Chandra Anita, Batada Ameena
RAND, 1200 South Hayes St, Arlington, VA 22202-5050, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2006 Apr;3(2):A40. Epub 2006 Mar 15.
Stress can have a significant effect on an adolescent's long-term physical and mental well-being. An understanding of the role of unmanaged stress during early adolescence is critical for the prevention of chronic diseases such as depression. The purpose of the Shifting the Lens study was to explore perceptions of stress, sources of social support, and use of coping strategies among urban African American ninth graders.
A youth-driven, mixed-method approach was used to assess teens' perceptions of stress. During the 2001-2002 school year, teen participants (N = 26) from East Baltimore, Md, completed questionnaires, audio journals, pile-sort activities, and personal social support network maps.
In contrast with existing literature that emphasizes the influence of violence and neighborhood factors on stress among teens, teens prioritized other sources of stress, particularly from school, friends, and family. For support, they relied on different individuals, depending on the source of the stress--friends for romantic relationship stress and family for job, school, and family stress. Sex differences in the coping styles of the participating teens were found. Girls reported more frequent use of support-seeking and active coping strategies than boys.
The use of multiple data collection strategies to explore stress uniquely contributes to our understanding of how one group of teens perceives and copes with stress. Future research should explore stress from the youth perspective in communities that are similar to East Baltimore, Md. In addition, programmatic recommendations include the need for sex-specific stress management activities and education about youth stress for adults. Community participatory translation interventions based on study findings, such as a youth-produced video and a resource guide for youth service providers, were implemented.
压力会对青少年的长期身心健康产生重大影响。了解青春期早期未得到管理的压力所起的作用对于预防抑郁症等慢性疾病至关重要。“转变视角”研究的目的是探讨城市非裔美国九年级学生对压力的认知、社会支持来源以及应对策略的使用情况。
采用一种由青少年主导的混合方法来评估青少年对压力的认知。在2001 - 2002学年，来自马里兰州东巴尔的摩的青少年参与者（N = 26）完成了问卷调查、音频日志、分类活动以及个人社会支持网络地图。
与现有强调暴力和邻里因素对青少年压力影响的文献不同，青少年将其他压力源列为优先事项，特别是来自学校、朋友和家庭的压力。对于支持，他们根据压力源依赖不同的人——因恋爱关系压力依赖朋友，因工作、学校和家庭压力依赖家人。研究发现参与的青少年在应对方式上存在性别差异。女孩比男孩更频繁地报告使用寻求支持和积极应对策略。
使用多种数据收集策略来探索压力，独特地有助于我们理解一组青少年如何感知和应对压力。未来的研究应从与马里兰州东巴尔的摩类似的社区中的青少年视角探索压力。此外，项目建议包括需要针对性别的压力管理活动以及对成年人进行关于青少年压力的教育。基于研究结果实施了社区参与性翻译干预措施，例如青少年制作的视频和针对青少年服务提供者的资源指南。
