Background:The mental ill-being among adolescents in Sweden is increasing. Stress is a risk factor for mental ill-being and girls experience more stress and negative symptoms of stress than boys. Objective:To investigate adolescents’ beliefs about, views on and experience of stress, causes for stress and highlight potential differences between the sexes. Method:An exploratory qualitative study. Four focus group interviews were conducted, two groups with girls and two with boys. There were 4-8 participants in each group, aged 14-16. Data was analyzed using latent content analysis. Orem’s theory of self-care deficit was used as a theoretical framework. Results:The analysis resulted in one main theme, “you have to believe in yourself in a surrounding full of demands”, which stands for the need of self-efficacy. The adolescents experienced stress due to different reasons, especially school. Boys emphasized that they handle things as they come, while girls were stressed by responsibility and excessive thinking. The adolescents had experienced stress and physical and psychological symptoms caused by it. Girls mentioned more frequent and serious symptoms, although they did not think it was worth sacrificing their health because of stress. The adolescents took significant responsibility for their coping, but they also needed support from others. They wanted a balance where stress is enough to motivate achievement but not a reason to lose capacity. Conclusion:The adolescents experienced stress as something mostly negative which they tried to cope with. School was a significant reason for stress, as well as own thoughts and other’s expectations. Girls experienced more stress and took more responsibility, while boys seemed to have an ability to handle things as they came. The student health care should offer support regarding gender, strengthen the adolescents’ self-efficacy and evaluate what is possible to achieve without risking one’s health. Demands from the environment should be compatible with a life free from stress-related ill-health. Keywords: adolescents, stress, gender and self-efficacy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-352604 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Hasselberg, Anette, Larsson, Lisa |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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