EFFECTS OF OPTIMISM TO THE LEVEL OF STRESS OF THE STUDENTS IN UCC AGED BETWEEN 13- 19 YEARS

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INTRODUCTION

“Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.” – Victor Hugo, les Misérables (1862). This statement
shows how optimism works, optimism is the tendency to be hopeful and to emphasize or think of the good
part in a situation rather than the bad part, or the feeling that in the future good things are more likely to
happen than bad things. The term "optimism" refers to an emotional and psychological perspective on life. It
is a positive frame of mind and means that a person takes the view of expecting the best outcome from any
given situation. An optimistic person is one who sees the glass as 'half-full' instead of 'half-empty'. The
researcher’s study is all about the Effects of Optimism to The Level of stress of the Students in UCC Aged
Between 13-19 years old. Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response.
The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Stress is a normal part of
life. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. Even positive life
changes such as a promotion, a mortgage, or the birth of a child produce stress.
Stress is an integral part of our life. Stress could be positive as well as negative. When we are doing our work
properly and systematically then it is because of positive stress or eustress but when we lose our rhythm for
same work, it is negative stress or distress. So, stress is good in one way and bad in other way.

The researchers will conduct this research, because we as the researchers want to know the effect of being
optimist and at the same time suffering from stress of the students under the age of 13-19 years old.
According to a Case study about Teenage stress, it is obvious that teenagers are mostly the ones who
experiencing stress, because they worry about everything and treat everything seriously. No wonder, teenage
stress more often appears because of the relationship problems, troubles with parents, friends, school,
classmates and difficult homework. The purpose of this research is to know if being optimist can lessen their
stress and also help them to know how ease their stress.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This research aims the ff:

To determine the effects the purpose of this study is to determine what are the possible effects of being
optimism to the level of stress of a student for we to know if optimism can help or lessen the stress of a
student. This study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the effect of optimism to the level of stress of students?

2. Does being optimist can lessen the stress of a teenager?

3. What are the main sources of stress of a teenager student?

OBEJECTIVE

1. of optimism to the level of stress of students.

The theoretical support for this study is about the optimism and stress. Winston Churchill once said, "A
pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Research shows that, on average, human beings are hardwired to be more optimistic than not. It's an
admirable quality, one that can positively affect a person’s mental and physical health. Optimism can also help
reduce a person’s stress and increase longevity. Some optimists consistently ascribe benevolent motives to
others and interpret situations in the best possible light; others simply disassociate their internal mood from
external circumstances, no matter how sticky. Being optimistic is not necessarily always the "best" strategy,
though. Research shows that tempering a sunny disposition with a small dose of realism, or even pessimism,
might be the best way to build resilience and achieve one's goals. Optimists also tend to experience less stress
than pessimists or realists. Because they believe in themselves and their abilities, they expect good things to
happen. They see negative events as minor setbacks to be easily overcome and view positive events as
evidence of further good things to come. Believing in themselves, they also take more risks and create more
positive events in their lives. Additionally, research shows that optimists are more proactive with stress
management, favoring approaches that reduce or eliminate stressors and their emotional consequences.
Optimists work harder at stress management, so they're less stressed.

The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert,
motivated, and ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges
without relief or relaxation between stressors. As a result, the person becomes overworked, and stress-related
tension builds. The body's autonomic nervous system has a built-in stress response that causes physiological
changes to allow the body to combat stressful situations. This stress response, also known as the "fight or
flight response", is activated in case of an emergency. However, this response can become chronically
activated during prolonged periods of stress. Prolonged activation of the stress response causes wear and tear
on the body – both physical and emotional.

Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress – a negative stress reaction. Distress
can disturb the body's internal balance or equilibrium, leading to physical symptoms such as headaches, an
upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, sexual dysfunction, and problems sleeping. Emotional
problems can also result from distress. These problems include depression, panic attacks, or other forms of
anxiety and worry. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases.
Stress is linked to 6 of the leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of
the liver, and suicide.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study aimed to be beneficial to the following person, and group of persons.

For the participant: This study would help them case or lessen the stress that they have.

For the future researchers: This study can be a foundation and support in the future study.

