The effect methods to cope with stress in high school students on hopelessness and self-esteem

Purpose: Methods to cope with stress, which include specific behavioral and psychological efforts to fight against the adverse effects of events or factors that cause stress, are required to protect mental and physical health, and to maintain a productive and rich life. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of methods used to cope with stress by high school students on their hopelessness and self-esteem levels. Instruments and Method: The study was conducted on 204 students, who accepted to participate, at Sukru Pasa High School, located in the Erzurum Evren Pasa health center region. A questionnaire containing the descriptive information of students, the Strategies for Coping with Stress Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Respect Scale (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) were used to collect data for the study. Findings: 33.8% of the individuals included in the study were girls, and 66.2% were boys. The solving problem mean of students, obtained from coping with stress strategies, was higher than the seeking social support and avoidance score. The hopelessness score mean of the students was 6.95 +/- 3.25, and the self-esteem score mean was 19.43 +/- 3.89. According to the sub-scales of coping with stress strategies, gender (female students) has a significant effect on the difference in seeking social support and avoidance. For various strategies in coping with stress; a negative relationship was determined between problem solving and seeking social support and hopelessness; a significant positive relationship was determined between problem solving and self-esteem. Conclusion: The level of hopelessness was low, and the level of self-esteem was high in students who used effective methods in coping with stress; the most used method in coping with stress was problem solving.