Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 371

2nd International Workshop on Education Reform and Social Sciences (ERSS 2019)

Analysis of Psychological Stress Sources of High School

Students and Relevant Countermeasures
Weizhou Yuan
Chongqing Foreign Language School, China
Abstract. Based on referring to the literature related to the psychological stress sources of high
school students and its relevant countermeasures, and taking W school as an example, this paper
investigates and analyzes the stress sources of the students from four classes in the second grade,
aiming at putting forward diplomatic suggestions with respect to the psychological stress of high
school students so as to help them study and develop in a better way. The research object of this
paper is high school students in a key senior high school. It is found from questionnaires and
interviews that the factors that lead to high school students' stress in their mind include stresses
from study, school, teachers, family and the society. In terms of the stress source, this paper will
analyze the following aspects including the students themselves, the school, the teachers, the
family and the society.

Keywords: high school students; psychological stress; study stress; countermeasure.

1. Introduction
High school life is the most important and special development stage in everyone's life. On the
one hand, facing the decisive and important college entrance examination, high school students are
sufferring from both physical and mental stress. On the other hand, high school students are in an
important period with physiological and psychological changes, which surely lead to their stress
objectively. High school students tend to have mental confusion and upset easily caused by the
following factors including high school courses, study competition, enterance to a higher school, as
well as high expectations of parents and teachers and interpersonal communication. For high school
students, there is no doubt that this stage plays an important role in the whole life stage, therefore, it
has become a major factor affecting the physical and mental health development of high school
students to deal with and relieve more and more stress by themselves or with the help of others.

2. Literature Review
Since study is the most important thing for high school students and study stress is caused by the
interaction of internal and external factors, this study defines stydt stress as the stress caused by
internal and external factors that make individuals feel nervous in learning activities.
2.1 Research on Study Stress
Based on referring to the literature, it is found that most of the literature focused on the analysis of
the sources of study stress. Guo xiaohui divided the sources of study stress into internal and external
causes [1]. Some scholars believe that the study stress of high school students mainly comes from the
outside world, namely teachers and parents. Through investigation and research, Zhang Xiaoling and
Du Xueyuan divided study stress into interpersonal communication in society, school, family,
teachers and classes [2]. According to Lou Weiqun and Qi Yi, the stress of high school students is
caused by their poor performance in exams, falling behind other students in study, whether they can
be admitted to university or not, striving for good ranking in exams and their parents' expectation [3].
According to the stress source, in 2004, Chen Xu divided the study stress of high school students into
task and requirement stress, the stress of competition, setbacks, expectation stress and development
stress [4]. According to a lot of statistical analysis, study stress has significantly affected the mental
health of primary and middle school students. The author analyzes the literature and found that the
study of high school students' psychological stress in China has been studied in many aspects,
including the relationship between study stress and mental health, the relationship between study

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

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 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 371

stress and learning efficiency, and the strategies to deal with psychological study pressure. Different
research focuses on different points. Learning from the previous research results, this study tries to
comprehensively analyze the sources and causes of psychological study stress of high school students
by means of questionnaires and interviews, especially pay attention to the development of high school
students, so as to fundamentally alleviate the excessive psychological study stress of high school
students.
2.2 Research on the Psychological Stress Sources
The influncing factors of study stress in An Investigation on Middle School Students Academic
Stress written by Zhao Lixia and Yuan Lin [5] and Cao Shu's Study Stress of Middle school Students
and Adjustment Methods divide the stress sources of middle school students into seven dimensions:
study, teacher, family environment, parenting style, relationship between classmates and friends,
social and cultural issues, and physical and psychological problems [6]. According to Lou Weiqun
and Qi Yi, the stress of high school students is caused by their poor performance in exams, falling
behind other students in study, whether they can be admitted to university or not, striving for good
ranking in exams and their parents' expectation [3]. Zheng Quanquan et al proposed that it requires
the joint efforts of schools, society and families to improve the comprehensive quality of students
under the new situation, to look at the problem from the perspective of connection, and to adopt a
multi-pronged approach to effectively reduce the psychological stress of students so as to promote
the all-round development of students. [7] Lv Xing proposed countermeasures to alleviate the stress
of primary and secondary school students, analyzed the current situation and causes of study stress in
primary and secondary schools, and provided some basis for building a "benign stress state" of school
life [8] Jing Shijie and Le Guoan studied the relationship between stress, coping strategies and health
with the stress coping stratedy as an intermediate variable between stress experience and health [9]
2.3 Research on Psychological Stress and Mental Health
Zheng Linke, Wan Liping and Li Zhiqiang conducted a sample survey of 280 primary and
secondary school students with the Student Health Investigation Questionnaire (SHIQ). SPSS
statistical package was used to compare girl and boy students, and to conduct linear regression
analysis of study stress and multiple mental and physical health. In modern social life, people feel
more and more unprecedented tension and stress, which do harm to people’s physical and mental
health. Therefore, Lin Chunmei believes that the relationship between psychological stress and health
deserves widespread attention and attention [11].

3. Stress Source Analysis

This study investigated the sources of psychological stress in a key high school in Chongqing, w
high school, and selected two ordinary classes and two key classes in the second grade, a total of 208
people, to understand the current situation of psychological stress in the second-year students. There
are questionnaires delivered, questionnaires returned with valid questionnaires.
Secondly, interviews were conducted with some students from four classes in the second grade, which
mainly aims to understand the stresss of the second-year students and how they expected to alleviate
these stresss.
3.1 Status of Psychological Stress of High School Students
3.1.1 Study Stress
According to the questionnaire analysis, among the four classes, 65% are girl students, 35% are
boy students, 46% are only children, 54% are non-only children, 70% currently live in urban areas,
30% in suburban areas, 89% live in schools, and 11% don’t live in schools. It can be found from the
analysis of the study stress, 31% of high school students think that their relative study stress is
relatively small. Trough the interview, it is found that such students have certain confidence in their
performance and learning ability. The reason is that students think they suffer from great stress,

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however, they think it's good for their future and don't regard stress as a drag on study or life. Specific
data show that for high school students, mathematics causes students the most stress, accounting for
41%, and stress from Chinese, English, Literature Arts Comprehensive, Science Comprehensive is
more balanced. According to interview, it is found that students generally attach importance to
mathematics, so the stress of this single subject is mainly from the fierce competition of students
around.

Fig 1. Mathematics is most valued by students

In terms of learning attitude, 33% of high school students said they would just do their best, 20%
of high school students thought they had to study hard and achieve something, and 16% of them held
an indifferent attitude. On the one hand, they think that learning well does not mean that they will
develop well in the future, on the other hand, the superiority of the family environment makes them
feel that whether they study well or not has nothing to do with the quality of life and the future of
development. 30% of the students held other views. According to the data, 46% of the students do
not think study is their only way out. According to the interview, these students generally have good
second language ability or excel in art, therefore, studying abroad or taking art exams have become
their other way out in addition to the college entrance examination. After failing the exams, 33% of
the students will continue to study, and 30% think they should work harder, and 21% will lose
confidence. It is obvious that the exams will have a relatively huge effect on the students. When it is
difficult to raise scores in a short time, 31% have extreme stress, 23% have great stress, 20% have
general stress, and 24% have less stress. The data here is not consistent with the data of 10 questions
in the questionnaire, students reported low levels of stress in 10questions, and the data here show that
they do have high levels of stress. The reason is that students think they have great stress, but they
think this stress is good for their future, so they do not regard stress as a drag on study or life.
3.1.2 Stress from School
According to the questionnaire analysis, 41% of students think the school's external environment
is relativre good, but 32% of students think it is poor, 27% of students are neutral. 36% of students
thought the school had a relatively good learning environment, while 31% thought it was bad. In
terms of food and accomandation, 31% of students think it is good, but 47% of students think it is
bad. 40% of students think the school's food and accomandation conditions have a big impact on
students, and 33 % of students think it will have little impact. According to Maslow's hierarchy of
needs, the demand for low-level demand, such as eating and drinking, is not met, so there is no way
to satisfy the higher-level needs. Therefore, the dormitory and canteen environment of the school
does have a great impact on students. 94% of students know that the school has a counseling room,
but 6% of students do not know. Acocording to interviews, it is known that some students do not care
whether the school has set up a psychological counseling room, because they may not seek the help
of teachers to alleviate all aspects of the stress. It is known that W High School attaches great
importance to the mental health of high school students in school, and will actively carry out various

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extracurricular activities to enrich students'extracurricular life, so as to alleviate students' academic

stress.

