Personal Development

Quarter 1–Module 9:
Identifying Cause and Effect
of Stress in One’s Life

CO_Q1_Personal Development SHS

Module 9
 What is It

Stress is a simple reaction to an input that disturbs our physical and mental
balance. It is ever-present in everyone’s life in various situations and activities.
Therefore, you are not exempted from experiencing stress.
Different people have different stresses. As a student, you, too, have various
stressors. These are the commonly cited causes of stress of the students:

• peers
• examinations
• making portfolios
• returning to study
• poor time management
• bullying
• overcrowding
• noise
• meeting the deadlines
• difficulty in organizing work
• various tasks from each subject
• leaving assignments to the last minute
• adjusting to life as senior high school students
• parents or problems at home
• balancing between family and school
• difficulties with personal relationships (e.g. infatuation, crushes)

The Good Stress and The Bad Stress

There are two types of stress, “eustress”, which is the term for positive stress
or good stress, and “dystress” which refers to negative stress or bad stress as cited
by Dr. Lazarus, building on Dr. Selye’s work. He said that there is distinction between
eustress and dystress. In everyday life, we always use the term "stress" to describe
negative situations. This directs many people to believe that all stress is bad for
people, which is not true. Eustress, or positive stress, can motivate someone to regain
enthusiasm in their endeavor, it can give excitement to revitalize performance.

Causes of Good Stress:

Good stress is the type of stress you feel when you are excited. Your hormones
surge high and your pulse quickens. You feel that you are far from stress.

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 The following are examples of good stresses:

• being promoted in the job

• having your first date
• becomes number one in your class or competitions
• receiving good commendations from family, friends, and relatives
• acquiring and possessing new gadgets
• during holiday seasons
• passing in your examinations
• meeting your old closest friends
• starting a new business
• additional allowance
• having outdoor activities together with your classmates
• jamming/bonding

Causes of Bad Stress:

It happens when you feel stressors that burden you and put you over a
seemingly hopeless situation which hinders your problem-solving capability. Chronic
stress is the response to emotions that bring pressure to an individual wherein they
think that they have little or no control on the situations. These stresses may cause
anxiety.
The following are the examples of bad stress:

• death of family members

• losing a job
• failed to submit a task on time
• hospitalization
• illness/sickness
• sleep problem
• abused / neglected
• bankruptcy/lack of finances
• separation of parents
• conflict with peers
• physical appearance
• being bullied
• sexual abuse
• traumatic experience
• dropping out of school
• lack of gadgets/ poor gadgets
• left behind from trend
• emotional problems
• unhappy home/broken family
• receive a reprimand from authority

The causes of stress, either positive or negative, have an impact on teenagers.

If you are overjoyed and you can’t contain the positive effects of stress, you may end
up facing a negative response.

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 According to George Essel and Patrick Owusu (2017) in their research on
“causes of students’ stress, its effects on their academic success, and stress
management by students”, there are different factors that cause stress among the
students. In the case of Environmental factors, worries about the future was the
main factor causing stress among students, whereas, class workload was the main
element of stress concerning to the Academic factors. In the category of Personal
factors, financial problems caused the most stress to students. The causes of stress
can affect many aspects of life.
Environmental factors of stress occur when an event or stimulus requires us
to change in some way that makes a change the living environment a stressful
experience. Apart from moving from home to school, commuting going to school,
bumping into new faces on campus, disorders from roommates, etc. is tensed
experience.
Academic factors of stress are the responsibilities related to work in school.
While in school students will certainly compound to a heavy academic load which is
bound to result in stress. Some factors that happen in the academic curriculum that
causes so much stress to students. So many things take place in the day-to-day
activities of the academic processes that make students stress up.
Physical factors of stress deal with health issues which are the concern of
everyone because bad health causes a lot of damage to the life of a person. In the life
of a student, health problems cause a lot of stress and this stress turns out to even
make the conditions worst by adding insult to injury. Stress can lead to physical
symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain,
and problems sleeping.

Emotional Factors of stress involve emotional problems (depression, anxiety,

anger, grief, guilt, low self-esteem) Taking care of an elderly or sick family member.
A traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, theft, rape, or violence against you or
a loved one. It may lead to chronic disease if not properly handled.

Effects of Stress
Most young people go through situations that cause stress. Most of the time,
these stressors pile up, affecting behavior once stress hits the individual. Whether
good or bad stress, both may result in developing good or bad effects. Since this is a
part of life, and everyone may experience it, there is a need for you to know the
different effects of these stressors.
Too much stress can affect your mood, behavior, action, performance, and
even your relationships. It is important to help yourself identify signs of stress, how
it affects you, and what you can do about it. The following are some examples of
positive stressors and negative stressors.
Some good effects of positive stress:
1. motivate individual to pursue his goal
2. create a positive effect in every human endeavor
3. boost someone’s morale
4. benefit good health / create good immune system
5. increases performance
6. become more responsible

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 7. handle things lightly
8. enhance memory
9. drive to surpass the previous achievement
10. improve decisions
11. help someone to grow more with a pleasant attitude
12. have a positive view for the future
Some of the bad effects of negative stress:
1. Depression
2. Aggressive behavior
3. Suicidal tendency
4. Involvement in fighting
5. Involvement in gambling
6. Taking alcohol and drugs
7. Early marriage
8. Peer pressure
9. Develop fatigue
10. Irritability
11. Withdrawal from people
12. Changes in sleeping and eating habit
What are some signs that a teen or adolescent is suffering from stress?
• Increased complaints of headache, stomachache, muscle pain
• Crying most of the time
• Withdrawal from people and activities
• Increased anger or irritability
• Feelings of hopelessness
• Chronic anxiety and nervousness
• Changes in sleeping and eating habits
• Lack concentration
• Experimentation with drugs or alcohol
• Hangouts with friends
Stress can be overcome through:
• Looking for someone to talk with like friends, family and relatives and
share your problems with them.
• Think positive that you can handle your stress.
• Take time to relax by exercising and having a workout.
• Do things that are important one at a time.
• Get proper sleep.
• Train your mind by thinking that all things will get well.
• Face your fears.
• Work on your worst scenario and expect that something good will
happen.
• Focus on what you can control and let go things that are incontrollable.
• Lower down your standard as long as it will not ruin your
plans/ambitions.
• Have a break and engage in enjoyable activities.
• Accept yourself as you are because you are peculiar.
• Identify your unique strengths and focus much on them.
• Remember that you are made for a reason and you are part of the
intricate plan of your creator.

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 Maturing into adolescence develops responsibility to handle. Mature people
develop the habit of extracting lessons from everyday experiences. Having lists of life
lessons will help someone realize their worth. Here are a few questions to jog your
memory and get started to do your list.
1. What Lesson do I get from my failures?
2. What taught me from lack of money?
3. What did I learn from pain, sorrow and depression?
4. What taught me through illness?
5. What did I learn from waiting?
6. What did I get from disappointment?
7. What did I learn from my family, friends, peers that help me grow?

What’s More

Activity 1.1 My Mirror

1. Identify at least 3 stressors you are currently experiencing. List them down in
the human image inside the mirror. Put an X mark opposite the stressor you
want to overcome.

MY MIRROR

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