For the Guidance counselor: This study helps them to be aware the positive effects of optimism to lessen
stress.
For the institution: This study provide insight the community members and institution to be positive and to
avoid stress.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

According to Martin Seligman theory of learned optimism, anyone can learn optimism. Whether currently an
optimist or a pessimist, benefits can be gained from exposure to the process of learned optimism to improve
response to both big and small adversities. A learned optimism test (developed by Seligman) is used to
determine an individual's base level of optimism. Being in the more pessimistic categories means that learning
optimism has a chance of preventing depression, helping the person achieve more, and improve physical
health. Seligman's process of learning optimism consists of a simple method to train a new way of responding
to adversity, specifically, by learning to talk themselves through personal defeat. It begins with the Ellis ABC
model of adversity, belief, and consequence. Adversity is the event that happens, Belief is how that adversity
is interpreted, and Consequences are the feelings and actions that result from the beliefs. This is
demonstrated in the example below:

Adversity: Someone cuts you off in traffic.

Belief: You think, "I can't believe that idiot was so rude and selfish!"

Consequence: You are overcome with anger, yelling profanity at the other driver.

In the journey to learning optimism, emphasis is placed on first understanding one's current reaction to and
interpretation of adversity. Learners are asked to keep a journal for two days in which they note small adverse
events and the beliefs and consequences that followed. Next the learner returns to the journal to highlight
pessimism (e.g., pervasiveness: "it doomed me...") in their written descriptions of the events.

To the ABC model, Seligman adds "D" (disputation) and E (energization). Disputation centers on generating
counter-evidence to any of the following: the negative beliefs in general, the causes of the event, or the
implications. D also means reminding oneself of any potential usefulness of moving on from the adversity.
Disputation for the above traffic example might sound like this: "I am overreacting. I don't know what situation
he is in. Maybe he is on his way to his daughter's piano recital and is running late. I'm sure I have cut people
off before without meaning to, so I should really cut him a break. I am not in a hurry anyway."

Over time, responses like this are predicted to change feelings to be more hopeful and positive. Successful
disputation leads to energization, the E in the ABCDE model. One is energized, and should indeed try to
actively celebrate, the positive feelings and sense of accomplishment that come from successful disputation of
negative beliefs. Disputation and Energization (celebration) are the keys to Seligman's method.

Teaching children learned optimism by guiding them through the ABCDE techniques can help children to
better deal with adversity they encounter in their lives. If children are taught early then the thought process of
disputation is claimed[by whom?] to become ingrained in them. They do not, then, have to focus on being
optimistic, but rather optimism becomes automatic and leads to a more positive life for the child.
According to Hans Selye’s theory about General Adaptation Syndrome of Stress is a model that analyses an
individual’s response to long term stress which is broken down into three main stages, the initial alarm stage,
the interim resistance stage and finally the exhaustion stage (Nicky Hayes, 1994). If the stressor persists the
individual will progress through each of the stages, and in some cases disease and even death can result.

During the alarm stage the body reacts to the stressor with a ‘fight or flight’ response in which the
parasympathetic nervous system is activated and hormones (e.g. adrenalin and noradrenaline) are released
from the adrenal medulla (Richard Gross, 2010). If the stressor remains, the body then goes into the resistance
stage during which it may outwardly appear to be functioning normally, however levels of blood glucose,
cortisol (stimulated by adrenocorticotrophic hormones known as ACTH) and adrenaline remain higher than
normal and the individual’s heart rate, blood pressure and breathing will be higher than normal. The individual
may appear calm, but they are physically and mentally at ‘action stations’ (currentnursing.com, 2014). During
the final, exhaustion stage the further release of ACTH is inhibited by the hormones it has already stimulated
and the levels of ACTH itself circulating in the blood. At this point the body begins to use up its energy reserves
or resources and the body cannot function adequately. Blood sugar levels drop, and the individual becomes
vulnerable to disease and death. As Nicky Hayes (1994, p450) states ‘This [final stage] produces an immediate
and strong – sometimes excessive – reaction to even mild sources of additional stress’.

As a model of stress, the General Adaption Syndrome (GAS) is focused primarily on the bodies’ physiological
response to stress. It does not take into account other factors influencing an individual’s response to stress
such as their thoughts, perceptions or feelings and how these cognitive and psychological factors impact upon
their experience of stress itself (garysturt, 2004).

RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design is a blueprint, or outline, for conducting the study in such a way that maximum
control will be exercised over factors that could interfere with the validity of the research results. The research
design is the researchers overall plan for obtaining answers to the research questions guiding the study. This
study used a quantitative study to identify, analyze and describe the effects of optimism to the level of stress
of the students in UCC aged between 13-19 years old.

In quantitative research your aim is to determine the relationship between one thing (an independent
variable) and another (a dependent or outcome variable) in a population. Quantitative research designs are
either descriptive (subjects usually measured once) or experimental (subjects measured before and after a
treatment). In this research study the researchers will be using Descriptive research.

Descriptive research is used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied.