Background

A trend of increased stress and deteriorating mental health of adolescents is a global challenge (Currier et al, 2012). Research shows that many adolescents report high levels of stress associated with an increased focus on school performance (Moknes et al, 2014). These demands generally have a stronger impact on girl’s health (Låftman & Modig, 2013) due to context and social construction of norms, values and beliefs about femininity and masculinity (Connell, 2002; Butler, 1999). The aim was to get a deeper understanding of girls and boys perceptions of how they handle demands and school-related stress.

Methods

This study has an explorative design and was analyzed by qualitative content analysis described by Graneheim and Lundman (2004). The participants were 42 adolescents 15 years old, interviewed in five focus groups, dived by gender from five randomly selected schools. Two additional gender mixed focus groups with 14 adolescents 15 years old, were recruited from two of the randomly selected schools.

Results

The results show that girls and boys handle school-related stress by using similar strategies, but in different ways. Girls express that they have to prioritize to deselect activities they use to do to handle demands from school, and boys prioritize their own activities to obtain strength to cope with demands. Girls often think about their future while boys more often live in present time, and don’t worry so much about the future. Girls receive social support and recovery from friends and family, while boys do various activities with their friends and family to get energy.

Conclusions

This study shows that girls and boys used different strategies to handle demand and school-related stress. The results are based on adolescent’s experiences and could therefore be an important foundation for interventions that promote adolescents capabilities to cope with increasing demands and to handle school-related stress.

Key messages:

• This study shows that girls and boys perceived and used different strategies to handle demand and school-related stress

• The result is an important foundation for interventions that promote adolescents capabilities to cope with increasing demands and to handle school-related stress

© The Author 2016.