Stress Level And Adversity Quotient Among Student-Mothers
Introduction
Motherhood is a noble status of life giving birth to a child. It is coupled with tremendous tasks of bringing up the child to be a responsible member of the society. Motherhood is a duty to mold a child to be a physically and spiritually strong individual. Hence, a mother strives to perform her tasks almost a perfect. No place, time and odds can stop her to do her job to the best for the welfare of her child.
In spite of many complexities, some mothers return to college for varied reasons, maybe the desires to improve oneself professionally, socially and/or financially. A student-mother is faced with jobs in the home and in the school, 24 hours, and seven days a week which may have duration of four years. School and home are equal, no side can be neglected. Both are very important to a student-mother.
There is no denying that returning to school as a parent is challenging. College parents face a variety of unique challenges. Finding a perfect balance between family and school while attending to household and school responsibilities can be stressful. She will find difficulties in managing her time.
Study is the stage of formal learning by means of which the individual undergoes changes in behavior though the achievement of knowledge, facts and information, and the establishment of desirable habits, skills, attitudes and appreciation in an efficient and economic way. The major task of a teacher is to motivate, encourage and assist students in effective study, to provide a strong motive and direct students in such a way that they may obtain good academic performance.
The life of a student-mothers can be very busy. In addition to parenting and taking care of home, some may be working before going to school. The juggle of caring for their child, expenses, shortage of quality time with children, balance work and home duties, and economic struggles are among the seemingly endless problems the family must solve. Student-mothers are faced with stresses that they cannot run away from because of their families.
The concept of stress has been identified as being a major source of health problem and poor sense of well-being among all age-group. For some individuals, stress can be helpful in meeting new challenges, while for some who are persistently experiencing high and unrelieved stress can lead to psychological, physical, and behavioral problems.
The body’s sympathetic nervous system is affected by short term stress leading to behavior change with increased arousal and alertness. However with long-term exposure to stress, an individual’s eating, sleeping, drinking, smoking, physical activity and social functioning can be disrupted. We cannot get rid of the fact that people are surrounded by life-challenging situations and stressful conditions.
These student- mothers are often working parents because they know that they need to earn money to buy food, clothing, other family expenses and a place to live. The ability to provide these things and being a student parent is not easy since they need to fulfill both obligations at one time: taking care of the kids, house, and school and pay their bills. They also should be able to have the ability to see if their children can already take care of themselves. But, they always need to move on even its really hard, they have to be strong in order to live despite of the complexities of raising children.
Adversity quotient is a measure of how a person responds to adversity (change and challenges). It provides the tools for improving how people respond and thus overall professional effectiveness. According to Stoltz, the Adversity Quotient (AQ), is the science of human resilience. AQ measures one’s ability to prevail in the face of adversity. A person who uses AQ successfully easily surpasses the big and small challenges that confront us every day. Stoltz said that life is like mountain climbing and that people are born with a core human drive to ascend. Ascending means moving toward one’s purpose no matter what the goals are.
At present, the burden is greater if the mother is also a student like her children because it is the mother who takes the bigger role in the growth of a child. The multiple roles played of a mother and a student at the same time is never easy. It is of significant interest to the researcher because of her work as a program head and as a Guidance Counselor, wherein mothers are often very worried about their children and at the same time worried about how they will excel in their classes. They are also sharing their struggles as student- mothers who are studying at the same time. These situations motivated the researcher to conduct this study. It was the researcher’s great desire to conduct a study about student- mothers in order to extend them help by understanding their situations. Hence, this study was conceived to determine the Stress Level and Adversity Quotient of Student-mothers.
Objectives of the Study
The study will be conducted to identify the profile of the student- mothers in terms of age, number of children, number of years as a parent and who supports their studies; assess the student- mothers’ stress level and adversity quotient; determine the significant difference of stress level and adversity quotient of student- mothers when grouped according to profile variables; and determine the best predictor of stress level and adversity quotient. Moreover, this research endeavored to test significant relationship between the Adversity Quotient and Stress Level of Student- mothers. Lastly, it aimed to propose a stress management program for student-mothers for them to cope with their stress and adversities in life.
Statement of the Problem
This study aims to determine the stress level and adversity quotient of student- mothers’ of the College of Teacher Education of Occidental Mindoro State College. Specifically, the researcher seek to answer the following questions:
- What is the profile of the student- mothers in terms of : number of children; number of years as a parent; and reasons for returning to school?
- What is the student- mothers’ stress level?
- What is the student- mothers’ adversity quotient level?
- Is there significant difference between the stress level and adversity quotient of student- mothers when grouped according to profile variables?
- What is the best predictor of stress level and adversity quotient of student-mothers?
- Is there a significant relationship between the Adversity Quotient and Stress Level of Student- mothers?
Methods
Research Design
The researcher will use descriptive research design to better facilitate the study and to achieve best possible results. The descriptive research design is most suitable to employ to assess the demographic profile and the variables of the study (Stress Level and Adversity Quotient). It will also determine the significant differences of the mentioned variables when grouped according to profile.
References:
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Davinson, S. 2012. The role of stressful life events. Health Psychology, Sept., 1-32.
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Doctoral dissertation, Texas Woman’s University, Denton Schimelpfening, F. 2011. Unsung heroines: Single mothers and the American Dream Women and Language.
Urbana: Fall 2011. Vol. 30, Iss. 2; p. 42
Stoltz, P.G. 2010. Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Stoltz, P.G. 2009. http://www.peaklearning.com/aq-you_basics.php. retrieved: March, 2015
