Evaluating stress-relieving methods of high school students

Today’s high school students experience significant stress across various aspects of their lives. If left unmanaged, this stress can escalate into chronic stress, potentially leading to clinically significant physical and mental health issues, including substance use. Thus, the stress-relief strategies adolescents employ to manage stress are crucial in preventing the onset of chronic stress and related disorders. By coming to a greater understanding about the effectiveness of certain stress-relief methods in relation to others, the risk of chronic stress can be reduced. Our study aimed to assess the effectiveness of different stress-relief strategies, with a particular focus on comparing positive distraction and avoidance methods. Currently, limited research exists on the relative effectiveness of these coping mechanisms or on distinguishing between types of disengagement strategies. We predicted that more frequently used methods would tend to be less effective at relieving stress than less popular methods, and that positive distraction strategies would be more effective than avoidance strategies. Using a pre-existing dataset from an anonymous high school survey, we examined the common stress-relief strategies employed by adolescents and evaluated their relationship with stress levels and substance use. Our findings indicated that among disengagement coping strategies, positive distraction methods (such as exercise) were associated with lower reported stress levels compared to avoidance strategies. However, no clear trend was observed regarding the frequency of use of specific methods and their effectiveness. We discuss potential applications of our findings in everyday life and provide recommendations for future research to further explore these results.