STUDIES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES

Stress in the form of psychological stress has become a familiar phenomenon of the contemporary society where it affects persons of various ages, occupation, and social statuses. Academic demands, career and societal pressures are some of the contributing factors to mental stress and emotional imbalance. The given study is designed to investigate the degree of psychological strain that people may face and to study the coping mechanisms that can help people cope with it successfully. The study uses a descriptive research design, primary and secondary data. A structured questionnaire with a Likert scale was used to gather primary data of 100 respondents which included students and working professionals. Research articles, books and scholarly journals on psychological stress and coping mechanisms provided secondary data. The data collected were interpreted using statistical tools like the percentage analysis, reliability analysis and the one sample t-test. A reliability test revealed that the Cronbach’s Alpha value was 0.898, which suggests that the measurement scale has high internal consistency. It was found out that the most common reasons why respondents were stressed were the experience of unexpected events, growing responsibilities, and the feeling of being out of control in matters that are important in life. Nevertheless, other coping strategies like problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping were identified as effective in dealing with stress. The paper emphasizes the need to have the right coping mechanisms in place to sustain a good psychological state and emotional stability.