Stress Confessed

Overview

Objectives/Goals I wanted to find out if 7th graders at my school are more stressed about academics, personal life, or current events. Methods/Materials The first thing I did was to do research on stress in children, using the internet, books, and an interview with a psychology professor from San Francisco State University. I decided that a survey would be the most effective way to find what caused the most stress among my peers. I designed a survey of 15 multiple choice questions and 4 open ended questions. I used 5 questions on each subject: academics, personal life, and current events. The multiple choice answers were "never", "sometimes" and "always." I distrubuted 250 surveys, of which 204 were returned fully completed, 98 males and 106 females, all 7th graders at my school. I tabulated all the surveys and analyzed the data using Excel graphs. Results Overall-The highest percent of "always" responses are in the academic category. The lowest amont of "never" responses are in the academics category. Academic questions-The question that had the highest response of "always" responses was big school projects(52%), then grades was the second highest(44%). Academics by gender-Females have the highest percent of "always" and "sometimes" responses combined. Males have the highest percent of "never" responses. Personal life and Current Events-The majority of the 7th graders at my school never feel stressed about mad cow disease, pollution, nuclear weapons in North Korea, budget cuts to school, too many non-school activities, or peer pressure. Conclusions/Discussion I found that overall students were most stressed about academics, then personal life, then current events. Within the category of of academics, they were most stressed about big school projects (like science fairs), and then grades. Also within academics I divided up the responces into gender. I found that girls had slightly more stress within each category than boys did based on responses of "always" and "sometimes" combined. There are many ways for a adult to help. But the most important thing for a teen to know is that adults are there for them and you will listen and not judge them or moralize.

Competition history

• CSEF 2004 Social Sciences (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1713

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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