Psychological topics, Vol. 16 No. 1, 2007.
Original scientific paper
School failure coping patterns, light drugs consumption and extracurricular activities of high school students
Petra Anić
; Odsjek za psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci
Ingrid Brdar
; Odsjek za psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine classification of subjects into groups considering different coping patterns when confronted with poor school grade, and to compare those groups in some characteristics (school success, self-esteem, anxiety, extracurricular activities and consumption of some drugs).
270 high school students (75 males and 192 females) participated in this study, with mean age of 17.19 years. Students were classified in 4 groups considering the way they cope with school failure. Groups are labelled: Forgetting,
Problem and support, Low and Emotion and support.
First group consists of students prone to the use of forgetting as a way of coping. They consume more alcohol drinks than other groups, but this difference is significant only when compared to the group labelled “Problem and support”. In “Forgetting” group bad grade is appraised as less stressful than in any other group. Second group students are directed to solve the problem and to search for social support in stress situations. They have high self-esteem; rarely consume alcohol drinks and soft drugs. Also, they spend more free time in cultural activities and with their siblings. Third group students (labelled “Low”) rarely use any of the given strategies; bad grade is not considered so stressful, their self-esteem is high, and anxiety is low. This group is mostly preoccupied with the sports; they are outdoors the least and spend small amounts of time in cultural activities. For students in the fourth group, who mostly use emotions and support, acquiring a bad grade is considerably more stressful than for students in any other group. They have the highest anxiety rate, the lowest self-esteem, and their consumption of soft drugs is higher than in the other groups. They also smoke a lot and spend their time outdoors with their friends, with no defined activities.
Keywords
coping with stress; light drugs; extracurricular (free time) activities; adolescents
Hrčak ID:
20521
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2007.
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