Fig 2. Stress from school

3.1.3 Stress from Teachers
According to the questionnaire survey, 36% of the students think that the teacher cares about them,
but 42% of the students think that the teacher doesn't care about them. The reason for this situation is
that students think that the teachers like those who have good performance, and don’t care about those
with poor performance. Moreover, 55% of the students don't want to get the attention of the teacher
because they are more accustomed to self-learning. If they get too much attention from the teacher,
their study efficiency will decrease instead. Through the investigation on the students' favorite teacher
and the subject he teaches, it is found that there is no relation between the teacher's love and his
teaching subject. Interviews show that students prefer teachers who are closer to them and have
conversations with them, and that such approachable teachers generally teach students with good
performance. 38% of the students like the teacher to be gentler, followed by a preference for a teacher
who is a gentle and friendly. Through the investigation, it is found that the teacher has the
comprehensive quality request to the student, but the school only has the achievement to the student
request.
3.1.4 Sterss from Family
44% of students thought their families were bad, and 63 % of parents had high expectations of
them, so stress from family had a big impact on students. 51% of students do not communicate with
their parents very often, 30% is about physical condition, and 24% is the school anecdote. Students
and parents have not established a good way of communication, so students lose an emotional way,
so that students' stress can not be relieved. On the other hand, parents are aware of some of the stress
of their students, but they are more worried about whether stress will cause health problems.
3.1.5 Sterss from the Society
According to the investigation and survey, 28% of students believe that they can adapt to society,
34% of students cannot make sure, and 38% of students don’t think that they can adapt well to society.
It indicates that they are very sensitive to the stress from society. Compared with education,
experience, comprehensive quality and so on, 58% of students think that interpersonal relationship
will have a greater impact on their future development..
In conclusion, study stress is still what gives students more trouble, followed by teachers and
families. Students can realize that they are facing tremendous stress, but they think that this stress is
acceptable. Although they try to deal with stress, their effective ways are almost limited to students
and networks. Therefore, if there is more help from school and family, students'stress will be relieved
more quickly and effectively.

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4. Coping Strategies of Psychological Stress for High School Students

To solve the psychological stress of high school students, the author believes that first of all, it is
necessary to adjust one’s own state and learn the correct attribution, so as to alleviate the
psychological stress in study; secondly, schools, teachers and parents should give sufficient support
and understanding to students; social culture should establish a positive side and guide students
correctly.
4.1 Adjust One's State of Mind to Relieve the Stress of Study.
The most important thing for high school students is study, therefore, the academic performance
is of importance for students. In the face of changes in performance, it is important for students to
learn correct attribution. Attribution is people's evaluation of their own or other people's activities
and the reasons for their results. In study, each of us will experience success and failure, and will also
look for the reasons for failure, which is the attribution of achievement behavior. American
psychologist Wiener explored the attribution of behavioral outcome and divided the attribution into
three dimensions: internal attribution and external attribution, stable attribution and unstable
attribution, controllable attribution and uncontrollable attribution. He also attributed the success or
failure of human activities to six factors: the level of ability, the degree of effort, the difficulty of the
task, good or bad luck, physical and mental state and the external environment [12]. When an
individual attribute his success to internal factors such as ability and effort, he will feel proud, satisfied
and confident [13]. Individuals tend to be less satisfied when they attribute success to external factors
such as ease of task and good luck.
Different attributions play different roles in students' motivation and enthusiasm. Correct
attribution is beneficial to stimulating students' motivation and improving their enthusiasm for
learning. At the same time, it can maintain students' psychological balance. When students make
positive attributions, it is necessary to give timely positive response and positive reinforcement. When
students make negative attributions, it is necessary to help student correct it, so as to make students
form correct attribution tendencies. Therefore, it is very important for high school students to learn
comprehensive attribution. First, teachers should guide students to make a comprehensive analysis of
their own situation, guide them to make a comprehensive analysis of unstable factors that are easier
to control, such as personal efforts and other factors, then arrange students to fill in attribution scale,
and evaluate the degree of the role played by several major factors. Finally, statistical analysis should
be conducted to find out the main reasons, and measures should be taken to actively attribute the
causes. When success is achieved in study, it can be attributed to own efforts in order to inspire
oneself to continue to work hard to achieve futher success; it can also be attributed to one’s own
ability so as to generate a certain sense of satisfaction and enhance confidence of successful study,
however, it should be noted that this point cannot be over-emphasized.
4.2 Psychological Support for Students from Schools and Teachers
Schools are required to pay attention to the mental health education of high school students, so as
to prevent the discomfort caused by students' psychological stress by consciously popularizing mental
health knowledge through formal mental health education courses. It is very necessary to provide
regular psychological training for parents and teachers. Since the head teacher and teachers of various
subjects have the most direct contact with students, students are very sensitive to teachers' words,
deeds and attitudes. It is found in many researches that teachers' mental health has a very important
impact on high school students. Therefore, teachers' psychological activity training should be
strengthened in order to reduce the occurrence of teacher-induced psychological problems. Two
phenomena are found in the study through interview with high school teachers. One is that when
teachers help students analyze their learning situation, they will cause students great psychological
stresss. The other one is that many high school students are considered to have no stress. Teachers
cannot understand why they don’t have stress so that they exert stress on students involuntarily. As a
result, teachers have gradually become a source of stress for students The strategy to solve this
problem is to deeply study psychological knowledge and technology so as to better understand the

