh and urban slum areas in Varanasi, India. The sample comprises equal number of males and females in the age range of 13-19 years.

Materials:

 Psychosocial Stress Questionnaire developed and standardised by authors in Shalya-Shalakya Deptt.,B.H.U., Varanasi, India.

Procedure:

The essence of the study being psychological, initially good rapport was established with the participants and gained their confidence prior to the administration of the Psychosocial Stress Questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises 40 items, assessing the extent of various psychosocial stressors and the coping strategies. The items on the questionnaire were rated on the four-point scale. The questionnaire is a self-administering, but in the case of illiterate participants, the items were read out one by one and were asked to respond for each item in the form of not at all, little/mild/sometimes, moderate/many times, severe/often. The participants were allowed to have their own time for completing the questionnaire.

The scores on the stress questionnaire obtained by the participants of two samples were analysed to examine the significant difference between the males and females experienced stress and the method of coping, also the correlation between the psychosocial stress and their behavioural and health outcomes.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

The analysis revealed that the respondents belonging to urban middle class experienced maximum stress while urban posh group experienced least amount of stress in their day-to-day life. No significant difference could be observed in magnitude of psychosocial stress experienced by rural and slum groups.

It was noted that prominent stressors were more or less common to both male and female participants. They felt common stress on responsibilities within family, strained interpersonal relationship, within social or peer groups, chronic illness and threat to social position. In particular, examination and punishment from teachers were prominent situations which caused moderate or severe stress to majority of students (Table-1), while the problems relating to occupation, pressure of anti-social elements and lack of social and emotional support caused moderate or severe stress to non-students male teenagers. A large number of female non-student teenagers reported experiencing high stress due to the problems relating to food and clothing, lack of fair deal from family and problems relating housing (Table-2).

More girls, than boys, tended to withdraw or give up or show vague aches and pains. Pre-menstrual syndrome was most common to them. Besides, this is the age of bodily changes; sexual organs begin to function, which is very stressful to them. They showed more emotional symptoms than boys. Ptacek et al & Conger et al (1992) have reported that women are at a greater risk for depression and anxiety while men consume more alcohol or drug under stress.

When they felt adhibhotik (situational) such as conflicts, competitiveness, unwholesome interpersonal transactions and adhyatmik (personal) stress such as greed for buying things, lust, anger, jealousy in their peer or social groups, they were unable to cope the situations or inadequately managed stress resulted to anxiety, withdrawal, physical illness or unhealthy coping skills such as drug and/or alcohol use. Large number investigations have reported that one major form of coping with stress is increase in smoking, or drug abuse (Greenberg et al, 1995; Barnes et al, 1994; Cooper et al, 1990).

If such a situation is continue for a long time, the person fails or adapt himself and then he starts getting the manifestations of psychosomatic changes one by one. At first he gets psychic changes such as irritability, nervousness, sleeplessness, palpitation and increased pulse rate. Stress does suppress the immune system; latent viruses then have an easier time resurging, since their body cannot defend itself well (Brosschot et al, 1994).

But at the same time, a person falls a victim to any of stress disease, depends upon their genetic factors, psychosomatic constitution and the various environmental factors such as nutritional status, habit, climate, nature of work etc. Klesha or stress is prosupta or dormant but in right types of conditions the dormant stress became the stressor (examination time or seeking the job). The various stressors that experienced severe for boys, in the case of girls, it became weak stressors.  They were present but without sufficient intensity or urgency such as problem related to occupation or fear from police or pressure from anti-social elements etc. Besides, they felt severe stress because of responsibilities or over expectations from /within family, but the stressor got vichchinna or intercepted, because lack of continuity due to conflict with competing responses. So if the high or intense situation is present then the other stressors alternate between levels of ?high operation? to ?dormant?. The expression of aggressiveness, anger, anxiety and conversion symptoms of ill health is the udara or operative stressors, which have found clearly in their behavioural modes.

However, the findings of the present study provide only a background and insight to plan further investigation in this direction. Further studies will prove the reliability of the findings of the present study, which not only helps the individual in understanding his own stresses but also leads him to the roots of these stresses. The researchers must also ascertain whether these behavioural and psychological outcomes of the teenagers are the cause of their psychosocial stressors or their physiological changes effect their psychology.

TABLE-1
Percentage of Teenagers Students with Moderate or Severe Stress

?         Percentage is significantly higher for the group than that of the opposite sex groups

TABLE-2

Percentage of Teenagers Non-Students with Moderate or Severe Stress

 ?     Percentage is significantly higher for the group than of the opposite sex groups

                                                                  TABLE-3

Relationship (Coefficient of Correlation) between Psycho-Social stress and its Psychological and Behavioural Outcomes

 ** P<0.01,  * P< 0.05

REFERENCES

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Brosschot, Jos F.; Benschop, Robert J.; Godaert, L.R.; Oliff, Miranda et al(1994): Influence of life stress on immunological reactivity to mild psychological stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 56/3, 216-224.

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