Styles of coping with stress in junior high school students living in the city and in the countryside

Introduction. Appropriate ways to cope with a difficult situations play a very important role during the childhood and adolescence. They are defense mechanisms which help to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of stressful events.

Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate ways of coping with stress junior high school students living in rural and urban areas.

Material and methods. The study was conducted in 2014 in two malone schools. The study group consisted of 160 students living in the city and in the countryside. There was used an estimation method, tool was sheet Scale How do you cope? made by Z. Juczyński and N. Ogińska-Bulik.

Results. Students from the city and the countryside in the most difficult situations were using the strategy of “Active coping”. The surveyed junior high school students, as a major source of stress situations claimed: “Problems at school” and “Problems with peers”. Place of residence of respondents did not affect of their situational and dispositional strategies for coping with stress.

Conclusion. The surveyed students chose the active response model. They were focused on the problem, they wanted to change the situation, using the skills and personal resources.

Nursing Topics 2015; 23 (2): 197–202