Philippine E-Journals

TOP STRESSORS AND COMMONLY USED DEFENSE MECHANISM OF STUDENTS

April Riza Laput | Joy Gulmayo | Lyndon Ragodos | Donnabelle Castro

 

Abstract:

Every person experiences stress whether within the family, school or any work. One way to cope with stress is the use of defense mechanism that are unconscious means to protect oneself from unpleasant emotions. The goal of this study is two-pronged: first, is to identify the top stressors to students in the areas of academics, family and close relationship; second is to determine their commonly used defense mechanisms in handling stress. Descriptive survey method was employed wherein validated researcher made questionnaire was used in collecting data from respondents composed of 319 3rd-year students of the University of the Immaculate Conception. The findings revealed that the top stressors to the students are low grades, financial hardship and immediate changes in the areas of academics, family and close relationship, respectively, where projection, rationalization and reaction-formation are the most commonly used defense mechanisms by the respondent, correspondingly. Overall percentage had show that most of the respondents handle stress by rationalization, implying that they explained stressful situation logically with false or different reasons to avoid real painful explanation.