Factors Influencing Stress:A Study on Higher Secondary School Students of Udumalpet Tamil Nadu

The study conducted during 2016-17, investigated the factors influencing stress among the higher secondary students of a private school in Udumalpet Taluk (Tirupur District) of Tamil Nadu. Simple random technique was used to select a sample of 60 respondents. Descriptive statistics was employed to calculate Weighted Average Scores (WAS), which were ranked to find out the level of influence of various factors causing stress among the students. Besides, looking into the relationship with other people fight with family and friends (WAS=3.10) was the most influencing stress factor among students, followed by family problems (WAS=2.57) and frustration due to misunderstandings (WAS=2.37). Whereas, work pressure (WAS=3.15), change in sleeping habits (WAS=2.57) and financial difficulties (WAS=2.57) were the highly influencing personal factors. The academic factors include, increased class workload (WAS=3.33) and lack of university support (WAS=2.57). In addition, lack of vacations / break (WAS=3.17) and divorce between parents (WAS=3.03) remained a serious cause of stress among the environmental factors. The study concluded that, among the factors influencing stress, increased class work load (WAS=3.33) and lack of vacation or break (WAS=3.32) were the major cause for stress among the students. On the other hand, change in eating habits (WAS=1.90), missing lectures (WAS=1.90), lower grades (WAS=2.00) andnew responsibilities (WAS=2.00) have not influenced the most. So, curriculum might be framed in such a way that, it does not feel burdensome for the students with timely intervals and vacations, which might help in refreshing the students themselves from their work load.