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psychological state of students, and then accurately help students find targeted ways to relieve
psychological stress with psychological thoughts and methods. At the same time, the author thinks
that it’s better not to make high school students become those who can only study. In addition, if
emotional education is integrated into education, it may be easier for teachers to wim recognition and
acceptance of students, and to gain surprising educational effects.
4.3 Parents’ Support for High School Students
It is found in the study through interview with teachers and students that the psychological stress
of high school students comes partly from parents and families. Generally specking, parents have
very high expectations of their children, which reflects the Chinese parents' idea to expect their
children to have a bright future. However, this expectation may not be suitable for the actual situation
of students. Parents encourage their children to study hard in their own ways without thinking about
whether the children need this or not. Therefore, it is necessary for parents to understand and try their
best to understand the needs of their children in all aspects, and reduce unreasonable stress on their
children based on the actual situation.
The first social environment that individuals come into contact with is the family, and family
education has a great effect on individual growth. The well-known educator Sukhumlinsky believes
that everything about the individual comes from the mother. The mother's birth and education make
a unique person, while the father needs to protect the soul of the child with his own actions. Although
families may not be able to give their children professional knowledge, families are schools of love
and it is necessary to create a healthy educational environment for high school students. It is a way to
relieve Children’s psychological stress to adjust educational concepts and methods, get along with
children in an equal and democratic way, carefully observe and listen to children's confusion, and let
children actively seek family support with effective communication, understanding and patience.
Parents should first make their children understand that sometimes parents' criticism and guidance
are response to their behavior instead of them. Scholars Dai Bibing et al verified the conclusion
through investigation and research that the greater the study stress is, the worse the self-concept is
and the better the social support is, the better the self-concept is. Therefore, objective and reasonable
evaluation from parents is of great importance for children. Parents should strongly support high
school students by giving them psychological support.
4.4 Active Guidance from Social Culture
It can be seen from the studies of psychological stress that high school students can also have a
variety of psychological stresses, and social culture plays a subtle role in the process of relieving
stress. Although a large amount of information in daily life expands the knowledge of high school
students and improves their view, sometimes it also increases the bad temptation. In the face of the
fact that it is impossible to completely prevent high school students from contacting negative culture,
in addition to reducing the influence of bad culture on society to the greatest extent, it is also necessary
to make mainstream social culture try to absorb more positive content. At the same time, it is
necessary for school teachers to objectively analyze the possible harm of bad behaviors caused by
bad culture to high school students, clearly show the difference between excellent culture and bad
culture, and guide high school students to consciously choose excellent culture. With the help of
current science and technology and network technology, the society can make full use of its own huge
resources to do something to alleviate the psychological stress of high school students, such as
vigorously supporting and encouraging psychological workers with psychological background, using
self-media to convey and specialize mental health knowledge that meets the tastes of young people,
and providing a reliable network environment for students to study self-help psychology so that
students can use their time out of school to focus on these relevant cases to help themselves.

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